Write about your experience with mental illness in a safe space.
Whether you have experienced mental illness personally or have a loved one with mental illness, writing about it can help you process the challenges and inner conflicts while creating powerful narratives that reduce stigma and stereotypes. In the spirit of healing through storytelling, participants will write about how mental illness has directly or indirectly affected their lives. You will learn creative ways to practice self-discovery through writing and turn personal experience into art, and you will come away with two rough drafts in whatever genre you choose. For inspiration, we will read pieces by Elyn Saks, Bassey Ikpi, Mariah Hornbacher, and more. Please note, this is not a replacement for therapy. It’s an opportunity to explore a difficult topic through a creative lens with a compassionate guide and community.
Live video conference: This workshop will be held via our online video conferencing platform, Zoom. You can view brief tutorials on using the platform here. On the start date or the day before, participants will receive an email with login info (please check your spam if you don’t see it).
In this workshop you’ll learn:
- Idea generation
- Pre-writing techniques
- Story development
- Ethical dilemmas
Time requirements
- Participants will likely spend at least 2 hours outside of class working on their rough drafts.
Materials
- All reading materials will be provided.
Who should take this workshop?
- This workshop is designed for beginning and intermediate nonfiction writers who want to write about this topic while taking care of themselves and others.
If you need an accommodation for this workshop, please contact us at access@writer.org. We will attempt to fulfill all requests, but advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility services.
