Become a narrative medicine leader.
Join the Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative for a personalized, interactive narrative medicine workshop. You will participate in large and small group activities designed to teach practical skills, and support collaboration and innovation among learners from diverse healthcare experiences. We welcome healthcare professionals, patients, caregivers, and artists who are advocates for telling and receiving “undertold” stories of illness and health in our communities. At this workshop you will learn and practice narrative competence, contribute to and participate in an interactive humanities gallery, and create narrative medicine activities to implement in your own health settings and communities.

Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative is committed to training and supporting narrative medicine facilitators from diverse communities.

This workshop is limited to 35 participants. Narrative Medicine Facilitator Training was originally planned as an in-person weekend event, but has been reimagined as a unique online experience. We held our first online training in January 2021, and continue to adapt this experience as more options open up across our cities. If you are physically located in or near Portland, OR or Seattle, WA, we hope to offer in-person optional activities. Once registered, participants will have access to digital materials and support.

Update: Due to the current surge of Covid-19 cases in our region, we have decided not to offer any in-person learning opportunities in this training. All lectures and workshops will be virtual.

Learn more about the Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative at our website nwnmcollaborative.org
REGISTRATION
SOLD OUT. Please contact us at [email protected] to be placed on a waitlist.
General Registration $200
General Registration + Continuing Education Credit $400
Student Registration $75 (limited number available)
Sliding fee scale available for a limited number of participants. Please contact [email protected] to inquire. 
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of OHSU School of Medicine and Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative. The OHSU School of Medicine is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Credit: Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 16.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Who can receive AMA PRA Category 1 Credits? Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses, Physician Assistants, Certified Nurse Midwife, Licensed Social Workers, Pharmacy (in Oregon).

Important information for Nurse Practitioners and Registered Nurses. For the purpose of recertification, the American Nurses Credentialing Center accepts AMA PRA Category 1 Credit issued by organizations accredited by the ACCME. For the purposes of relicensure the Oregon State Board of Nursing accepts AMA PRA Category 1 Credit for attendance at structured learning activities offered by organizations (in this case OHSU, Division of CME) accredited by the ACCME.

Often researchers, PharmDs, Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, and Chiropractors can accept the AMA PRA Category 1 Credit TM as an equivalent as long as the topic is relevant to the applicant's field or discipline. If you have doubts whether an activity will qualify for CE, contact your board prior to registering for the course. All other questions regarding CE, please direct to [email protected]
Location
A Virtual Event
synchronous and asynchronous
Date & Time
October 29-November 12
*see schedule below for dates & times

What
Narrative medicine is a practice in which we recognize, absorb, metabolize, and allow ourselves to be moved by stories of illness. Through narrative practice, we recognize, respect, and nourish those affected by illness—patients and caregivers of all kind.
Why
Narrative Medicine is one way to awaken the shared humanity of all people navigating illness and the healthcare system. Doing this in community strengthens us individually. NWNMC has a deep interest in bringing the humanities into conversations around health and healing, and to partner with people from communities whose illness experiences are often undertold. 
How
Narrative Medicine Facilitator Training teaches the challenging skills of listening, observing, connecting, and leading. Our workshop creates space to practice, strengthen, and renew our empathy and curiosity, which are vital to care and healing. We model our training on "learn one, do one, teach one" by giving attendees experiential learning, collaboration with experts, and supported creative space. After the workshop, participants will receive ongoing support from faculty to implement narrative medicine experiences in their own communities. 
Who
We welcome individuals and teams who are interested in learning narrative medicine skills, and who want to put those skills to use by creating and leading narrative medicine experiences in their own environments. We invite individuals who want to explore their own stories and lift stories that are often overlooked, recognizing that diverse perspectives strengthen any system.

