Check-in and Late Registration: Angela Bailey
Open Book Exhibit: Jennifer Tomas
Welcome: John Evans
Keynote address: 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.
Breakout sessions:
101 Expressive Writing as a Therapeutic Tool: Working with Groups, Couples and Individuals, Angela Buttimer, MS, RYT, LPC and Dennis Buttimer, MEd, RYT, CEAP
In this workshop, counselors, coaches, and facilitators Angela Buttimer, MS, RYT, LPC and Dennis Buttimer, MEd, RYT, CEAP 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. Angela and Dennis Buttimer have been using writing as a therapeutic tool with clients for many years. Currently in their work at Cancer Wellness at Piedmont, a center for integrative healing for cancer patients, they use writing in various groups with cancer patients, survivors, and their loved ones. Angela facilitates Writing for Recovery, a program that specifically focuses on the transformative power of writing and sharing that writing with others in a sacred circle. Angela presented her work on Writing for Recovery in the 2008 conference. Angela and Dennis facilitate other groups and workshops at Cancer Wellness where writing is utilized including Mindfulness, Humor, Yoga, Chakras, and Support Groups. In addition, Angela and Dennis often use writing in private practice with both couples and individuals. Clients sometimes are not aware of how they feel and think about an issue until they have written about it. Frequently clients need to write before they can speak to help form, articulate, and clarify what is happening on the inside. The surprising insights that evolve from putting pen to paper consistently deepens the work a client is doing in session. Writing between sessions also assists in enhancing the work of therapy.
102 Me, Myself and I – The Healing Power of Dialogue - Susan Borkin, M.A.
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 Using Yoga, Meditation, & Writing to Reduce Anxiety in First-year College Students - Lezlie Laws, Ph.D.
I 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.
104 Writing Memoir as a Journey Toward Healing - Megan Cutter, B.A.
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, M.A. and Roy Fox Ph.D.
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.
201 Happy In Its Own Time: How the Muse Collaborates with the Spirit When Given the Chance - The Ninth Muse Writing Group (Franklin Abbott, LCSW, LaDonna Benedict, LPC, Jill Knueppel, LMT, Barbara Locascio, LCSW, Emily Simerly, Ph.D., Pat (“Wren”) Wells, LPC)
The Ninth Muse is a long-standing group of health care professionals anchoring each other to writing. We will share our history of forming, evolving and structuring our monthly meetings and in-between writing. We will offer suggestions for starting a writing group or working collaboratively with other writers, sharing some of our collective efforts.
202 The Healing Notebook - Diana M. Raab, M.F.A., R.N.
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, M.A., M.F.A,
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 A Spirit Laid Down in Chapters: Telling Your Story With Personal Essay - Emily Simerly, Ph.D.
There is something about a person's spirit that wants expression, wants to tell the world its story. This workshop will offer readings and examples of personal essay that mark primary passages through life. A structure will be offered to generate six "starter" chapters of a personal narrative for you to use as a memoir in the continuing adaptation to life. Whether you are 90 or 20, your spirit and truth will find welcome and healing here.
205 How Writing Heals: The Biological Underpinnings of Writing for Health - Brenda Stockdale, Ph.D.
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.
301 Blogging to Heal - Susan Bernard, M.A.
In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn the following: How to set up a blog even if you’re technology-challenged;How photographs and graphics can enhance self-expression;The different types of expressive writing that can be used when blogging to heal;How bloggers and/or blogger-clients can develop virtual support groups; and The do’s and don’ts of blogging to heal. Each participant will receive a Blogging to Heal brochure with a list of helpful resources.
302 Creating a Healing Writing Workshop in a Medical Facility: The Woven Dialog© Workshop, Sara Baker, M.A.
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.
303 Training Counselors to Use Writing as a Therapeutic Intervention - Noreen Lape, Ph.D. and Ric Long, Ph.D.
We will explain how we 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, we will discuss the characteristics of healing, depressed, and traumatized writing, and the clients who benefit most from a writing intervention. We will suggest strategies for responding to a client’s writing. We 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.
304 Writing Stories of Illness and Healing – Debbie McCulliss, R.N. M.A.
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.
305 Setting up a Writing for Wellness Program within Your Church Community – Kathy Vayder, B.A.
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.
