The Story of Stones
For more than 30 years, STONES founder Kathleen Whittaker has mentored, trained, and equipped girls with proficiency in artistic expression, inspiring them to cultivate their talents and unleash their full potential. Her passion for nurturing vulnerable young artists, along with her own three daughters, propelled her to create a unique and safe space within her non-profit theater company. Girls could flourish while working through messy and unscripted real life drama. Kathleen’s unconventional and inspiring approach to mentorship, allowed her students to unmask and risk vulnerability. Their stories of rejection, shame, fear of failure, peer pressure, and self-loathing set the stage for an entirely new broad scale outreach to girls.
Kathleen observed that many young women seemed to be experiencing stage fright all the time. Buried under a heavy weight of crippling anxiety, depression, and emotional wounds girls became increasingly unable to hear constructive criticism or persevere through personal failures and disappointments without completely shutting down. They often sabotaged healthy relationships to avoid being confronted and almost always quit activities they once loved doing, turning instead to unhealthy destructive vices and behaviors. Their stories of brokenness resonated with her own, and she knew she had to find a tangible way to help them uncover and heal from their wounds, just as she had. Catching sight of the jar of stones sitting on her table, she wondered.
Overwhelmed by empathy, Kathleen energized her team with a fresh vision for bringing freedom and emotional healing to girls just like her. They soon began visualizing, writing, and developing STONES in 2011, and it has been evolving ever since. Together with her team of “organically grown” artists, filmmakers, singers, dancers, and poets – Kathleen speaks words of hope to those who have been traumatized, and purpose to those who are apathetic. Her compassion reverberates throughout the entire presentation, unlocking the ability for girls to see trials as a means by which they are transformed into women of strength and character. Together with her team, she build bridges to others – one stone at a time.
Who We Are
We believe in the message of STONES, because we live it. We identify with the bullied because we’ve walked in her shoes. We bleed with empathy for the brokenhearted because we too have been broken, bruised, and buried under the crushing stones of unexpected tragedy, trauma, insecurity, and depression. We are more than professional speakers, singer/songwriters, trained educators, artists, counselors, high school students, or college graduates – we are overcomers. Transformed by the very truths we teach, we are living proof that the message of STONES heals, empowers, and equips.
What We Do
We use the arts to break down barriers, providing the necessary “mirror” into which a young woman can view her true self. That’s what makes the STONES experience so unforgettably impacting. No matter what issue or struggle a girl has, we touch on it in some way, shape, or form through our dances, films, dramas, talking points or music. Students feel seen, heard. Our dynamic 90-minute presentation gives children a safe way to recognize, define, and deal with their emotional wounds, thus enabling them to visualize their potential as unique and worthy persons capable of academic success, physical health, and emotional wholeness. Thousands of girls have risen out of their seats to write on stones, exchanging their shame and brokenness for renewed hope and purpose. But that’s only the beginning. STONES is uniquely qualified to offer what most speakers can’t – a chance for students to tangibly walk out their newfound freedom during our 2-hour breakout session. We provide hands-on tools equipping them with strategies to flip negative thinking patterns into positive realizations, unleashing confidence and unlocking academic potential. Fueled by the knowledge that they are not alone, they enthusiastically champion each other by memorializing their collective choice to reject harmful behaviors and self-defeating mindsets, culminating our time together by putting empathy into action.
What We Offer
STONES offers junior high, high school, and college-age campus presentations as well as life-changing mini-retreats/conferences for women and girls ages 13 and up. Explore the many ways we can serve your school, camp, or community organization!