Our past trainings have included patients, physicians, chaplains, nurse practitioners, advocates, social workers, at home caregivers, scholars, medical scribes, students, veterinarians, educators, medical residents, health system leaders, artists, psychologists, behavior health consultants, trauma informed coaches, actors, playwrights, and more. All are welcome.
Questions?
For more information about the Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative visit our website www.nwnmcollaborative.org
If you have questions about the training, please email [email protected] 
Goals
The goal of the NWNMC Facilitator Training is to develop and support a network of narrative medicine facilitators throughout the Pacific Northwest; a group of individuals who come from diverse professional and personal backgrounds, work in a variety of health settings, and are members of communities whose stories are not always represented in dominant health narratives; a group who will put the training into practice in their own communities and be committed to collaborating with others.
Objectives
At the end of the course participants will be able to
  • Describe narrative medicine and narrative competence
  • Recognize a wide breadth of health narratives including those from underrepresented individuals and communities
  • Participate effectively in workshops with peers from multiple different roles in health care
  • Explain how narrative medicine engages all members of a healthcare team, including patients, family caregivers, health professionals, and students
  • Recognize and develop narrative competence in themselves and others
  • Develop and lead original narrative medicine activities 
  • Design safe, inclusive, equitable, representative spaces for humane and humanizing interactions
  • Recognize that narrative medicine is an iterative process with co-creation at its core
  • Identify interprofessional peers, resources, and support for ongoing collaboration in the Pacific Northwest region and beyond
Schedule
Once you register for this event, you will receive a detailed daily schedule closer to the start date. 
Friday Oct 29
1:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.Welcome
Setting the Stage for Narrative Competence
Elizabeth Lahti & Lisa Schimmel
Synchronous
recorded
BREAK 
2:00 p.m.- 3:45 p.m.Small Group Workshop #1 
Introductions and Generous Listening
*Participants will be assigned to a small group on the first day of training. You will stay with the same small group throughout the course.
Synchronous
BREAK
4:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.Plenary
Attention, Representation, Affiliation
Elizabeth Lahti
Synchronous
recorded
4:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.Closing Synchronous
recorded
Saturday Oct 30
9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.Plenary
Collective Knowledge in Health Narratives
Mollie Marr
Synchronous
recorded
9:45 – 10:00 a.m.Microgroup
*In microgroups, we hope to mimic the chance encounters that happen in the hallways and around the coffee pot during in person events.
Synchronous
 
10:00 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.Plenary
Creating Inclusive Spaces
Chrys Buckley, Cirila Estela Vasquez Guzman, Tyanne Conner
Synchronous
recorded
10:45a.m. — 11:00 a.m.Microgroup Synchronous
 
BREAK
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.Small Group Workshop #2
Recognizing & Developing Narrative Competence
Synchronous
 
BREAK
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.Humanities Gallery
Green Ideas: The Haiku Way and Narrative Competency
Corey Pressman
In this gallery, there will be dedicated time for creative work, discussion, and application to narrative medicine spaces.
Thursday, Nov 4
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.Inward Exploration (Optional)
Lisa Schimmel
In this session, Dr. Schimmel will facilitate an opportunity to listen to and support one another.
Synchronous
Friday Nov 5
1:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.Plenary
Third Object
Molly Osborne
Synchronous
recorded
1:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.MicrogroupSynchronous
 
2:00 p.m.- 3:30 p.m.Small Group Workshop #3
Representation in Illness Narratives
Synchronous
 
BREAK
3:45 p.m.— 4:30 p.m.Plenary
Creating a Narrative Medicine Experience
Alexis Rehrmann
Synchronous
recorded
4:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.Microgroup Synchronous
 
4:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.ClosingSynchronous
Saturday Nov 6
9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.Plenary
Leading a Narrative Medicine Workshop
Adam Hoverman
Synchronous
recorded
9:45 a.m.— 10:00 a.m.Microgroup Synchronous
 
BREAK
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.Small Group Workshop #4
Creating Your Narrative Medicine Experience
Synchronous
 
