In-depth private interviewing to create an authentic video time capsule of growing up. A revolutionary, science-based method that builds character and Emotional Intelligence while creating a priceless longitudinal personal documentary.
They say each journey begins with a single step. Ours began at the turn of the millennium as a simple documentary about childhood, but a few months in, the tragedy of 9/11 changed everything. We discovered that kids not only wanted but needed to talk on a much deeper level. They were desperate to find their place in a world turned upside down. The intervening decades have only accelerated change and created new challenges.
The question is: Can we help kids find themselves before they lose themselves?
For the past two decades, The 5000 Days Project has done exactly that by deploying Personal Story Mentors around the world with cameras to capture and help kids negotiate the minefield of adolescence. Using a brain science-based annual interview process, kids are given the questions to discover the deep well of internal wisdom that lies within them and hone their moral compasses so that they get to where they want and need to go.
Where social media often represents the “projected self,” we create authentic media to help kids discover and capture who they truly are.
Take a look at these sample videos to see the Personal Story Mentoring (PSM) program in action.
“TWO FRIENDS”
NICKI
HUNTER
Led by Dr. Rick Stevenson, our personal story mentors include professionals with backgrounds in counseling, youth education, life-coaching, and documentary filmmaking.
Our team undergoes 5000 Days training and annual review. The filmed interview sessions provide built-in accountability.
Mentors utilize the StoryQ Method to create a judgment-free space and an engaging process of inquiry that fosters self-discovery.
It’s all about asking the right questions in the right way at the right time.
From thousands of in-depth personal interviews across 12 countries, we’ve been developing the StoryQ Method for two decades with the help of professionals in counseling psychology and developmental molecular biology.
Our core key-life questions center around the individual's longings and fears—two major motivators in determining how they live their lives.
The annual interviews are filmed in high def with pro lighting and audio. PSM film staff will also collect limited supplemental life footage (“B-roll”). Everything is catalogued and stored securely. The child upon reaching the age of majority can either request an optional 7-15 minute film or a compilation of the footage at the agreed upon cost of the edit.
All footage is kept completely private to the individual. Some choose to share (“Ambassadors”) after completion of the project in hopes of helping others. Others use it to supplement college applications as a remarkable “this is me” piece.
5000 Days participants are creating an entirely unique authentic film that can be used not only for a personal life record, but for university, scholarship and job applications as well.
“The first interview lasted about two hours and provided me an opportunity to verbalize, explore, and process my values, feelings, fears, and dreams. I was asked what I would wish for if I had three wishes. I was asked about my relationships with family and friends. I was asked how I viewed myself—my strengths and weaknesses. I was asked what my difficult challenge was. Finally I was asked about my goals and who I wanted to become…
Every year since, I’ve had the opportunity to sit down for another in-depth interview. I eagerly await the interview, and it’s one of the highlights of each year. I enjoy the hard thinking that happens in the interviews. I try to process his questions, thinking hard about my answers, in order to have the best possible conversations with him. I love how vulnerable I become. I share things, and emotions, I wouldn’t normally tell or share with other people.
My last interview, just a few months ago, was particularly memorable. As usual, I was asked what my greatest fear was. I thought and thought, but couldn’t come up with an answer. He asked a follow-up question about my adopted brother, Jonny, who has been a constant interview topic since joining our family. That was when it finally clicked. I came to realize that the addition of Jonny into my life was a perfect example of my greatest fear. The fear of the unknown. When Jonny came to live with us, there were so many unknowns—too many to count. How I deal with life’s unknowns, and the feelings those unknowns do and will bring into my internal world, is what will define me.
This project has been one of the biggest contributors to the shaping of my character. Each interview has been a character-defining moment for me. I am a little over halfway through my 5000 days... today is Day 2806.”
—Will Anderton, Seattle, WA
The 5000 Days Project uses an evidence-based development approach. Our findings on the benefits of private guided video journaling over the past 18 years have been reinforced by outside research from leading professionals in the educational, research, and scientific communities.
Watch a 5000 Days Project animation on the importance teaching emotional intelligence to kids.
Participants may start at any time between ages 5 and 17.
