| 8:00 - 8:30 |
Check-in and On-site Registration |
| 8:30 - 9:00 |
Welcome by John Evans
Executive Director, Wellness & Writing Connections
Opening Keynote Address by Julie Davey
Julie Davey, author of the recent book, Writing for Wellness: A Prescription for Healing, will explain the unique, focused and directed writing techniques she has developed and uses in her Writing for Wellness classes at City of Hope National Cancer Center in California. Ms. Davey, a college writing professor and two-time cancer survivor will then lead conference attendees in a hands-on writing session to demonstrate how the process helps healing. |
| 9:30 - 9:45 |
Break |
| 9:45 - 11:15 |
Morning Sessions
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| 101 |
Expressive Writing as a Therapeutic Tool: Working with Groups, Couples and Individuals - Angela Buttimer and Dennis Buttimer |
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In this workshop, counselors, coaches, and facilitators Angela and Dennis Buttimer describe how writing can be used as a powerful tool for “drilling deeper”, helping clients get to the heart of the matter and express their deeper truths. Specific examples and methods used in each of these settings will be shared and practiced experientially. |
| 102 |
Me, Myself and I – The Healing Power of Dialogue - Susan Borkin |
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The venerable dialogue, when written is not just a conversation but also a powerful tool for healing and personal growth. We’ll explore its use in healing trauma, as an aide in clarifying difficult decisions and as a resource for getting unstuck and moving forward. Focus will be on practical application and simple steps to create, deepen and sustain a dialogue. In this highly experiential workshop, participants will leave with a richly felt sense of the surprising power of the dialogue to serve as a catalyst for healing and transformation. |
| 103 |
Globbing for Health and Fun - Emily Simerly |
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Who said that memoirs or personal narratives had to take the structure of long chapter after long chapter? In our current climate of life whizzing by at the speed of light, some of us would never get our lives written down. And research on personal testimonies have showed clearly that writing your life down can lead to health, and for every age group. Come learn and practice the new technique of globbing invented by the presenter to see how quickly you appear on the page. Discover that recording the narrative of your life can be more effortless than you ever expected. Get the mind pearls that cross your thoughts everyday onto a page and into The Book of You. |
| 104 |
Writing Memoir as a Journey Toward Healing - Megan Cutter |
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What’s your story? We all go through challenging times or events in our lives that profoundly shift our perspectives in life. Journaling is one way to begin the healing, and writing your memoir is about creating the space to process you life’s journey. In this presentation, Megan Cutter will share her experiences in writing memoir, facilitating journaling groups and explore writing techniques that will help you on your own journey to healing. |
| 105 |
Restoring the Self through Language—and Image, and Music, and…. Rebecca Dierking and Roy Fox |
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In this session, Rebecca Dierking will first review how “other” symbol systems, not just language, accomplish the work of “healing” physical and psychological dilemmas, focusing on their major similarities and differences. Next, Roy Fox will demonstrate how words, when integrated with imagery, can extend and deepen the positive effects of expression. He will also report on his current research into how mental imagery affects the language and thinking of literacy experts who themselves employ writing as healing. Participants will write, critique writing/healing prompts, and speculate how and why the writers in this study make critical decisions. |
| 11:15 - 11:30 |
Break |
| 11:30 -12:15 |
Poetry Reading |
| 12:15 - 1:00 |
Lunch (on your own) & Book Exhibit |
| 1:00 - 2:30 |
Afternoon Breakout Sessions |
| 201 |
Collaborative Story Weaving: Finding the Thread of your Narrative - The Ninth Muse Writing Group |
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Writing together has its own kind of magic and challenges. The Ninth Muse Writing Group, six authors and health care providers, have been together since 2002 and will share what they have learned. The workshop will be experiential such that attendees will participate in creating together at least one storyline from individual contributions of imagination, experience, and interest. You will learn how to interweave what emerges and advance a good story. Come ready to create! |
| 202 |
The Healing Notebook - Diana M. Raab |
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This workshop will focus on the benefits of keeping a notebook as a place to capture feelings, musings and sentiments before they vanish. The workshop will be useful for the writer, therapist and the patient. Journal-keeping as a healing art will be discussed, as well as the different types of journals that may be kept. Writing exercises and journaling tips will also be shared. Bring a notebook or journal. |
| 203 |
Writing into Healing - Leatha Kendrick |
