Chase the muse with me.
Narrative Medicine
“There’s something validating about seeing your story on a piece of paper.”
–from “Telling Life stories May Help Improve Care for Cancer Patients” by Kara Lofton, West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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"I think poetry can be important in capturing the experiences of people grappling with illness—patients, caregivers, health professionals, and so on. Reading these experiences can be transformative, too. A person can be sick, but also have a sense of well-being, and that’s something that I think a poet can help with. I try to honor that lived experience."
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--from Speaking of Marvels interview
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Healthcare Is Human
Since 2020, Healthcare is Human (HIH) has been telling authentic healthcare stories. Dr. Ryan McCarthy created HIH in Martinsburg, WV, to give voice to individuals who were under-represented as the Covid-19 pandemic began. Since then, HIH has grown exponentially and is now a complex narrative medicine initiative. Writer, poet, and narrative medicine expert Renée K. Nicholson co-hosts the podcast. Molly Humphreys, native of Shepherdstown, WV, photographer on the project, has captured hundred of images of healthcare workers in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.
Kym Mattioli produces the podcast.
HIH is supported by grants from the West Virginia Humanities Council, WVU Foundation, and generous donors across West Virginia.
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Lectures and Readings
A frequent speaker on health humanities and narrative medicine, Renée was recently a Keynote Speaker at Missouri Southern State University's Artful Medicine Symposium, the TAG Lecture for the Department of English at East Carolina University, and presented in the Volvox series for students and alumni of the Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University, among other speaking engagements.
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Connective Tissue Book Series Editor
Connective Tissue is a broad series exploring the human condition and its intersection with health, illness, and healing through the lens of the humanities and its methodologies, as well as through expressive creative works that illuminate people’s lived experience with health, illness, and medicine. This series seeks to publish books that cover innovative approaches to healthcare, integrating expressive arts and humanities practices into health settings, as well as books of creative writing that artfully render stories of illness, disability and healthcare.
To get a sense of what I'm interested in, see my articles for Synapsis: A Health Humanities Journal, where I am a contributing writer.
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Creative Writing Workshops
I offer a range of writing workshops designed to inspire and develop creative practice, with particular expertise in the intersection of writing and healthcare. My offerings include narrative medicine-focused workshops such as The Poetry of Restoration, which explores writing as a tool for healing and reflection. I also provide craft workshops across poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for writers looking to hone their skills, as well as book development workshops for those working on longer projects. Understanding that every group has unique needs, I create bespoke workshops tailored to specific client goals and contexts, with a special emphasis on creative writing in healthcare settings—supporting medical professionals, patients, caregivers, and communities in finding their voices through the written word.
