A Mercy in the Telling: Memory, Story, and Public Health Evidence

In this episode of Moving Upstream, Prevention Institute’s Vibhuti Kacholia and La’Quana Williams explore what it means to expand the boundaries of evidence in public health. They discuss UCEE—Uplifting Contextual and Experiential Evidence—a framework that challenges the field’s overreliance on quantitative data, and La’Quana’s narrative case study series A Mercy in the Telling, which positions memory, story, and place as legitimate forms of evidence. Together, they explore how research, lived experience, and art can be interwoven into a more human framework for equity and justice.

🔗 Links & Resources

Prevention Institute Frameworks & Initiatives
➡️ Uplifting Contextual and Experiential Evidence (UCEE)
A framework for expanding what counts as evidence in public health—recognizing lived experience, context, and story as critical sources of knowledge.
Link: https://www.preventioninstitute.org/projects/uplifting-contextual-and-e…

Featured Creative Work
➡️ A Mercy in the Telling – Case Study Series (1–8)
This series uses storytelling to examine how public health systems meet—or miss—people’s lived realities, inviting readers to see the connections between care, evidence, and belonging.
Link: https://laquanaq.substack.com/s/a-mercy-in-the-telling

➡️ Case Study 4: Homes Made Thick with Quiet
Referenced at [11:40]
Link: https://laquanaq.substack.com/p/case-study-4-homes-made-thick-with

Framework Referenced
➡️ Story-Based Evidence Framework (SBEF)
Referenced at [18:15]
A methodology developed by La’Quana Williams that positions story as rigorous evidence in public health practice.
Link: https://open.substack.com/pub/laquanaq/p/the-story-based-evidence-frame…

⏱ Timestamps

[11:40] Case Study 4: Homes Made Thick with Quiet
[18:15] Story-Based Evidence Framework (SBEF)

Produced by Prevention Institute’s Moving Upstream series. Views shared are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Prevention Institute or its funders.