"Language alone protects us from the scariness of things with no names."

On-farm or virtual sessions available. 

A personalized, evidence-based program that uses structured writing practices to reduce stress, process difficult experiences, and create measurable change in your psychological and physiological well-being.

What You'll Do

Over eight weekly sessions, you'll work one-on-one with me using techniques grounded in three decades of research including the Pennebaker expressive writing protocol, bibliotherapy, perspective-shifting exercises, and embodied reflection practices.

Each 45-minute session includes:

• A centering practice to transition into reflective space
• Guided writing exercises tailored to your specific focus (trauma, grief, chronic pain, life transition, or ruminative thought patterns)
• Close reading and discussion of curated texts selected for your journey
• Reflection and integration of what emerges

Between sessions, you'll complete brief writing assignments that deepen the work and provide material for linguistic analysis. Session 8 is designed as an integration session: we'll review your progress, discuss how to continue your practice independently, and explore whether continued work together would serve you.

What You'll Get

Before We Begin

• Complimentary discovery call to determine fit
• Intake assessment: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) to establish your baseline

Throughout the Program

• 8 x 45-minute private sessions (virtual or in-person at my farm in Johnson City, TN)
• Personalized bibliotherapy reading list curated specifically for your experiences and goals
• Session handouts with prompts for independent practice
• Between-session email support
• 3 written LIWC (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count) analysis reports with personalized feedback—delivered at Sessions 1, 4, and 8—showing how your language patterns shift as you process and heal

At the End

• Post-program reassessment (PSS-10 and PANAS)
• Your Progress Portrait: A summary document showing your before-and-after assessment scores, key linguistic shifts across your three LIWC analyses, and facilitator observations on your growth

After the Program

• Optional booster session available 30-60 days post-program for check-in, troubleshooting, or deepening your practice

Potential Outcomes: Reduced trauma symptoms, increased emotional coherence, stronger sense of identity and purpose, sustainable personal writing practice and progress in craft, deeper self-understanding and improvement in certain physiological health markers. 

Who is this for?  Individuals processing medical diagnosis, treatment, or chronic illness; those navigating grief, loss or experiencing significant life transitions; people seeking to make sense of fragmented or traumatic experiences; writers and non-writers alike who want structured support in exploring personal narratives. 

When life delivers its hardest chapters—a frightening diagnosis, the slow work of caregiving, the weight of grief, the spiral of anxious or intrusive thoughts—we often face them in isolation. The people who love us want to help, but they haven't walked this path. The professionals who treat us address pieces of the problem, but rarely the whole person living it.

This group series creates space for what's often missing: being truly heard by others who understand.

Why Groups Work

Three decades of research confirms that structured emotional disclosure produces measurable improvements in psychological and physical well-being. But something additional happens when that disclosure is witnessed by others who share your struggle.

Storytelling in community releases oxytocin—the neurochemical of bonding and trust—while reducing cortisol, the stress hormone that accumulates under chronic strain. Brain imaging shows that when we listen to someone's story, our neural activity begins to synchronize with theirs; we literally come into alignment. This is why sharing narrative in a safe, facilitated space produces effects beyond what solitary writing can achieve: reduced isolation, normalized experience, collective meaning-making, and the profound relief of being seen.

This isn't a support group in the traditional sense. It's a structured practice—grounded in the same evidence that underlies expressive writing and narrative medicine—designed to help you process what you're carrying, build resilience for what's ahead, and connect with others on similar paths.

What You'll Do

Each 75-minute session follows a consistent, research-based structure:

Centering Practice (5-10 minutes)
We begin by arriving—breathing, grounding, transitioning from the demands of your day into a reflective space.

Close Reading (15 minutes)
Together, we engage with a short text—poetry, memoir excerpt, essay—chosen to resonate with the group's shared experience. We notice what surfaces: recognition, resistance, emotion, memory.

Guided Writing (20 minutes)
You write in response to a prompt designed to help you access and process difficult material. This is private writing—continuous, uncensored, for your eyes only unless you choose to share.

Witnessed Sharing (30 minutes)
Those who wish to read aloud do so. The group receives each offering without advice, interpretation, or fixing—just presence. This practice of witnessing is itself therapeutic, transforming private burden into shared experience.

Closing (5 minutes)
We end with a brief reflection and a prompt for optional writing between sessions.

Series Format of 4, 8, or 12 weeks

Best for: Initial exploration, those with limited time, acute transitions

Four weekly 75-minute sessions introducing the core practices of therapeutic writing in community. You'll experience multiple cycles of reading, writing, and witnessed sharing while building relationships with others navigating similar challenges.

