By Dr. Ron Passfield
Social support can take the form of having friends, family or other people who can be a source of support in difficult times, such as chronic illness, death of a loved one or ongoing disability. They can provide emotional, companionship or resource support and enhance our self-image while offering different perspectives on what we are … Continue reading “The Healing Power of Social Support”
I have previously written about the Health Story Collaborative created by Dr. Annie Brewster M.D. The Collaborative provides an online platform for individuals to share their story (through any medium) about their health challenges and their road to recovery. The stories provide healing for the storyteller and ongoing inspiration for others to overcome the challenge … Continue reading “Healing Through Creative Storytelling”
Dr. Annie Brewster, M.D. describes the power of storytelling for healing and recovery from illness, injury or loss in her book, The Healing Power of Storytelling: Using Personal Narrative to Navigate Illness, Trauma and Loss. She stresses the need to develop a new “narrative identity” after receiving a life-changing medical diagnosis. Annie provides an online … Continue reading “Managing Grief through Storytelling”
Many writers and podcasters highlight the challenges involved in life transitions. Some focus on specific transitions such as aging, menopause for women, or transitions precipitated by organisational change. Their discussions frequently highlight the need to reframe specific transitions such as aging or job loss as periods of growth and creativity rather than decline – this … Continue reading “Managing Life Transitions through Storytelling”
A challenging medical diagnosis can turn your life upside down, make you question your self-image and increase feelings of isolation, particularly if it prevents you from actively engaging with your social or sporting network. Dr. Annie Brewster M.D., who experienced these challenges when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001, found that medical practitioners … Continue reading “Healing through Storytelling”
Dr. Rafael Campo, in an interview for the Boston Globe, spoke of the ability of poetry to reveal the “interior story” of the creator. He highlighted the rhythm of poetry and how it mirrored the rhythm of the body. Dr. Rafael Campo, a Harvard trained doctor, is a highly acclaimed poet, essayist and medical specialist … Continue reading “Listening to Our Interior Story”
In our May online Meetup of writers-with-chronic-illness, Jennifer Crystal introduced a poem by Lucile Clifton titled, “Won’t You Celebrate With Me?”. The poem was made more poignant by a video presentation of Lucile reading her poem to an audience. In the poem, Lucile talks about her life as a woman who was non-white and who … Continue reading “Celebrate the Small Things in Life”
During the recent Healing Through Writing Festival, Grace Quantock presented on the topic, Living Well with Chronic Illness. Grace maintained that people with chronic illness often have to deal with missed symptoms, explaining away illness, and social exclusion. She stated that it is often harder to gain belief from others than to deal with the … Continue reading “Writing “In Community” for Healing”
At the recent Write Your Own Way Summit, Sandra Postma spoke eloquently about how to write with a chronic illness. Sandra is a book coach for writers with chronic illness. She is especially well-qualified for this role having studied journalism and literature at university and undertaken a Book Coach Certification with Author Accelerator. Sandra is … Continue reading “How to Write with a Chronic Illness”
One of the many things that people with chronic illness have to deal with is frustration with medical practitioners. This can involve misdiagnosis and/or inappropriate treatment that sometimes aggravates the symptoms of the chronic illness. Recently I experienced a number of frustrating dealings with medical practitioners – my GP said that allergies and Mast Cell … Continue reading “Adopting a Holistic Approach to MCAS and Histamine Intolerance”