BREAK
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.Humanities Gallery
Participants will attend one of the following galleries
Foreground/Background: What do we see in the moment and why?
Sarah Jho & Lisa Abia-Smith
Sensory Box 
Grace Haynes & Ellen Singer
Sunday-Tuesday, Nov 7-9 
IndependentWork on draft of original workshop/activity
 
Tuesday, Nov 9
5:30 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.Microgroup
Present original workshop/activity ideas
Give and receive feedback
Synchronous
 
6:30 p.m. – 7:15 p.m.Holding Space as a Facilitator
Lisa Schimmel
Synchronous
recorded
Friday Nov 12
1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
 
Small Group Workshop #5
Leading Your Narrative Medicine Activity
Synchronous
4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.Closing
Presentation of the Library of 3rd objects & Moving Forward
Pamela Pierce & Elizabeth Lahti
Synchronous
recorded
Our Team
Our planning team is made up of individuals from all areas of health care. Among us we represent perspectives from health professionals, patients, family caregivers, trainees, educators, artists, writers, and leaders. Some of us are well established in our careers and others are just beginning. Some of us work in community health centers, others in academics. We are excited to welcome new members to our planning team--many of whom completed this training in January 2021. We value the many perspectives our planning team brings to the table, and recognize that here and in our healthcare settings, we must work to flatten hierarchies. 
Carrie Bailey
Carrie is a writer, former English instructor, educational developer, and current student in the Narrative Medicine program at Columbia University.
After clocking over 10,000+ hours in the teaching profession and working with learners and writers at all stages of life and their writing practice, she discovered my strength was mashing up classic ideas from the humanities with educational technology and, more recently, narrative with medicine. She loves the alchemy of early modern literature, when science and art were more intimate, Turner Classic Movies, the underdog, most kinds of cheese and hertwo dogs.

