About us
Narrative medicine is a practice in which we recognize, absorb, metabolize, and allow ourselves to be moved by stories of illness and health.
We use art–paintings, poems, photos, text–to strengthen our skills of listening and receiving stories with the goal of increasing empathy and humanizing our healthcare interactions.
Vision
Centering stories in health and healing to shape new cultures of care.
Mission
Everyone has experiences with health and illness. The mission of Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative is to be a community that learns, practices and teaches what to do with health narratives and stories.
Inclusion
We include people with diverse backgrounds, experiences, abilities and ways of knowing in health, illness and healing.
Creativity
We value human imagination to solve problems. We make opportunities for creative expression.
Collaboration
We trust each other. We share decision making. We connect individuals and communities in authentic ways to create and work together.
Growth
We create space to change and be changed by listening, witnessing, and sharing stories of health and healing.
How we began
In 2014, April Brenneman googled “Portland Narrative Medicine” and found Elizabeth Lahti, the newly appointed director of narrative medicine at Oregon Health & Science University.
April, the mother of a cancer survivor, told Elizabeth the story of how one day she pulled her son’s X-rays from the kitchen drawer and started painting over them, using vibrant colors that she felt represented who her child really was. April used art and writing to understand the experience of her son’s illness, and wanted to know more about narrative medicine.
Elizabeth, a physician educator and mother herself, connected with April. Together, they imagined a space where physicians and patients could meet each other as humans, to better understand the multiple perspectives that contribute to the experience of illness and healing. Read the full story here.
Today, Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative is a diverse group joined together in a grassroots effort to create community and connection, with a goal to flatten the hierarchies of health. Together, we engage in conversation and explore narratives of health, illness, and caretaking. We believe this work makes us better doctors, nurses, social workers, patients, family members, caregivers, chaplains, scholars, educators, and humans.