Past Events
September 12, 2026
Finding Space to Breathe: Art, Slow Looking, and Reflection at the Olympic Sculpture Park
In-person workshop and guided slow-looking art and nature experience in Seattle
In the midst of busy lives, art can offer a space to pause, notice, and reconnect.
Join museum educator and narrative medicine facilitator Lisa Abia-Smith for a restorative experience that combines slow looking, reflective dialogue, and creative exploration amid the sculptures and waterfront landscape of Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park.
Through guided observation, reflective writing, and facilitated conversation, participants will discover how engaging with art can foster mindfulness, attention, connection, and wellbeing. Grounded in museum education, narrative medicine, and arts-based wellness practices, this workshop invites participants to experience art not as something to learn about, but as a resource for reflection, renewal, and personal insight.
Open to all. No prior art experience necessary.
Please excuse our oversight that this event date conflicts with a religious holiday for some in our community. We will carefully consider all religious and culturally significant days when scheduling events going forward. We will also be offering a second similar event this winter. Thank you.
Questions? Reach out to Lisa at abia@uoregon.edu.
. . .
Cost:
$50 General Registration
$30 Students/Trainees*
Art supplies included in the registration fee
*Workshop fees allow NWNMC to pay for facilitators, supplies, and event space. However, we do our best to ensure that cost is not a barrier to participation. If you are a student, or are otherwise in need of a scholarship, please reach out to info@nwnmcollaborative.org.
Note: We are not able to issue refunds. Tickets are transferable in the event of a cancellation.
Facilitator Bio:
Lisa Abia-Smith is Chief Curator of Education at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon and a Teaching Professor in the School of Planning, Public Policy, and Management. Her interdisciplinary work bridges museum education, narrative medicine, arts and health, and social prescribing, positioning museums as spaces for reflection, connection, and wellbeing.
She is the founder of the internationally recognized Art Heals initiative and co-developer of the ARCC Framework, used in museum-based well-being and medical education programs. Since 2019, Lisa has facilitated trainings and workshops with Northwest Narrative Medicine and curated the organization’s library collection, helping shape arts-based approaches to reflection, observation, and human connection.
Lisa collaborates with healthcare providers, universities, museums, and community organizations nationally and internationally to develop workshops grounded in close looking, reflective dialogue, creativity, and restorative practice through engagement with art. She is co-author of the forthcoming book Harnessing the Power of Museums: A Guide to Programs for Well-Being (Bloomsbury/AAM, 2027).
September 10, 2026
The Dizzy & Unfixed Path: Narrative, Meaning, and Living Beyond the Cure Story
Hosted by Narrative Mindworks, NWNMC, & OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care
Join us for a 90-minute Narrative Medicine Workshop with authors Kimberly Warner (Unfixed) & Rachel Weaver (Dizzy).
Medicine often imagines illness as a linear narrative: symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, recovery. Yet many people—patients, caregivers, and clinicians alike—find themselves living inside stories that refuse this arc. Chronic illness, diagnostic uncertainty, grief, disability, and other forms of disruption rarely move neatly from beginning to end. Instead they ask us to inhabit uncertainty, to revise our understanding of hope, and to discover new ways of making meaning when no definitive resolution arrives.
Drawing from their memoirs, Kimberly Warner and Rachel Weaver will explore how narrative can become a practice of attention rather than certainty, helping us remain present to lives that are still unfolding. Through readings, reflective writing, and small-group discussion, participants will examine how stories shift when cure is no longer the destination and meaning emerges through relationship, adaptation, creativity, and community. Journals and pens provided.
Registration Cost: Free with suggested donation of $10
Rood Pavilion Parking Information:(opens in new tab) After 5pm parking is open to non-patient visitors. Street parking is also available in the south waterfront neighborhood.
Questions? Reach out to derek.mccracken@narrativemindworks.org
. . .
Interested in purchasing a copy of Dizzy or Unfixed from a local independent bookstore? We’ve partnered with Bold Coffee and Books in Portland, OR to stock copies. Be among the first to reserve one of a limited number of copies in stock now for pick up at Bold. Order by September 5, 2026 and we can bring the book to you at our event. See details here for Dizzy and here for Unfixed.
