Puffin Poker & the Cod Kiss Collective: Stories of Connection from the Hidden Corners of the World

In The Storytelling Animal: How stories make us human, Jonathan Gottschall (2012) argues that storytelling is innate, as represented by evidence of story throughout time and from our earliest stages of development. He puts forth a compelling argument that humans and culture are vulnerable to shaping by storytelling. Child & Youth Care (CYC) people know stories well and we use story and metaphor frequently in our engagement with young people (Allsopp & Thumbadoo, 2002; Burns, 1999). This article focuses on some of the stories of connection which occurred at the 1st Child & Youth Care World Conference, held in St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador, in June of 2013. But first let us tell you who ‘we’ are, and how we came to be.