February 3, 2012 - Last night was a significant meeting of the Patients' Association of Canada. More than 30 members came for a very special workshop run by Sue Reynolds and her associate Theresa Dekker who are experienced writing teachers and members of Amherst Writer and Artists (AWA). We were introduced to writing by the injunction “Show! Don’t tell!†and after some warm up exercises everyone wrote for 10 minutes and took turns reading their writing. As Sue and Theresa reaffirmed, "it's not therapy, but it's therapeutic."
An amazing array of wonderfully evocative and illuminating pieces of writing emerged. We shared our appreciation of the richly described scenes, the characters that had come to life and the situations that were suggestive of deeper goings on. The workshop was another step in finding ways to share our stories and bring an articulate and effective patient perspective to the health care system. We will continue these explorations in meeting over the next several months and we'll share our findings with all of you.
While this was happening, our one thousandth member joined the Patients' Association of Canada (PAC). We will be getting in touch with this person and offer a special congratulatory gift. We cannot name said person yet, but will if we get his/her permission.
We'll post materials shortly. Until then, find more information on Sue Reynolds here.