Facilitator Bio:
Kimberly Warner
Author
Kimberly Warner is an award-winning author, filmmaker, speaker, and essayist whose work explores chronic illness, identity, embodiment, grief, and the search for meaning inside uncertainty. Her writing has been praised by Publishers Weekly and Kirkus for its lyricism, emotional intelligence, and philosophical depth.
Warner’s acclaimed debut memoir, Unfixed, emerged from her widely followed serialized Substack of the same name, where she quickly cultivated a devoted readership drawn to her rare ability to illuminate the emotional and existential realities of living inside an unpredictable neurological system. In Unfixed, Kimberly chronicles her descent into a world shaped by chronic illness, neurological instability, family secrets, and the destabilizing realization that the foundations of identity may be far less fixed than we imagine. In Warner’s world, water becomes both metaphor and lived experience: disorientation, drift, immersion, survival.
A sought-after voice on resilience, uncertainty, and the human capacity for adaptation, Warner speaks nationally on chronic illness, identity, narrative medicine, and finding steadiness in an unfixed world. She has served on editorial boards, hosted panels at leading institutions, and contributed to medical education initiatives focused on embodiment, patient experience, and meaning-centered care. She continues to publish weekly essays, interviews, and films exploring the hidden intelligence within adversity and the quiet beauty of lives that refuse to resolve neatly.
. . .
Rachel Weaver
Author
Rachel Weaver’s novel Point of Direction was named a Top Ten Book To Pick Up Now by Oprah Magazine and won the Willa Cather Award for Fiction. Rachel’s recent medical memoir, Dizzy, was described by Maureen Corrigan on NPR’s Fresh Air as ‘an arresting new memoir’. Dizzy is a braided memoir of Rachel’s time working in the backcountry of Alaska and her time in the medical world as a chronically ill patient with a mysterious illness. A medical mystery and a cautionary tale about our broken-down system, Dizzy is a story about perseverance in pursuit of answers, of learning to live with life’s uncertainty, and the struggle to find joy in an imperfect but beautiful world.
Her second novel, released in June 2026, The Last Run, was described by Alaska Magazine as ‘A page-turning, authentic Alaskan tale that you’ll want to devour in one sitting.’ Rachel’s essays and short fiction have appeared in The Sun Magazine, Gettysburg Review, Blue Mesa Review, Southeast Review, Medicine and Meaning, River Teeth, The Healing Muse, and others. Prior to earning her MFA in Writing and Poetics at Naropa University, Rachel worked for the Forest Service in Alaska studying bears, raptors and songbirds. She teaches at Wilkes University’s low-residency MFA program and at Lighthouse Writers Workshop where she won the Beacon Award for Teaching Excellence. Rachel holds a CPA in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University. For more information visit https://rachelweaver.net/
. . .
Derek McCracken, MS, MA
Facilitator
Derek McCracken, MS, MA is a New York-based health equity director whose narrative practice spans academic (Columbia University pedagogy instructor), non-profit (director at Narrative Mindworks and Say Ah!) and clinical spaces (lead facilitator at Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine). Derek migrated to the health humanities in 2015 after a long career as a creative director at Hallmark Cards. He is thrilled to see this event highlight members of Narrative Mindworks, and the West Virginia University Connective Tissue series, publisher of Dizzy.
. . .
Alexis Rehrmann
Facilitator
May 5, May 19, June 2, 2026.
Crafting a Personal Narrative: Stories in Healthcare
A three-part workshop series presented by the OHSU Department of Medicine and NWNMC.
Crafting a Personal Narrative: Stories in Healthcare
Health professionals require emotional intelligence skills to navigate complex work environments. The ability to understand one’s OWN STORY allows leaders to empathize with the emotions of others, and are critical skills in healthcare. These skills support making thoughtful, empathetic decisions, building strong relationships, and creating a supportive and collaborative work environment with patients, trainees, and colleagues.
Join us for a unique, three-part virtual workshop series designed to help you uncover and craft your personal narrative within healthcare.
EXPLORE the benefits of narrative writing and discover how this reflective practice supports resilience and well-being
GAIN valuable feedback and guidance on shaping your personal narrative.
ENGAGE in experiential activities designed to foster emotional intelligence and self-awareness.
