Writing as Healing

A couple of weeks ago my husband showed me an advertisement in our local community college bulletin. They were sponsoring a women's forum called, Writing, The Arts, and Healing. He said when he opened the flier the information just popped out at him and he knew it was something meant for me. I was very intrigued. To top it off, it was a FREE all day forum with guest speakers and a break- out group in the afternoon. Breakfast AND lunch included! I registered immediately and I just had a feeling I was meant to be there. 

I have been going to an art therapy class since my cancer diagnosis and have learned so much from the experience. I had read articles about using writing as a healing technique with cancer patients as well, but had no idea where to find such a program. I already knew how therapeutic writing was for me when I was ill because I blogged all about my experiences. I am so glad I did because when I go back and read the posts, I am amazed about what I went through.   I have been dreaming about doing more writing, maybe expanding some of my blog posts and seeing what I could do with them. As I said, dreaming, as I have been so distracted with  many other things lately. Upper most on my list has been finding a job. I have been job searching for a while now. I have work restrictions due to my disabilities from the cancer experience and I have been very discouraged with the job offerings. There are not many jobs for a 60 year old woman with work restrictions. Well, if there are, I have not found any yet. 

So needless to say this forum was something that I looked forward to and it did not disappoint! I had the best day I have had in a long time as far as being inspired and being out networking with other women. 

The morning speakers Beverly Donofrio, author of Riding in Cars with Boys,  and Charles Barber, author of The Life you Save Could Be Your Own: The Benefit of Narrative) talked about memoir writing and gave some insightful information. I enjoyed listening to both speakers and often had tears and chills from their talk. Everything they said was resonating with me and I knew I was there for a reason. All of this was my passion, but it was something that I never had any confidence in and did not know how to go about it. Or maybe I did and just held back, afraid to try, afraid to expose myself, afraid to find out who I really am. 

After lunch we had the break- out sessions and I chose to go to Writing as a Tool for Healing given by one of the college's English professors. She worked for a while at a women's prison and used writing with the inmates to help them tell their stories to heal. Later, she worked with Wally Lamb and they produced a book with the stories written by the prisoners called, Couldn't Keep It To Myself.

It was a great session and I will write more about that in my next post. When I left the forum that day I was on an emotional high. I felt like I found "my people."  I knew what I wanted to do with my life to feel productive and to have a focus. I wanted to run support groups using writing as healing techniques. I knew I had to follow though and figure out how to make this happen. It was my calling. I felt it in my soul. 

I have been doing research on the internet trying to find training programs to figure out how to go about this and if I needed to have some type of certificate. I found a guide book for cancer survivors that teaches how to run a support group. I wrote to the author and she said she would help me if I had any questions once I read the book. She puts on workshops as well, but does not have any scheduled for awhile. She said the book was written to be used by lay people and it would be perfectly fine for me to do them on my own before going to the training. I also have a Masters Degree in Holistic Thinking which I think would be accepted as go around to hospitals, etc. trying to get this off of the ground. 

 I know this will take some work, time, and patience. I am up for the challenge and I am so excited to have a goal to work towards and be able to help other people as well. 

And I am happy...feeling like a room without a roof!