Space is limited so students must audition for the project. Students audition because:
a) We want to make sure that each specific child will be served by the process; and
b) Actual costs of the program are split evenly between parents and the 5000 Days Project so we want to make sure the investment of time and money is well spent. We are looking for kids who are open, honest, and authentic. We want kids who will tell us what they really think instead of what they think we want to hear.
Accepted participants undergo an annual, in-depth, filmed interview (20-75 minutes long depending on the child) asking a series of age-appropriate, key life questions designed to build self-awareness, empathy, perspective, integrity, and resilience. Limited “B-roll” is also collected each year. The filmed material becomes a priceless, entirely unique time capsule of the child growing up.
An annual fee of $1000 for each participant covers the parents’ share of the project’s expenses: The annual interview, the filming and lighting in HD, the cataloguing, storage, insurance, administration, and collection of limited B Roll.
Participating families also have the option of making a professionally edited piece of the participant’s story growing up (typically after graduation).
The actual total cost of the film is $12,000 of which parents are only expected to pay half ($6000). This cost might rise over the years but parents can lock in their current contribution by making an additional $250 annual, non-refundable deposit toward the parent’s share of the film's cost.
What are the interview questions?
The Project does not publish the questions because authenticity and spontaneity are essential and we do not want the child rehearsing. That said, the questions and methodology are based on brain science and have been tested across nearly 6000 in-the-field interviews and over 300,000 automated interview questions with youth across six continents. They center around the child’s longings and fears and are designed to grow Emotional Intelligence.
Is this traditional therapy?
No. Traditional therapy, while potentially helpful for all, is especially vital for youth with serious mental health issues. Personal Story Mentoring fills the gap for kids who neither need nor desire traditional therapy but can gain from discovering themselves through their own story. PSM involves asking the right questions in the right order in the right setting at the right time to help individuals find the right answers for themselves. It involves the sharing of wisdom and the building of a trusting relationship with continuity over time.
What is the role of parents?
Beyond co-financing their child’s participation with the Project, Parents/Guardians are invited annually to provide a brief background on their child’s dreams, ambitions, struggles, and fears—and/or any other subjects that might be helpful for the mentor to address. They are also encouraged to safely store their pictures and video footage of the child in a cloud storage location provided by the Project for possible use in an eventual film.
What do parents get to see on an annual basis?
Very little. Participating parents have signed their children up because they know the value of the child having a safe, private, no-judgment place to express what they feel. Parents do receive 2-3 screen grabs from the footage and the mentor may choose to share, with the child’s permission, some of the general themes covered in the session.
What are the terms of privacy?
Parents sign up for this project knowing the value of providing a safe place where their kids can express their inner most feelings without fear or judgement. The mere exercise of verbalizing one’s feelings has been shown to tame the amygdala and help individuals act more from their prefrontal cortex where their reasoning and verbal skills lie. Trusting the privacy of this material is a key reason this works for kids. That said, kids are told up front that should they say something that gives their mentor concern over their safety or someone else’s, we will endeavor to get them help. In select circumstances, and with the permission of the child, the mentor may suggest sharing something with another party if they feel it will be helpful. However, the purpose of the exercise is to empower the child to fight their own battles whenever possible.
Who owns what?
Each child owns the rights to their own story which is why their footage is held safely for them until their age of majority. The 5000 Days Project owns the footage. Neither party can do anything other than fulfill their contractual obligations without the written consent of the other.
What about Data Privacy?
Because the 5000 Days Project wishes to constantly improve its method as well as help shed light on the science of growing up, it reserves to right to anonymously mine the data it collects for that and related purposes. At no time, however, will that process reveal names or identities of the participants.
Where is this material held and how secure is it?
The data is held either in our secure cloud storage and/or in private servers inaccessible to the public. All standard precautions are taken against potential breach.
Will a child’s material ever be used in a documentary?
Only with the written consent of the parents and child up to the age of majority and the young adult after that. The films that have been released to the public have been purposely shared by those participants (called “Ambassadors”) based on a desire to help other kids.
We are looking for kids who are courageous enough to tell the most difficult story they will ever tell. Their own.
Auditions are available to all, regardless if you attend a school that is officially involved with the project. Please select your location to get started.