SHARE. From these workshops storytellers will have the opportunity to further develop their stories for a live storytelling event.
. . .
Registration Fee $150*
*Registration fee includes all sessions (total of 6 hours) and is refundable minus a $15 processing charge through May 4, 2026.
Accreditation: The School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Credit: Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 6.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Questions? Please reach out to acantilado62@gmail.com
Facilitator Bio:
Jeannine Acantilado, RN, MSN, MBA
Lead Facilitator
Jeannine (she/her) is a Certified Executive Coach and an Emotional Intelligence Leadership Development Specialist supporting healthcare leaders and executives. She helps organizational leaders to infuse consistent self-reflective practices such as journaling, art, HeathMath, and storytelling into the work environment to foster cohesiveness, engagement and collaboration.
Jeannine is the producer of BREATHE: Honoring the Voices of Healthcare short films, a creative nonfiction writer, boy/dog mom and budding tap dancer. She adores her husband Steven, who supports her creative pursuits while making their life story together unique and meaningful.
. . .
Elizabeth Lahti, MD
Facilitator
Elizabeth (she/her) is a clinical hospitalist, Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of Narrative Medicine at Oregon Health Science University, and Co-founder of the Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative. She is a former high school teacher, first generation Peruvian American, creative writer, and mother of three who often views the world through those lenses.
Elizabeth leads collabLAB, a monthly narrative medicine collaboration with members from across the country. She is a member of the Full-Frontal Writing Collective. Her scholarly and creative work can be found in a variety of publications including Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Intima: a journal of narrative medicine.
. . .
Aluko Hope, MD, MSCE
Facilitator
Aluko is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care at Oregon Health & Science University. He is an intensivist in the Medical Intensive Care Unit and is the Medical Director of OHSU’s Critical & Acute Illness Recovery Engagement (CAIRE) Program which focuses on seeing adults after severe sepsis, pneumonia and cardiorespiratory failure, including those recovering from infection-associated chronic conditions such as Long COVID.
As an educator, Aluko draws on training in palliative medicine, bioethics and medical humanities to teach learners at all levels. He emphasizes compassionate communication and narrative skills such as attention, representation and affiliation.
May 19, 2026
Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud: Unsettling the Ordinariness of Racism
A Community of Practice workshop
How do you recognize something that exists in everyday life, yet is so common as to be unremarkable? Racism is like this, ordinary and mundane. But when we fail to see stories of racism, we miss out on better understanding the different shapes racism can take, and its impact on people’s health and wellbeing. In this workshop, we will practice “saying the quiet part out loud” and use art and poetry to bring our awareness to the ordinary existence of racism. Participants will be able to write, reflect, and share with the group.
. . .
Cost: $10
Workshop fees allow NWNMC to pay for facilitators, meeting technology, and event space. However, NWNMC never wants cost to be a barrier to participation. If money is an issue, please select a free ticket.
Facilitator Bio:
Danielle McCarthy is a PhD candidate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in the sociology department. Her primary areas of research focus on the biopolitics of hair, Black women’s reproductive health, historical sociology, and Black political economy. Her work seeks to understand how racism works as an ongoing and recurring process that reproduces racialized reproductive health outcomes over time, particularly through the political economy. Currently, she is working on her dissertation, which examines the relationship between the beauty economy, Black women’s reproductive health, and the Black political economy. In her spare time, she enjoys bird watching, boutique making, painting, Bible study, and a rotation of hobbies.
April 30, 2026
BREATHE: Honoring Voices in Healthcare Storytelling & Film Screening
Presented by OHSU Division of Hospital Medicine
Oregon Health Science University and Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative invite you to hear the stories of healthcare workers from the Pacific Northwest.
Join us for an evening of storytelling followed by a Q&A with writers, tellers, and film producers who help make these stories come alive: real humans doing the real work of caring for and with patients, families, students, and healthcare teams. This event is free and open to all. Get a ticket, bring a friend or colleague, and spread the word.
Saturday, March 28
Interstitium: A Space for Stories of Health, Illness, Wellness and Beyond
March Theme: Letting Go
The Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative will run our last Interstitium at the wonderful Shafer Baillie Mansion in Seattle. This will be a goodbye celebration and fundraiser while we look for a new home.
