Transform Your Health: Write to Heal

This workshop is designed to help you discover ways to manage stressful events and upheavals in your life through writing. The act of writing engages internal healing resources that affect mental and physical health. Expressive writing has the power to help you reduce heart rate and blood pressure, minimize stress, strengthen the immune system, and improve your self-esteem.

Transform Your Health:  Write to Heal is a transformative six-week workshop that helps you access your inner healing voice. You do not need to have writing experience or aspirations in order to participate. The instructor will lead you through a progression of restorative writing exercises. The workshop employs different modes of writing that help you to heal in unique ways, including:

• Expressive writing, which removes obstacles and moves you beyond a personal, private emotional upheaval or crisis.
• Transactional writing, which allows you to take care of unfinished business and conveys your feelings, expectations, and intentions for yourself and others, in gratitude, compassion, forgiveness and loving kindness.
• Poetic writing, which uses narrative structure and metaphor to tell your story as you wish to tell it.
• Affirmative writing, which centers your focus on your best qualities and how you would like to express your life in the future.
• Legacy writing, which teaches you to write for others about your values, major life lessons, turning points and epiphanies.

Recommended reading: Expressive Writing: Words that Heal; Wellness and Writing Connections: Writing for Better Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Health; Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms Our Lives

Upcoming dates and deadlines

TBD

Instructors

• Wanda Boone
• Nicole Schramm-Sapyta

We are deeply moved by news of the passing of our dear friend and instructor emeritus John Evans. John believed in the power of creative writing to improve our well-being and bring healing to our experiences. His work in the field of expressive writing will continue to impact Duke Integrative Medicine and Duke Health and Well-Being. Our heartfelt condolences to the Evans family.

Accommodations Statement

Persons with disabilities who anticipate needing accommodations or who have questions about physical access should contact us in advance of the program.