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When we write, we can learn (again) to trust the voice that is great within us - our true speaking voice, not that voice that seems small, fearful, judgmental, smothered. In creating concrete, coherent narratives of what has befallen us, we can recover -- recover from illness, from crisis and trauma, from the years of living in fear and with self-condemnation. This workshop allows us to write together and experience what constitutes a healing narrative. The theoretical underpinnings arise from writings by James Pennebaker, Arthur Frank, and Louise DeSalvo. |
| 204 |
Using Yoga, Meditation, & Writing to Reduce Anxiety in First-year College Students - Lezlie Laws |
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Lezlie Laws will describe a first-year seminar at Rollins College designed to introduce students to the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga. Students practice yoga asanas, meditation, and respond to writing prompts designed to help them discern ways they view themselves or their experiences inaccurately and thus cause themselves anxiety. Participants will be shown how the ashtanga methodology addresses issues of mind, body, and spirit and leads to productive self-exploration and greater self-understanding. |
| 205 |
How Writing Heals: The Biological Underpinnings of Writing for Health - Brenda Stockdale |
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Linking recent evidence of writing's role in health and wellness is a brief overview of psychoneuroimmunology and the newest player on the block, epigenetics. Recent findings in epidemiology pinpoint risk factors greater than obesity, cholesterol and even smoking history lie behind the biggest killers of our day: heart disease, cancer, autoimmunity and diabetes. This new understanding affects how we approach almost any illness or condition and highlights the need for effective behavioral medicine strategies in medical settings. |
| 2:30 - 2:45 |
Break |
| 2:45 - 4:15 |
Late Afternoon Breakout Sessions |
| 301 |
Creating a Healing Writing Workshop in a Medical Facility: The Woven Dialog© Workshop - Sara Baker |
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This workshop will introduce the theory and practice of offering a writing workshop for patients in a medical facility. It will introduce the participants to the challenges particular to the healthcare setting, including understanding where patients are in their treatment as well as where they are in their healing narrative, and it will offer practical techniques for providing safety and avoiding retraumatization. |
| 302 |
Training Counselors to Use Writing as a Therapeutic Intervention - Noreen Lape and Ric Long |
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Noreen Lape and Ric Long will explain how they introduced graduate students in a counseling skills course – half of whom were military chaplains just home from Iraq -- to the therapeutic benefits of writing. Using examples of client writing and a method of close reading, they will discuss the characteristics of healing, depressed, and traumatized writing, and the clients who benefit most from a writing intervention. They will suggest strategies for responding to a client’s writing. They will also share a videotape of our follow-up conversation with the chaplains in which they talk about their use of writing with clients and as a form of self-care. |
| 303 |
Writing Stories of Illness and Healing – Debbie McCulliss |
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Stories of illness cannot be fragmented away from the deeper stories of our lives. This interactive workshop will give writers of all levels of experience an introduction to narrative medicine. Through facilitated dialogue, participants will respond to an illness narrative through examination of literary craft, expressive writing, and reflection and then write the beginnings of a story or poem about illness or care-giving that can serve as a catalyst for healing and wellness. |
| 304 |
Setting up a Writing for Wellness Program within Your Church Community – Kathy Vayder |
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Are you a part of a church or spiritual community? If so, consider setting up a wellness writing program within your community. Many churches have programs for those in immediate need, but how responsive is your church for ongoing care of its members? Workshop topics: Overcoming the obstacles of setting up a wellness writing program within a church setting; Benefits of a writing program within your church setting; Designing a specific curriculum and getting the word out; Excerpts from former class participants will also be shared. |
| 305 |
Journey into the Secret Garden: Writing for Creativity, Healing and Transformation - Debra Moffit |
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During the chaotic and challenging periods at the end of Europe ’s medieval era and into the Renaissance, private, walled gardens contained a protected place hidden in the core of the landscape far from the eyes of the world. One who knew of the secret garden could find it and take refuge. Using this metaphor of the secret garden, the workshop will bring participants to connect with their personal source of wisdom, creativity and healing. We will use stories, quotes, drawing, writing, and sharing in small groups to facilitate the journey of exploration into creative space. |
| 4:15 - 4:30 |
Break |
| 4:30 - 5:00 |
Closing Session
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