We invite you to listen to/tell a story/share some artistic expression about your own experience in health and wellness
around the theme: “Letting Go”
Doors open at 5:30.
. . .
We are seeking story-tellers and story-appreciators as we gather together to enjoy a narrative medicine community.
Story guidelines:
- 7 minutes or less
- may be read or told extemporaneously
- can be funny, serious, heartfelt, absurd, lyrical, etc.
- can be expressed as a narrative, poem, song, movement, or any genre of your liking.
- please maintain patient/people privacy and don’t use actual names unless you have permission
- the event will not be recorded
- the event will not be judged
We reserve the right to curate the event. We strive to maintain an emotionally safe environment for all, and will not tolerate disrespectful behavior.
If would like to be a Storyteller:
Please email us at: Elizabeth Dorn at elikir38@gmail.com and Stephanie Cooper at coopsteph@yahoo.com
Please send us your story proposals as soon as you can.
- Share with us what the story is about, and how you plan to present it.
- We will choose 8-10 stories from the submissions that best compliment one another.
- Storytellers receive 2 free tickets
. . .
Cost: $30 to fundraise for future
March 16, 2026
Grief Calls
Grief Calls
Join Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative for an in-person Community of Practice. In this creative gathering, we’ll explore the terrain of loss and renewal through guided writing prompts and shared discussion. Together we’ll listen for what grief reveals and together we’ll write toward connection, perspective, and possibility.
5:30 p.m: Doors open, food and beverages available for purchase
6:00 – 7:30 p.m: Workshop
. . .
Cost: $10
If this is a financial challenge for you, please contact us at info@nwnmcollaborative.org. We will do our best to make this workshop accessible for you.
Art by Julie Cassin, local Portland artist
Facilitator Bio:
Beth Cavenaugh is a certified hospice and palliative care nurse who is dedicated to demystifying death and dying so patients, families, and caregivers can meet the end of life with more clarity, compassion, and ease. She obtained her Master’s in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University in 2025 and she and her colleague began a fellowship with Columbia after graduation. Some of their projects include workshops for Veterans experiencing moral injury, a 6-week workshop for NYU nurse leaders, and an upcoming retreat in Italy exploring food, wine, and narrative medicine (you can always find a thread).
Learn more at bethcavenaugh.com
March 10, 2026
Collective Connectedness Through Storytelling
A UW Medicine Well-Being Event: Open to All UW Med Employees
Storytelling brings humanism to healthcare. We invite you to an evening of writing and storytelling supported by the UW Medicine Well-Being Grant. This writing workshop will invite empathy and interconnection in addition to a greater sense of belonging.
Free, open to all UW Medicine employees
Facilitator Bio:
Alexis Rehrmann is a writer, editor, and narrative medicine practitioner who has pursued the connection between story and healing throughout her creative and professional life.
Her writing has appeared in the Intima Journal of Narrative Medicine, Journal of Medical Humanities, OHSU Digital Collections, and Anastomosis, the Stanford University School of Medicine’s humanities and literary journal. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times and Portland Monthly Magazine.
Alexis leads narrative medicine programming at the Lewis & Clark College Center for Community and Global Health and is on the board of the Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative. She holds a CPA in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University and a BFA in Theatre from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts.
February 21, 2026
Narrative Medicine Skills Training
Presented by Lewis and Clark College and NWNMC
Hosted by the Center for Community and Global Health, and developed with support from the Mellon Foundation, community partner Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative (NWNMC) brings Narrative Medicine Skills Training to Lewis & Clark campus.
Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative (NWNMC) gathers health care professionals, patients, caregivers, students, academics, and artists in the shared practice of narrative medicine.
Narrative Medicine Skills Training introduces the narrative medicine principles of attention, representation, and affiliation and develops participant skills of listening and witnessing. We will reflect on how listening and witnessing can be applied to stories of health, illness and healing in diverse healthcare settings to improve care and support healing.
Registration is OPEN for Narrative Medicine Skills Training, Saturday Feb. 21 2026!
. . .
Who is Training for?