You'll receive:

• Curated readings selected for your group's focus
• Weekly writing prompts for between-session practice
• Pre/post self-assessment (Perceived Stress Scale)
• Two written LIWC linguistic analysis reports (Week 1 and Week 8) showing how your language patterns shift as you process
• Handout: Continuing Your Practice
• Handout: Continuing Your Practice (prompts and guidance for independent writing)

Who This is For

Parents & Family Caregivers

• Parents of children with chronic, complex, or life-limiting diagnoses
• Adult children caring for aging parents
• Spouses and partners supporting loved ones through serious illness
• Family members carrying the weight of someone else's mental health crisis

Those Navigating Illness

• Patients processing their own diagnosis, treatment, or recovery
• Chronic illness warriors learning to live with uncertainty
• Survivors integrating the experience of medical trauma
• Those facing end-of-life questions for themselves

Those Carrying Grief

• Family members in anticipatory grief—mourning before death arrives
• The bereaved, at any stage of loss
• Those grieving non-death losses: identity, ability, relationship, future

Those Living with Difficult Minds

• People managing anxiety, depression, or PTSD
• Those struggling with ruminative or intrusive thought patterns
• Anyone whose mind has become an adversary rather than an ally

Note: This program is not appropriate for those experiencing active psychosis, severe dissociation, or acute psychiatric crisis. A brief screening conversation ensures good fit.

What Changes

Research on expressive writing and narrative medicine points to consistent outcomes:

Reduced isolation
The discovery that others truly understand—not in theory, but in lived experience—counters the loneliness that amplifies suffering.

Decreased anxiety and stress
Structured writing activates the prefrontal cortex and quiets the amygdala, shifting the brain from alarm to reflection. Over time, this produces measurable reductions in perceived stress.

Increased sense of agency
Putting chaotic experience into narrative form creates coherence. You become the author of your story, not just its subject.

Deeper processing of grief and trauma
Writing transforms fragmented emotional memories into integrated narrative. What haunts becomes what happened—located in time, bounded, survivable.

Strengthened capacity to continue
Caregivers, patients, and the grieving often run on empty. This practice builds sustainable resources: self-compassion, meaning, and community.

Group Details

Size: 6-10 participants (small enough for intimacy, large enough for diverse perspectives)

Delivery: Virtual (Zoom) or in-person at my farm depending on availability of members

Commitment: Weekly attendance strongly encouraged; the group's trust depends on consistency

Confidentiality: What's shared in the group stays in the group. This is foundational and non-negotiable.

Cost: [Sliding scale available—reach out to discuss]

Narrative medicine—the practice of close reading, reflective writing, and witnessing—has been shown to reduce burnout, preserve empathy, strengthen team communication, and improve patient outcomes. Originally developed at Columbia University, these methods are now integrated into medical education and clinical practice worldwide.

This workshop series brings narrative medicine training to your organization, customized to your clinical context and delivered in formats that fit your schedule.

The Evidence

Research demonstrates that narrative medicine interventions:

• Reduce burnout: Studies across emergency medicine, OB/GYN, pediatrics, and internal medicine residencies show that narrative medicine workshops are protective against emotional exhaustion, with higher attendance correlating with greater improvement
• Preserve empathy: Participants show sustained or improved scores on validated empathy measures (Interpersonal Reactivity Index), even as control groups decline
• Improve patient relationships: Clinicians trained in parallel charting report deeper understanding of patients' lived experiences and improved therapeutic relationships
• Strengthen teams: Shared narrative sessions build trust, normalize vulnerability, and create space for processing difficult cases together

What You'll Do

Each session follows the evidence-based structure used in narrative medicine programs globally:

Close Reading & Deep Listening
You'll engage with a carefully selected text—poetry, prose, visual art, or clinical narrative—learning to attend to language, silence, ambiguity, and what remains unsaid. These skills transfer directly to patient encounters: listening for what matters beneath the chief complaint.

Reflective Writing
Guided by a prompt, you'll write for 10-15 minutes in response to the reading or a clinical experience. This isn't polished prose—it's thinking on the page, a practice shown to enhance self-awareness, process moral distress, and prevent the accumulation of unmetabolized experience that leads to burnout.

Parallel Charting
Developed by Rita Charon, the parallel chart captures what belongs in the patient's story but not in the medical record: your observations, uncertainties, emotional responses, and the patient's experience of illness beyond clinical data. This practice builds narrative competence and has been shown to improve physician-patient relationships across specialties.

