Narrative in Practice
We work with organizations, educators, patients and families, community partners, and individuals to design and deliver programs and services that foster reflection, connection, and stronger relationships of care.
Narrative Medicine | Arts & Health | Program Design | Legacy & Life Stories
What We Do
Evidence-informed, human-centered, and designed in partnership
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Workshops, curricula, facilitation, reflective practice, and consultation grounded in the theory and practices of narrative medicine
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Participatory programs using literature, art, theater, and other creative practices to support reflection, connection, and engagement
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Program development, stakeholder engagement, co-design, implementation, and evaluation for healthcare, education, nonprofit, and community organizations
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Thoughtful, ethically grounded life story and legacy work for individuals and families, shaped through close listening, partnership, and reflective interview practices
Experience & Projects
Narrative in Practice is led by Stephanie Adler Yuan, MS, whose work spans narrative medicine, arts and health, education, program design, stakeholder engagement, and organizational strategy. Featured projects draw on more than a decade of work with healthcare organizations, universities, nonprofits, patients and families, clinicians, students, and community partners in the US, Europe, Canada, Australia, and the Middle East.
Selected Projects
Integrating Narrative Medicine Across Healthcare Settings
Stephanie has designed and facilitated narrative medicine programs for clinicians, patients and families, students, and healthcare leaders at organizations including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NYU Langone–Brooklyn, Maimonides Medical Center, Mount Auburn Hospital, and Children’s Wisconsin. The work uses close reading, reflective writing, visual art, and facilitated conversation to create space for respite, perspective-taking, connection, and reflection on experiences of giving and receiving care.
Cultivating Partnerships for Learning
In Columbia University’s MS in Narrative Medicine program, Stephanie teaches the narrative medicine practicum and leads partnerships that bring graduate students into healthcare, academic, and community organizations. She has built and managed relationships with partners including Memorial Sloan Kettering CSanctuary for Families, DOROT, and other community organizations, connecting student learning with the goals and needs of partner communities.
Exploring Family Experience & Identity Through Art & Literature
Working with the Bluebird Way Foundation, Stephanie has developed and facilitated literature- and art-based narrative medicine experiences for families of children and young adults with illness and disability. Grounded in participants’ lived experience, the workshops use story, visual art, writing, and conversation to explore identity, caregiving, connection, and the complexity of family experience.
Designing Programs for Impact, Scale & Sustainability
Stephanie’s work has also focused on what happens beyond an individual workshop or an individual instution: how programs are designed, implemented, evaluated, scaled, and sustained. At the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, she led program strategy and continuous improvement for flagship programs including Schwartz Rounds and Stress First Aid, as well as facilitator training, webinars, and other learning initiatives. At Planetree International, she led global education, certification, community, and engagement programs supporting healthcare organizations around the world.
Selected Experience
Columbia University
Faculty, Advisor & Practicum Lead
Teaching applied narrative medicine, advising graduate students, and developing partnerships and experiential learning opportunities across healthcare, academic, and community organizations
Bluebird Way Foundation
Consultant & Facilitator
Advising on strategy and developing narrative- and arts-based programming with and for children and young adults with illness and disability, their families, and healthcare partners.
Planetree International
Former Vice President of Engagement
Led a global portfolio of education, certification, fellowship, community, and engagement programs designed to help healthcare organizations translate person-centered care principles into everyday practice
The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare
Former Director of Programs
Led program strategy, education, training, and partnerships supporting healthcare professionals across more than 600 organizations in address the relational and emotional dimensions of care
Selected Speaking & Publications
Stephanie has presented widely on narrative medicine, person-centered care, patient and family engagement, reflective practice, and organizational culture for healthcare, academic, and international audiences. Her writing and scholarship have appeared in Pediatrics, KevinMD, and Esopus.
Meet Our Founder
Stephanie Adler Yuan, MS
Founder & Principal
I’m a narrative medicine educator, facilitator, and program strategist working at the intersection of healthcare, education, arts, and community engagement. We all carry so many beautiful, rich, complex stories — and when we take time to reflect on, share, and connect through them, incredible things can happen.
Since 2017 I’ve had the priviilege of teaching in Columbia University’s MS in Narrative Medicine program, where I designed and lead the practicum program and focus on exploring — with my colleagues and students — how we can take the rigorous theory and methods of narrative medicine out of the academy and into the world.
I have spent more than a decade designing and leading programs across healthcare, higher education, and nonprofit settings, including in senior leadership roles at Planetree International and the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare. In each of these settings, my work has brought healthcare professionals, patients and families, students, educators, and community partners into shared spaces of reflection, dialogue, and collective learning.
I created Narrative in Practice to bring narrative medicine and other evidence-based creative practices into conversation with arts and health, education, and organizational change, with a focus on turning ideas into thoughtful programs, partnerships, and practices that reach beyond traditional academic and healthcare spaces and into broader communities.
Interested in learning more?