- Students entering, studying, or considering the health professions
- Healthcare professionals, faculty and staff curious about the practice of narrative medicine
- Folks living with health conditions as patients or caregivers
In-person and interactive, this workshop encourages exploration, curiosity, and discussion in large and small groups, pairs, and mixed cohorts of students, healthcare professionals, and community members interested in the practice of narrative medicine. There will be opportunities to listen, read, write reflectively, and time to share writing if participants choose.
Adequate breaks and restoration periods are included, as is lunch!
We are strengthened individually when we do this work in community–all are welcome.
Not sure if you see yourself on this list? Other questions? Reach out to Alexis Rehrmann.
. . .
Cost
$ 150.00 Health Care Community General Registration (Healthcare Professionals, Faculty, Staff)
$ 0.00 Student Registration (Costs are contributed by your home institution L&C, OHSU).
A limited number of scholarships are available for those who are unable to afford the cost of registration. Please contact Alexis Rehrmann to request one.
January 13th, 27th, February 10th, 2026
Crafting a Personal Narrative: Stories in Healthcare
A three-part workshop series presented by the OHSU Department of Medicine and NWNMC.
REGISTRATION FOR THIS SESSION IS SOLD OUT
Health professionals require emotional intelligence skills to navigate complex work environments. The ability to understand one’s OWN STORY allows leaders to empathize with the emotions of others, and are critical skills in healthcare. These skills support making thoughtful, empathetic decisions, building strong relationships, and creating a supportive and collaborative work environment with patients, trainees, and colleagues.
Join us for a unique, three-part virtual workshop series designed to help you uncover and craft your personal narrative within healthcare.
EXPLORE the benefits of narrative writing and discover how this reflective practice supports resilience and well-being
GAIN valuable feedback and guidance on shaping your personal narrative.
ENGAGE in experiential activities designed to foster emotional intelligence and self-awareness.
SHARE. From these workshops storytellers will have the opportunity to further develop their stories for a live storytelling event in Portland, Oregon on April 30, 2026.
. . .
Registration Fee $150*
*Registration fee includes all sessions (total of 6 hours) and is refundable minus a $15 processing charge through January 12, 2026.
CME
Accreditation: The School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Credit: Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 6.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Facilitator Bio:
Jeannine Acantilado, RN, MSN, MBA
Lead Facilitator
Jeannine (she/her) is a Certified Executive Coach and a Emotional Intelligence Leadership Development Specialist supporting healthcare leaders and executives. She helps organizational leaders to infuse consistent self-reflective practices such as journaling, art, HeathMath, and storytelling into the work environment to foster cohesiveness, engagement and collaboration.
Jeannine, is the producer of BREATHE: Honoring the Voices of Healthcare short films, a creative nonfiction writer, boy/dog mom and budding tap dancer. She adores her husband Steven, who supports her creative pursuits while making their life story together unique and meaningful.
. . .
Elizabeth Lahti, MD
Facilitator
Elizabeth (she/her) is Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of Narrative Medicine at Oregon Health Science University, and Co-founder of the Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative. She is a former high school teacher, first generation Peruvian American, creative writer, and mother of three who often views the world through those lenses.
Elizabeth leads CollabLAB, a monthly narrative medicine collaboration with members from across the country. She is a member of the Full Frontal Writing Collective. Her work can be found in a variety of publications including Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Intima: a journal of narrative medicine.
. . .
Aluko Hope, MD, MSCE
Planning Committee
Aluko is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care at Oregon Health & Science University. He is an intensivist in the Medical Intensive Care Unit and is the Medical Director of OHSU’s Critical & Acute Illness Recovery Engagement (CAIRE) Program which focuses on seeing adults after severe sepsis, pneumonia and cardiorespiratory failure, including those recovering from infection-associated chronic conditions such as Long COVID.
As an educator, Aluko draws on training in palliative medicine, bioethics and medical humanities to teach learners at all levels. He emphasizes compassionate communication and narrative skills such as attention, representation and affiliation.
Tuesday, October 21, 2025, 6:00-7:30pm
Join us for NWNMC’s Annual Gathering
Celebrate Narrative Medicine in the Northwest
Join us for a lively gathering of narrative medicine practice, new collaborative news, and door prizes! The Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative annual gathering will be held virtually on Oct. 21. We are excited to announce new leadership and NWNMC opportunities. Discuss narrative medicine with friendly folks who are passionate about the practice, check out a silent auction raising funds to support narrative medicine work in our region (it’s got great workshops, art offerings, and PNW goodies). Bring your beverage of choice and join us (virtually) for the party!