Witnessing & Discussion
In a structured, confidential space, participants share their writing (always voluntary) and receive it without judgment or interpretation. This witnessing—being heard by colleagues who understand the weight of care—is itself therapeutic, releasing oxytocin, reducing cortisol, and building the relational trust that sustains teams.

Workshop Formats

Half-Day Intensive (3-4 Hours)

Best for: Introduction to narrative medicine, team retreats, conference sessions

A concentrated immersion in narrative medicine methods. Participants experience two full cycles of close reading, writing, and discussion, leaving with practical tools they can use immediately.

Participants receive:

• Curated reading packet tailored to your clinical context
• Parallel chart template and guide
• Reflective writing prompts for independent practice

Multi-Session Series (4,8, or 12 weeks)

Best for: Sustained culture change, residency curricula, ongoing wellness programming

Weekly or biweekly 60-minute sessions that build narrative competence over time. This format produces the strongest outcomes in the research literature, allowing skills to develop and relationships to deepen. The series can be structured as:

• 4 weeks: Foundation in close reading, reflective writing, and parallel charting
• 8 weeks: Foundation plus advanced techniques (perspective-shifting, team narrative sessions, processing moral injury)
• 12 weeks: Comprehensive training with longitudinal parallel chart practice and optional LIWC linguistic analysis of writing samples

Participants receive:

• Weekly curated readings matched to your specialty and clinical challenges
• Session handouts with prompts and frameworks
• Parallel chart practice with optional written feedback
• Pre/post assessment measuring empathy (IRI), burnout (single-item measure or MBI-abbreviated), and perceived stress (PSS-10)
• Summary report for organizational leadership showing aggregate outcomes
• Certificate of completion with contact hours

Tailored to your Context

All workshops are customized based on:

• Specialty: Oncology, palliative care, emergency medicine, primary care, pediatrics, OB/GYN, mental health, and more
• Role: Physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, medical students, residents, or mixed interprofessional teams
• Focus: Clinician well-being, patient communication, team cohesion, or caregiver support
• Setting: Hospital, clinic, hospice, long-term care, or academic medical center

Readings, prompts, and case discussions are selected to resonate with your team's daily realities.

For Patients & Caregivers

Narrative medicine isn't only for clinicians. Workshops can also be designed for:

• Patients living with chronic illness, navigating diagnosis, or approaching end of life
• Family caregivers processing the experience of caring for a loved one
• Bereavement groups using writing to metabolize grief
• Support groups seeking structured ways to share and witness one another's stories

These sessions use the same evidence-based structure—reading, writing, sharing—adapted for non-clinical participants.

What Organizations Gain

For Leadership:

• Measurable outcomes demonstrating investment in staff well-being
• Pre/post data on burnout, empathy, and stress for quality improvement reporting
• Low-cost, high-impact intervention that complements existing wellness initiatives

For Teams:

• Protected time to process the emotional weight of care
• Shared language and practices that persist beyond the workshop
• Strengthened relationships that improve communication and collaboration

For Individuals:

• Practical tools for ongoing self-care
• Recognition that their experiences matter and deserve attention
• Connection with colleagues who understand

Assessment & Outcome Tracking

For multi-session series, all participants complete validated instruments at program start and finish:

• Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI): Measures cognitive and affective empathy
• Single-item Burnout Measure or Maslach Burnout Inventory (abbreviated): Tracks emotional exhaustion
• Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10): Assesses overall stress levels

Optional: LIWC (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count) analysis of participant writing samples across the series, tracking linguistic markers associated with cognitive processing and emotional integration. Organizations receive an aggregate outcomes report; individual results remain confidential.

Logistics

Delivery: On-site at your facility or virtual (Zoom/Teams)
Group Size: Ideal 10-12 participants; larger groups can be accommodated with modified format
Scheduling: Flexible to fit grand rounds, protected didactic time, retreat schedules, or shift patterns
Materials: All readings and handouts provided digitally or in print

Potential Outcomes: Improved patient satisfaction scores, reduced provider burnout, enhanced team communication, deeper clinical insights. 

Who is this for? Physicians, nurses, and advanced practice providers seeking to deepen diagnostic listening and patient rapport; medical students and residents developing communication competencies and reflective practice skills; Social workers, chaplains, and counselors who serve as narrative witnesses in clinical settings; Healthcare administrators and team leaders addressing burnout and team cohesion challenges; patient & caregiver groups.

You have a story to tell. Maybe it's a memoir that's been simmering for years, an essay collection taking shape, a novel that won't leave you alone. Maybe it's an academic book, a blog, a legacy project for your family. You know you need to write it. But knowing isn't the same as doing.

