Our Stories
Here’s what’s happening on in our corner of Narrative Medicine. What’s going on in yours? Drop us a line and let us know!
You Can’t Tell By Looking. . .
By Stacy Brewster I have several prompts I love to throw out the first week of a writing workshop. Where I come from…, Out my window…, On my way here…. Prompts which, when shared aloud, help break the ice between strangers by giving some insight into each person’s perspective, their style, their humanity and how…
A Night of Art and Healing with Sharon Agnor
By April Brenneman Glass and steel artist Sharon Agnor shared her illness narrative as well as her art at the Northwest Narrative Medicine’s Monthly Series on May 9th. Agnor has vivid memories of being sick and in the hospital as a child. Struggling with her health on and off most of her life, the decade…
Poems from the Body
By Judith Barrington I come to the thrilling idea of narrative medicine as first a poet and second a patient. My first poetry book was published in 1985 and my fifth (a “New and Selected”) will come out next spring from Salmon Publishing. In between, there have been chapbooks, collaborations with artists and musicians, and…
NWNMC Co-Founder Elizabeth Lahti MD received the 2017 Exceptional Mentor Award.
Read the full story of how she came to practice narrative medicine on page 3 of The Scribe.
National Poetry Month
In honor of National Poetry Month, Signature will send you a FREE Writer’s Guide to Poetry. The Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative thinks this is awesome!
Poetry in Healthcare
By Diane Kaufman I am a poet and a child psychiatrist. Beginning in childhood and all the way through my now senior years, I have found poetry to be a life saver. It is a paradox that poetry written in words can help convey that which feels beyond mere words to express. Poetry is like…
A Life Far Distant from My Own
By Lisa Goren A Letter On behalf of the Social Security Administration’s Cleveland Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, please accept our condolences on the loss of your brother and our colleague, Dr. Hershel Goren. I speak for everyone when I say that our thoughts are with you and your family. I hope that you…
Storytelling in the Exam Room
By Patricia Kullberg Mrs. Truong is tired inside, dizzy behind her eyes, and her sleep is no good. There is a buzzing in her chest. The left side of her body feels swollen, her left arm hurts and doesn’t work right. The pain, she says through the interpreter, is very deep. Perhaps worst of all,…
The Northwest Narrative Medicine Project: A Monthly Series
Starting Tuesday, January 10, the Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative launches a monthly series with a focus on how stories – spoken, written, visual or performed — help shape our experience of healthcare. Facilitated by patients, writers, and healthcare professionals, each 1.5-hour session will share a unique perspective and include an interactive component for participants. When:…
Mom’s New Friend
By Anne Richardson Part of processing my mother’s unfolding journey with Alzheimer’s has been to write poetry. This was the first poem where Alzheimer’s evolved as its own character and I allowed myself to address “her” directly. Even that took several drafts, as I originally kept myself at a distance (referring to myself as “daughter”…
Polka Dot Pelvis
By Valerie Correa I wrote this poem about my bone biopsies for leukemia in one writing after being awoke from a dream in the middle of the night. I had gone to a masseuse for a massage and was telling him what my “polka dot” scars where from. It was healing to write about repeated…
A message from Rita Charon
Greetings from the Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University in New York! I so wish I could be with you all in Portland September 16-18 for the NWNM inaugural conference. I am assuming that there will be many more! Looking at the program, I see many of you–Louise Aronson, Elizabeth Lahti, Ellen Michaelson, among…
Come write with us! Join us for virtual Community of Practice next Tuesday, May 18.
http://ow.ly/7k0C50EJekw
Connections in Narrative Medicine
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MedHumChat
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Narrative Healthcare
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The Nocturnists
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