Annabelle Nelson, PhD
Exploring the intersection of storytelling, archetypes, psychology, and consciousness – and how they can support emotional health, spiritual insight, cultural resilience, and a more compassionate world.
Author & Storytelling Scholar
Professor Fielding Graduate University
Founder WHEEL Council
Decades of Research & Teaching
— The throughline
A life’s work connected by story
Stories can open the mind — helping us understand ourselves, connect across cultures, and discover the wisdom already within us.
Psychology
Understanding how people develop, learn, heal, and find meaning.
Consciousness
Creating learning experiences that engage the whole person.
Archetypes
Using imagery and symbolic patterns to make the unconscious a friend.
Storytelling
Carrying wisdom, courage, and cultural resilience from one life to another.
— THE NEWEST BOOK
Storytelling, Wisdom, and Archetypes
Why Stories Matter — and How They Shape Our Lives
Through twenty cultural myths and original tales, Annabelle Nelson explores the transformative power of story to shape the inner life. Her work shows how hearing stories, telling stories, and recognizing archetypal patterns can open awareness and help us make sense of our lives.
Drawing on psychology, Buddhism, Indigenous wisdom traditions, and four decades of research and practice, the book presents storytelling as a living path toward emotional health, imagination, and a more compassionate world.
Drawing on psychology, Buddhism, Indigenous wisdom traditions, and four decades of research and practice, the book presents storytelling as a living path toward emotional health, imagination, and a more compassionate world.
— Selected books
Ideas to read, practice, and share
Across books for readers, educators, therapists, families, and young people, Annabelle’s work returns to one question: how can learning help us become more fully human?
Psychology & spirituality
Archetypal Imagery and the Spiritual Self
Practical techniques for coaches, therapists, and spiritual seekers.
Spiritual development
Living the Wheel
Working with emotion, imagery, terror, and bliss on the path to wholeness.
Multicultural learning
The Learning Wheel
A holistic model for lesson planning, communication, and total-dimension learning.
Storytelling for resilience
Ricardo’s Pain
A story for young people and parents about courage, adversity, and peer pressure.
— An invitation inward
Discover your archetype
Archetypes give form to the patterns that shape our inner lives. Through image, story, and imagination, they can help us recognize our strengths, meet difficult emotions with curiosity, and uncover new possibilities.
— Ideas in practice
Teaching that reaches beyond the classroom
Stories can open the mind — helping us understand ourselves, connect across cultures, and discover the wisdom already within us.
Teaching & Research
Resources for graduate students, qualitative researchers, educators, and lifelong learners — shaped by decades of teaching human development and learning theory.
The WHEEL Council
Wholistic Health, Education and Empowerment for Life uses storytelling and culturally grounded learning to help young people and communities build resilience.
— Meet Annabelle
Annabelle Nelson, PhD
Professor, School of Human Organization and Development at Fielding Graduate University.
Annabelle has a lifelong passion for understanding how humans learn, so that programs can match these natural tendencies and can help humans become healthy emotionally and spiritually. That pursuit has led Nelson to seek authenticity in her own awareness and contact the healing and spiritual force within. She has practiced yoga, meditation, imagery, and storytelling, all in her quest to allow the spirit within to be unleashed to move into health and happiness.
Nelson holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in Developmental and Child Psychology, is a Professor at the Fielding Graduate University and is the founder of the WHEEL Council, Wholistic, Health, Education and Empowerment for Life. She was also a Fullbright scholar to India. She is an author, storyteller, teacher, and program developer.
Nelson holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in Developmental and Child Psychology, is a Professor at the Fielding Graduate University and is the founder of the WHEEL Council, Wholistic, Health, Education and Empowerment for Life. She was also a Fullbright scholar to India. She is an author, storyteller, teacher, and program developer.
“You’ve Made the Unconscious a Friendly Place.”
— Continue the conversation —
Interested in Annabelle’s books, teaching, or work?
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