Amy Maiello Hagedorn
Facilitator Training Institute

Housed at the Humanities Institute at Stony Brook University and named after the late Herstory writer and supporter Amy Maiello Hagedorn, the institute trains people in Herstory’s unique pedagogy. 

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The institute offers three to six training programs a year for teachers, MSW candidates, court advocates, human services providers, people working in carceral settings, and others interested in memoir writing as a tool for social change. Each cohort of six to 12 participants is drawn primarily from people whose lives have been impacted by racism, poverty, incarceration, political or domestic violence, and discrimination, and who are motivated to take their work into the social justice arena. After engaging with the training for a minimum of five weeks, they move into active practice in a school, prison, or community setting, working there an average of two to five years, with many remaining with the project much longer. 

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Herstory’s pedagogy is at the heart of an ever-evolving network dedicated to writing for justice and peace and has been used to help underserved communities write and share their stories in Afghanistan, Kenya, Iran, Lebanon, Mexico, and Nicaragua, in addition to in the United States.