Writer's block isn't usually about not having ideas—it's about not having access to them. Fear, perfectionism, overwhelm, competing demands, old stories about who gets to call themselves a writer. The blank page becomes a mirror reflecting every doubt.

This coaching is for writers who are ready to stop waiting for the right moment and start building a practice that actually produces pages.

Developmental Coaching

For writers at the early or middle stages of a project—or those who can't seem to get past the early stages at all.

We work on the questions beneath the writing: What is this project really about? What's the emotional core? What structure serves the story? Where are you avoiding, and why? What would it mean to finish this?

I bring two decades of teaching writing at the university level, an MA in Creative Writing, and my own experience as a memoirist with a book forthcoming from a traditional press. I also bring training in therapeutic writing, which means I understand that creative blocks are rarely just craft problems—they're often emotional ones. We can work with both.

Editorial Feedback

For writers with pages who need a skilled reader.

I provide detailed, substantive feedback on manuscripts and works-in-progress: memoir, essay, narrative nonfiction, and hybrid forms. This isn't line editing or proofreading—it's developmental response that addresses structure, voice, pacing, scene construction, emotional resonance, and what's working versus what's getting in the way.

You'll receive written feedback plus a conversation to discuss the notes and plan next steps.

Accountability Partnership

For writers who know what to do but struggle to do it consistently.

Writing is solitary. Without external structure, it's easy for the manuscript to slide beneath everything else that demands your attention. This partnership provides the container: regular check-ins, agreed-upon goals, someone who notices when you don't show up for your own work.

This isn't about productivity hacks or word count pressure. It's about building a sustainable relationship with your writing life—one that accounts for resistance, fear, and the reality of your actual days.

Formats

Single Session

Best for: A specific craft question, feedback on a single piece, getting unstuck on a particular problem

One focused conversation. Come with a question, a manuscript excerpt (up to 15 pages), or a block you can't move past. Leave with clarity and next steps.

Includes:

• 60-minute video session
• Written summary of key insights and action items

Monthly Coaching (4 sessions)

Best for: Active projects needing regular support, writers building or rebuilding a practice

Four 60-minute sessions over one month, plus ongoing communication between sessions. We establish your goals, identify obstacles, and create a realistic plan—then we meet weekly to maintain momentum, troubleshoot, and keep you accountable.

Includes:

• 4 x 60-minute video sessions
• Email support between sessions
• Feedback on up to 20 pages of work-in-progress
• End-of-month review: what worked, what's next

Quarterly Intensive (12 sessions)

Best for: Book-length projects, writers committed to significant progress, those who need sustained accountability

Twelve 60-minute sessions over three months—the timeframe most writers need to build real momentum or complete a major milestone (draft, revision, proposal). This is my most comprehensive offering, combining coaching, editorial feedback, and accountability into an ongoing partnership.

Includes:

• 12 x 60-minute video sessions (weekly)
• Priority email support throughout
• Feedback on up to 100 pages of work-in-progress (in installments)
• Monthly progress reviews
• Optional: LIWC analysis of your writing to surface patterns in your voice and style
• Final session: Project assessment and sustainability plan for continuing independently

Manuscript Consultation – Editorial Only

Best for: Writers with a complete draft or substantial excerpt who need expert feedback without ongoing coaching

You send me your manuscript (up to 100 pages); I read it closely and provide detailed written feedback on structure, voice, pacing, scene, and overall effectiveness. We then meet for a 60-minute conversation to discuss the notes and your revision plan.

Includes:

• Close reading of up to 100 pages
• Written editorial letter (4-6 pages)
• 60-minute video consultation
• Follow-up email for lingering questions

What We Might Work On

Getting started

• Clarifying what your project actually is (and isn't)
• Finding your way into difficult material
• Developing a sustainable writing practice that fits your life
• Moving past perfectionism and permission problems

Moving forward

• Structuring a book-length work
• Building scenes that do emotional work
• Finding and refining your voice
• Navigating the middle—where most projects stall
• Integrating research, reflection, and narrative

Finishing

• Revising with intention (not just tinkering)
• Knowing when it's done
• Preparing submissions: query letters, synopses, proposals
• Understanding your publishing options

Unblocking

• Identifying what's really in the way
• Working with fear, resistance, and avoidance
• Writing through (not around) the hard parts
• Reconnecting with why this project matters

Who This is For

• Memoirists and essayists working on personal narrative
• Writers tackling difficult subject matter: trauma, illness, loss, family secrets
• Academics crossing into creative or public-facing writing
• Professionals with expertise and a book idea but no writing background
• Anyone with a story that won't let them go

I work primarily with narrative nonfiction—memoir, essay, hybrid forms—though I'm happy to discuss other projects.