What Is A Healing Through Creativity Workshop?

After a brief description of my experiences with cancer, I read two introductory poems. I explain that we will complete three breakout discussions in small groups, and that each discussion will offer specific prompts. I explain that the goal of this process is to generate a healing vocabulary list. We use this healing vocabulary list in a creative session at the end of the workshop. In the creative session, participants are encouraged to individually create something that conveys their most valued learning from the workshop.
Before each breakout, I read one or two poems to set an emotional and experiential tone for the discussion. Breakouts consist of small group discussions followed by larger group sessions. During the sessions, participants share the outcomes from the smaller groups while I distill this feedback by writing words on a whiteboard with Healing Vocabulary printed at the top. At the end of the breakout discussions, I read a final pair of prompt poems and hand out crayons and paper.I also distribute a Healing Vocabulary list I have collected in previous workshops. I suggest that individual creative projects can include drawing a picture, illustrating a word, illustrating a poem or writing a journal entry. After this Creative SessionI ask the participants to share what they created with the whole group. As people reveal what they have done, everyone in the group is welcome to discuss how these individuals’ projects make them feel.