Meet Hali Morell and Robin Hanson of The Missing Peace: Self-Discovery Through Storytelling

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hali Morell and Robin Hanson.

Hali and Robin, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Hali: What’s my story? That’s a good question. At the age of five, after my role as Flower the Skunk in Bambi, I knew that I wanted to be an actress. In sixth grade, my friend and I wrote a script for the school talent show. I think it was at that moment when I realized how incorporating my personal feelings into characters was going to help me tremendously through my life. You see, I popped out of the womb after 27 hours of labor with an anxiety disorder that wasn’t officially diagnosed until I was 21. I spent a lot of time wondering what was wrong with me. Why I wasn’t “normal”. Why I was afraid of people…of life. As the daughter of two therapists, I was always deeply introspective, analyzing my dreams and dissecting my thoughts and feelings through writing and performing. In college, I majored in theater and minored in creative writing…and then wondered what the hell I was going to do with my life. The older I got, the more I valued true storytelling. I’m someone who doesn’t do well with small talk. If you’re going to ask me how I am, you better be prepared for me to answer you honestly and vice versa. After writing a handful of plays through my theater company, The Working Stage, I found myself back in high school…as a teacher. I hated high school and secretly hoped that I would have the experience I’d always admired from afar. I learned about the art of Council, a talking storytelling circle. I fell in love with this process and, fifteen years later, I’m a Council facilitator who takes 12th graders up to the Ojai Foundation for a five-day Rites of Passage trip which includes a sweat lodge. Not ideal for an anxious person who hates being in an uncomfortable position while sweating profusely. Somehow, I’ve made it through fifty of them. So, I had my career on track but I needed to write. A decade ago, I enrolled in a memoir writing class through SMC and, when the session was over, I just kept signing up. Robin and I met in my very first class. What always blows me away is the fact that I knew Robin’s deepest, darkest secrets, but I didn’t know where she lived or what she did for a living. That’s what memoir does. It cuts through the BS and allows you to dive right into the heart of your story. A few years ago, I pulled stories from my memoir and adapted them into a one-woman show called “My Pretty Panic.” Apparently, there’s humor through the eyes of someone with constant anxiety! These days, I try and capture those life slices onto the page. We all have a story. By offering snippets of my personal journey with others, the ultimate goal is to connect with a community of like-minded individuals who truly enjoy speaking their truth.

Robin: I began journaling and writing my personal story when I was 11. Growing up with eight brothers and sisters, we regaled each other daily with storytelling, so it was an easy jumping-off point into writing about my daily life in my diaries. I also loved reading, and as an autodidact who didn’t attend a day of K-12, I had literally exhausted our neighborhood library’s children’s and young adult sections by the time I was 12. The librarian approached my mother to ask her if I could work for the library given I knew the collection so well. While I didn’t work there until I was 16, it was a dream come true to be among literature 30 hours per week as I paid my way through UCLA, where I studied universal language properties in the form of Linguistics. I continued to journal throughout the years and relished reading memoirs, but it wasn’t until I signed up for a memoir class at SMC that everything — my love of literature, writing, storytelling, and humanity’s shared yet individual experiences all came together. I was hooked! That first day of class was also unforgettable for another reason – Hali and I locked eyes across the desks that first evening, and have been friends and writing teammates ever since. Years of memoir courses and many esteemed mentors later, I asked Hali one day over coffee before yet another memoir class what her dream was. It turns out we both had the same dream to give back true storytelling’s gifts — to share the revolutionary act of speaking your truth, the cathartic practice of telling your story, and the bonding experience of witnessing humans tell their stories, which are simultaneously individual yet universal. And at that little coffee table, The Missing Peace and its mission to set people free with truth was born.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Robin: Our workshops have been as smooth as I could have possibly imagined. I am continually honored and amazed at the bravery, humor, and compassion I see in each of our circles, and our unique combination of both oral and written storytelling have been seamless, groundbreaking, and effective for bringing out each participant’s personal stories in our workshops. Our constructive feedback portion of the workshops greatly assist in craft guidance and refining for those of our participants who are interested in publication in the future. Our struggles have been minimal, but with other full-time commitments, we have had to whittle away slowly at marketing ourselves and getting the word out.

Hali: When we first started the Missing Peace, our intention was to write our own “peaces” on a monthly basis to post on our website. With the increase of our workshops – a blessing…don’t get me wrong – I feel our own personal writing commitment has suffered, as we’re spending much of our time planning our workshop themes and agendas. I’d love to make more time to fulfill our passion for writing as we continue.

Please tell us about The Missing Peace: Self-Discovery Through Storytelling.
In our warm circle, participants unearth their unique stories. We help people tell their personal stories, as we have been doing ourselves, working with notable mentors for many years, and leveraging our combined teaching experience and unique areas of focus. We offer a one-of-a-kind true storytelling experience in that we combine oral storytelling in the form of Council circle with memoir-writing prompts. As far as we know, this is offered nowhere else. Each workshop is also custom-tailored to our participants. Our workshops are for all skill levels — from novice to veteran writers, or anyone who is interested in learning more about themselves.

In addition to our workshops, we offer storytelling celebrations (salons). Our salons are coffeehouse-style events where readers and listeners alike gather to witness true narratives around a crackling bonfire. Our salons typically feature readers who are our own workshop participants we have worked with to help flesh-out, refine, and finalize the “peaces” they will share at our circle.

We also offer two-on-one private workshop sessions, which are custom-tailored to the participant’s requested theme or a “surprise” theme to get to the heart of your story, and retreats where we combine different ways of accessing one’s personal story with additional modalities, such as yoga and meditation, in addition to The Missing Peace’s combination of oral and written storytelling.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
We would have only been more confident and sure of our mission and cause when we began in 2014. We had a slow start at first, and we wondered if what we were doing was really going to affect change and create more peace for the community. It didn’t take long, however, to feel that all of the work we put in was worth it. The increased sense of self-love and compassion we see from our participants after they finish a workshop with us is worth the many hours we’ve put into our business.

Because we put so much heart into The Missing Peace, “business” doesn’t really feel like the right word for it. While we do offer reasonable rates for our workshops in order to make them more accessible, we would like to create more peace for larger numbers, so we are looking forward to growing in the future.

Pricing:

• First Workshop is half off- $22.50
• Single drop-in workshops-$45.00
• Private sessions-$150.00

Contact Info:

• Website: www.themissingpeace.squarespace.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themissingpeacestorytelling/

Image Credit:
Neal Morell
Robin Hanson
Hali Morell
Alison Burmeister

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.