From Keynote to Care: Finding the Healing Power in Every Client's CANS Story

This year at the TCOM Conference in Chicago, one of the most moving and energizing talks was delivered by Dr. David Fakunle in a powerful presentation titled: “Reaffirming Humanity: How Storytelling Uplifts Contexts, Healing, and Truth.” His message was clear, bold, and deeply worded in ancestral wisdom: storytelling is healing … and it always has been.
 
The Ancestral Legacy of Storytelling
One of the themes that stood out the most was Dr. Fakunle’s reminder that BIPOC communities have used storytelling, ritual, art, rhythm, and cultural practices as healing tools for centuries. These practices were foundational.
 
What’s happening now is not the discovery of something new; it’s simply that modern data is finally catching up to what so many communities have always known. This affirms the importance of integrating cultural practices into assessment, engagement, and healing, not as add-ons, but as the roots of the work.
 
Storytelling and the CANS: Seeing the Whole Person
While Dr. Fakunle didn’t talk about the CANS directly, the connections were immediately apparent and powerful. He emphasized that storytelling allows us to see the whole person, understand their world, honor their truth, and uplift the context around their experience. That is exactly what the CANS is meant to do. The CANS is more than an assessment tool: it is a framework for hearing a person’s story fully, respectfully, and with nuance.
 
Every time we ask a question, every time a youth checks in with us, every time a caregiver shares a detail from their day, they are already storytelling. Our role is not just to listen, but to receive the story with care.
 
Dr. Fakunle said something that was particularly powerful: “For good storytelling, there must be good story receiving.” And that is the heart of the CANS practice. It’s not just about documenting needs, it’s about being present enough, attuned enough, and culturally responsive enough to receive someone’s narrative as they offer it.
 
The Stories That Heal Us
Dr. Fakunle shared several stories throughout his keynote, but the one about “the story of the precious stone” was really aligned with the theme of integrating stories with CANS practice.
 
An old woman finds a valuable stone. A man sees it and asks for it, and without hesitation, she gives it to him. The man returns to ask for the inner quality that allowed her to give it so freely.
 
The message was profound: it’s never about “the thing.” It is about the person, the essence, the lived experience behind it. In the same way, CANS ratings are not about the numbers. They are about the human being behind every item, and their courage and context.
 
“Until the Lion Tells Their Side of the Story …”
Dr. Fakunle ended with one of the most important quotes of the day: “Until the lion tells their side of the story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”
The CANS must be a tool that centers the voices of our clients, a tool that helps youth and families reclaim authorship of their experiences, a tool that ensures their version of the story is not only heard, but honored.
 
Bringing It Back To Practice
This keynote reaffirmed why the CANS matters and why story-based, culturally grounded approaches are essential. Whether through games, play, conversation, or reflection, our goal is to invite their story, receive their story, and help youth and caregivers make meaning from it.

​Contribution by Alameda TCOM member and conference presenter/attendee C.A.

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