My name is Anna Outram and this is my story. Once upon a time, there was an educational professional who had some big ideas. Having worked in the education sector for 8 years and for 20 years with children, she had noticed the gaps in how we support children's emotional and social needs. As someone with a mental health disability, she knew first-hand some of the challenges that children can face growing up and she would have personally benefited from this type of early learning and development. She could also see the many committed teachers along her journey who dedicated their professional lives to helping young people grow, but in a system that sadly didn't always value the importance of developing the 'whole child'.

A playwriting course introduced her to the storytelling histories of the First Nations in Ontario, Canada and how these remote and indigenous communities use these creative practices of storytelling to pass down history, spiritual and cultural awareness and the tools for self-awareness and connection to their environment and others. She wants to be an advocate for how we can learn from communities that value this. This is not the end of her story, but just the beginning.