Key Terms and Definitions

The storyteller is the person sharing their story in the Core Story Process. In some settings, this person may also be called a client or participant. The word "storyteller" emphasizes that the person is more than a case or a category. They are a human being whose life, relationships, and experiences need to be listened to with care.

The facilitator is the trained person who guides the Core Story Process. The facilitator listens carefully, asks thoughtful questions, and helps the storyteller reflect on important relationships, experiences, beliefs, wounds, lies, and truths. The facilitator guides the process with attentiveness, respect, and care, helping the storyteller feel safe, heard, and free from judgment.

Core Beliefs are the strategies and protective beliefs a person begins to adopt in childhood and often carries into adulthood. These beliefs form as a child tries to remain safe and secure, receive affection and love, and have power and control in response to the world around them. They often develop beyond conscious awareness and may once have felt necessary or protective. For example, a person may begin to believe, “I must keep everyone happy to be loved,” or “I have to stay in control to be safe.” Over time, these beliefs can continue shaping patterns, reactions, and relationships in ways that are no longer helpful and may even become harmful.

Core Wounds are childhood experiences, often painful ones, that leave a lasting mark on a person’s inner life. They may include physical, relational, or psychological trauma, as well as the lasting pain caused by harmful experiences, unmet needs, loss, neglect, rejection, fear, shame, or abandonment. Some wounds connect to clear events, while others grow out of what was missing, such as protection, comfort, emotional presence, or care. Core Wounds vary greatly in depth and intensity. In some cases, a wound may come from severe trauma. In others, it may grow out of relational pressure, such as the feeling that one must be perfect to be accepted, loved, or feel safe.

Core Lies are false conclusions a person may come to believe because of Core Beliefs, misinformation, and the lingering effects of Core Wounds. These lies often become deeply rooted and shape how a person sees themselves, others, and life. A person does not simply experience what happens to them; they also interpret what happens. As Terry Smith says, “Children are the best recorders and the worst interpreters.” Over time, those interpretations may become deeply held conclusions, such as “I am not good enough,” “I am worthless,” or “I don’t belong.” In the Core Story Process, attention focuses on the lie that seems most central or most influential in the person’s story.

Core Truth is the truth that helps reconcile what has been distorted by the Core Lie. It speaks to healing and clarity, helping a person recover a truer understanding of themselves and their life. In the Core Story Process, Core Truth includes the standards by which a person discerns good and bad, right and wrong, and the connection among what a person believes, says, and does. Core Truth is not a generic positive statement. It is a personal and meaningful truth that reflects the person’s value, dignity, and worth.

Mapping is the process of visually organizing the storyteller’s relationships, experiences, and key themes as the story is shared. As the facilitator listens, they create a visual representation that helps bring the person’s story into clearer view. This includes family relationships, significant events, patterns, strengths, and the emerging Core Beliefs, Core Wounds, Core Lies, and Core Truth.

The storyboard is the completed visual map created during the Core Story Process. It gives the storyteller a picture of important people, experiences, patterns, and themes in their story. The storyboard helps both the facilitator and the storyteller see the story more clearly and reflect on what may have shaped the person’s inner life over time.

The Core Story Process is a guided conversation and visual mapping tool that helps a person explore the key relationships, experiences, beliefs, wounds, lies, and truths that have shaped their life. The map focuses especially on childhood and adolescence, often from birth through age eighteen, because many of a person’s deepest beliefs begin to form during these years.

Through the process, a trained facilitator helps the storyteller identify childhood beliefs that may still affect their current relationships, reactions, choices, and sense of self. These beliefs often develop beyond conscious awareness as a child tries to feel safe, loved, accepted, or in control. The process also helps identify Core Wounds and Core Lies that may have formed during important developmental years, including the middle school years, when many people begin to draw powerful conclusions about themselves, others, and life.

The Core Story Process gives the storyteller a visual picture of their story so they can see patterns more clearly, name what has shaped them, and begin replacing lies they have believed with Core Truth. The map also becomes a tool the storyteller can return to after the session, because additional memories, relationships, or insights may come to mind over time.

Red stars show where love appeared in the storyteller’s life. The facilitator places red stars next to the names of people who were especially loving, affirming, safe, or supportive. These may be family members, friends, mentors, teachers, or others who helped the person feel seen, valued, and loved. The storyteller also receives a red star as a reminder that their life has value, that love for oneself can grow within them, and that they are larger than any pain they have experienced. Sometimes a person may have only one red star, and sometimes none at all. When that happens, the facilitator draws the storyteller’s star even larger as a visible reminder of their worth, strength, and capacity to receive love.

Process Outcomes are the main insights or themes the facilitator identifies near the end of the Core Story Process and records on the right side of the storyboard. They provide a summary of what emerged through the conversation and the map. This section may include relationship patterns, areas of strength, important wounds, Core Beliefs, the Core Lie, and the Core Truth. These outcomes help capture the significance of the process and give the storyteller a clearer understanding of what has been discovered.

A genogram is a visual map or a diagram of a person’s family relationships across generations. Psychiatrist Murray Bowen developed the genogram, which mental health professionals use to identify family connections, patterns, and significant experiences. In the Core Story Process, this kind of visual mapping expands to highlight key relationships, wounds, beliefs, and themes that have shaped the storyteller’s life.