Facilitator Bio:
The meeting will be led by Elizabeth Lahti, M.D., Director of Narrative Medicine at OHSU, and President of the Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative. She teaches narrative medicine and reflective practice to students, residents, and faculty. She uses narrative techniques in all areas of medical education, with a focus on professional identity formation, leadership development, and patient centered care. She is poetry editor for The Pharos, a medical humanities journal of the national Alpha Omega Alpha Honors Society. Her work has been published in Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of General Internal Medicine, and The Intima.
April 22, 2025
Making the Invisible Visible
A Narrative Medicine Workshop with the Chronic Pain Project
The Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative (NWNMC) and the Chronic Pain Project (CPP) are offering a narrative medicine workshop inspired by art created by CPP participants to visualize their experience of chronic pain. The CPP views art created by individuals with chronic pain as a means to communicate and build community, and to make the invisible visible. (Art credit: Small Headache #6, Alexandria Levin)
This narrative medicine workshop brings visibility to often invisible experiences of chronic pain. We will spend time looking at artworks by people who live with chronic pain and discover together how creativity and art practices express what is inexpressible.
Facilitator Bio:
Alexis Rehrmann is a writer and editor who has pursued the connection between story and healing throughout much of her creative and professional life. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Portland Monthly Magazine, PDX Parent, the Intima Journal of Narrative Medicine and Anastomosis, Stanford University School of Medicine’s humanities and literary journal. She is on staff at the Lewis & Clark College Center for Community and Global Health and on the board of the Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative. She holds a CPA in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University and a BFA in Theatre from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts.
January 21, 2025, 6:00-7:30 pm PST
Jazz and Interprofessional Practice: Stories of Two Piano Trios
Medicine at its best, like jazz, is an improvisational endeavor, requiring its practitioners to both work within accepted and evidence-based standards, and to deviate from those standards when the situation and context require. This becomes even more complex when multiple different practitioners with varied backgrounds are involved. In this session, we will look at interprofessionalism in jazz, examining a watershed moment in its history when interprofessionalism took on new meaning, and seek lessons learned for today’s medical practice. This workshop is for providers, healthcare collaborators, caregivers and patients – anyone who has found themselves (intentionally or unintentionally) “riffing” in a healthcare setting!
Facilitator Bio:
Paul Haidet is a general internist, medical educator, and lover of jazz. His 30-year career has focused on relationships in healthcare, and he has been exploring the intersections of jazz and medical practice since 2002. His works on jazz and medicine have been published in The Annals of Family Medicine, Medical Education, Patient Education and Counseling, and Healthcare. He has worked with medical practitioners from multiple specialties and disciplines across the country, exploring new boundaries for medical practice and ideas from the world of jazz.
First Thursday of every ODD month from 5:00 p.m. - 6:15 p.m. PST and First Tuesday of every EVEN month from 5:00 p.m. - 6:15 p.m. PST
collabLAB
Narrative Medicine collabLAB is a monthly practice space for facilitators who have completed NWNMC Narrative Medicine Facilitator Training.
We are a community that continues to develop our skills together. We do this by discussing ideas, presenting our workshop curricula for discussion, feedback, and practice. We celebrate successes, and troubleshoot roadblocks together.
In this space, you will learn about planning and leading narrative medicine activities from being in a variety of roles. Sometimes you will lead, knowing there is expertise in the group to give you feedback. Sometimes you will observe a facilitator from the participant perspective. Sometimes we brainstorm, sometimes we problem solve, sometimes we practice. Always, we collaborate with others who have a passion for this work.
When?
| Thursday, January 4, 2024 |
| Tuesday, February 6, 2024 |
| Thursday, March 7, 2024 |
| Tuesday, April 2, 2024 |
| Thursday, May 2, 2024 |
| Tuesday, June 4, 2024 |
| Thursday, July 11, 2024 *note this is the 2nd Thursday due to the 4th of July holiday |
| Tuesday, August 6, 2024 |
| Thursday, September 5, 2024 |
| Tuesday, October 1, 2024 |
| Thursday, November 7, 2024 |
| Tuesday, December 3, 2024 |
Why?
Continue to learn beyond the NM Facilitator Training
Connect with and learn from others doing narrative medicine work
Network with potential collaborators
Present your own ideas for feedback
Be a part of an interactive narrative medicine community
How?
Cost is $50 for a half-series (6 sessions) and $90 for a full-series (12 sessions).
Need based scholarships available. Please send an email to nwnmc.pdx@gmail.com
When you register, you will receive a calendar invite to all collabLAB sessions. If you register for a half-series, you will select up to 6 collabLAB sessions to join.
Your registration fee will be waived if you sign-up to lead a NWNMC Community of Practice. Please use coupon code LEAD2024 at checkout.
November 19, 2024
On Being a Porous Boundary
November 19, 2024, 5:30-7:00 pm
Join Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative in person at the opening reception for On Being a Porous Boundary. Reception will be followed by facilitated reflective writing and discussion. (Narrative Medicine Workshop participants do not need to arrive promptly at 4:00, but do allow enough time to be with the artwork before the workshop begins at 6:00).
On Being a Porous Boundary features immersive paintings, bodily ceramic sculpture, and monumental paper sculpture by Catherine Fairbanks, and intimate poetry by Catherine Barnett, which has been hand-drawn for the exhibition by Nuria Kiesebrink-Pareick. We construct and reconstruct boundaries in order to protect ourselves, to relate to others, to move into and through the world, and for the world to move around and through us. We are, ourselves, volumes of porous boundaries. What does care look like in this context? How do we care for ourselves, for those in our immediate orbit, for strangers? How and when might we choose to hold strangers closely? What amount of fierceness or tenderness is necessary? What seeps through?
Featured artists: Catherine Fairbanks uses empathy as a foundational structure to bridge her dual practices as an artist and a nurse. In both roles, she is in dialogue with the early 20th century phenomenologist, Edith Stein, for whom empathy was the liberating recognition of infinite difference in the other. This is not empathy as feeling, this is empathy enacted socially as equality and liberation. Catherine Barnett is the author of four poetry collections, including Solutions for the Problem of Bodies in Space (2024 Graywolf) and Human Hours (Believer Book Award, New York Times “Best Poetry of 2018” selection). She received a 2022 Arts and Letters Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Whiting Award, among other recognitions. uses empathy as a foundational structure to bridge her dual practices as an artist and a nurse. In both roles, she is in dialogue with the early 20th century phenomenologist, Edith Stein, for whom empathy was the liberating recognition of infinite difference in the other. This is not empathy as feeling, this is empathy enacted socially as equality and liberation. Catherine Barnett is the author of four poetry collections, including Solutions for the Problem of Bodies in Space (2024 Graywolf) and Human Hours (Believer Book Award, New York Times “Best Poetry of 2018” selection). She received a 2022 Arts and Letters Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Whiting Award, among other recognitions.
Facilitator Bio:
Daena Goldsmith, Ph.D., is a professor of Rhetoric & Media Studies at Lewis & Clark College, where she researches and teaches about how we enact identities and relationships through what we say and how we say it. Her work focuses on interactions from everyday life, including the conversations we have with a spouse or partner, the advice we give to friends and family, and the stories we tell face-to-face and online. Her research has examined how couples talk about lifestyle change in the wake of a cardiac episode, how couples support one another when one partner is treated for cancer, and how mothers of autistic children tell their stories. Additional information is available at daenagoldsmith.com.
Alexis Rehrmann is a writer, editor, and storyteller in Portland, Oregon who has incorporated elements of Narrative Medicine throughout much of her writing. Her journalistic work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, Portland Monthly Magazine, and PDX Parent. She’s co-written a memoir of trauma (not her own), and is currently co-writing a memoir about masculinity (also not her own). She has performed her stories onstage at events including BackFencePDX and The Interstitium. Alexis studied theater directing at N.Y.U and recently completed a 5-year stint in corporate digital and social media content marketing. She is currently working towards her Narrative Medicine Certificate through Columbia University. She is the chair of the NWNMC Communications Committee.
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