Chrys Buckley
Chrys has been writing for as long as she can remember, and loves the way a pen feels in her hand. She sees words as colors, making writing a true artistic experience. Her work includes seven years at the Portland State University Learning Center where she spent her time as a coordinator, tutor, and supervisor. She is a fierce advocate for students with disabilities, and has been the force of change in various academic institutions. As a medical student, Chrys rocked her narrative medicine courses and is excited to be a part of the Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative team.
Grace Haynes
Grace is a family practice physician in Arizona. She has a distinct approach to healing through medicine, art, ministry and compassionate patient care. She has served patients in private practice, as Medical Director for Verve Wellness Center, and as Department Chair of Family Practice at the Thomas Davis Medical Center.  She is an accomplished artist, and has integrated observing and creating art with her experience as a physician to lead workshops for patients, students, and health professionals. She created and taught a Humanities Gallery for the first Narrative Medicine Facilitator Training in January 2021. 
Rebecca Harrison
Rebecca believes in the power of story to express experiences in healthcare and also to heal. She is inspired by the blending of art and science to tell our stories and believes in many paths to health and healing. She is a clinician educator, clerkship director, and section chief in the Division of Hospital Medicine. In these roles, she promotes more compassionate medical care for diverse patients, providers and learners. She has facilitated narrative medicine workshops, reflection rounds and resiliency training skills. She has published articles on medical education, health humanities, hospital medicine, and part-time careers.
Adam Hoverman
Adam is a family medicine and public health physician. He was drawn to osteopathic medicine and public health by Dr. Still’s pithy phrase, “the objective of the physician is to find health; anyone can find disease.” A champion for cultural safety, geo-spatial histories, and design thinking, Adam’s research focuses on the social determinants of health. He is clinical faculty at the University of Washington School of Public Health and board member of the Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative. Adam facilitates narrative medicine small groups for health professional students and health workers and honors the narrative muse at the intersection of songwriting and poetry.
Zachary Jacobs
Zac is a hospitalist who believes that compassionate care and patient-centered medicine are enhanced by a familiarity with narrative. In the Global Health & Underserved Populations Track, he worked with underserved populations in the Navajo Nation and Malawi, Africa. At the University of California, San Francisco he incorporated a narrative medicine curriculum into global scholars field work. He teaches reflective practice to medical trainees as a means of fostering well-being, empathy, and personal growth. His writing has been published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, Annals of Global Health, Hektoen International, Blood & Thunder, and the Journal of the SF Marin Medical Society.
Sarah Jho
Sarah is an immigrant health outreach coordinator, oral historian, and an emergency department scribe in the low-income multi-ethnic enclave of Koreatown, Los Angeles. She graduated from Yale in 2020 as a first-generation low-income college student, and received her BA in the History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health and Molecular, Cellular, and Development Biology. Through her historical training, she hopes to use narrative as a means of excavating the way that broader social systems shape patterns of health, illness, and communities of care. She is a prospective medical school student with planned matriculation in the fall of 2022. Sarah completed Narrative Medicine Facilitator Training in January 2021.
Elizabeth Lahti
Elizabeth is Director of Narrative Medicine at OHSU, Co-founder and President of the Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative. She teaches health humanities to students, residents, and faculty, locally and nationally. She uses narrative in medical education, with a focus on professional identity formation, leadership development, and patient centered care. She is the daughter of a Peruvian immigrant and often views the world through that lens. She is a poetry editor for The Pharos, a medical humanities journal of the national Alpha Omega Alpha Honors Society. Her work has been published in Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of General Internal Medicine, and The Intima: a Journal of Narrative Medicine.
Natalie Lanocha
Natalie is a pediatrician and palliative medicine physician. She studied English and Cultural Studies during her undergraduate years at McGill University, and since that time has been working to weave the humanities into her medical career. She believes that before we can make medical recommendations, we must first generously listen to understand the narratives that inform patients’ values. Natalie serves as the Editor Emeritus for the Section on Pediatrics Monthly Feature in Pediatrics. She has created writing workshops locally and nationally, with an emphasis on bolstering trainee communication skills. She completed Narrative Medicine Facilitator Training in January 2021. 
Pam Pierce
Pam is the Digital Scholarship and Repository Librarian at OHSU. Her previous experience includes serving as the Digital Library Coordinator and Archivist for the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University in North Dakota and as an Art Cataloger for the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. Her scholarship and research focuses on the history of women within the Health Sciences and the role that images play in creating the mythology of the U.S. West. She believes in Narrative Medicine as an essential means of emphasizing empathy and understanding through stories.
Corey Pressman
Corey is a teacher, writer, and artist. He has published poetry, short stories, and academic works. His artworks are on exhibit at the Waterstone Gallery in Portland. Corey  works as a trauma-informed personal coach with a focus on the cultivation of subjective vitality. Corey teaches in  the University of Portland School of Nursing’s Integrative Health and Wellness program. He is also faculty at the National University of Natural Medicine and The Wayfinding Academy. He received an  MA in Anthropology from Washington State University and is a Certified Trauma Professional and Certified Compassion Fatigue Professional. He completed Narrative Medicine Facilitator Training in January 2021.
Zoe Seidel
Zoe currently works as a Faculty Development Specialist for the Teaching and Learning Center and an instructor for the Food Systems & Society Program at OHSU. She has a master’s degree in Rhetoric and Writing, a field within English studies that focuses on the teaching of writing/composing, reading, and other forms of postsecondary and adult literacy. In her current roles, Zoe develops online courses for the OHSU School of Nursing and to teach writing, reading, and research to her graduate students. Her main educational interests are postsecondary literacy education and its intersections with issues of equity and social justice.
Ellen Singer
Ellen works as a general office based internist, pediatrician, and medical educator. She has been a reader and writer throughout her life and was a writing instructor and tutor as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley.  She believes that knowing, telling and being part of every patient's story is a huge responsibility but also the greatest reward in her 25+ years in clinical medicine. In addition to her clinical practice, Ellen is the Medical Director of the Foundation for Medical Excellence. She completed Narrative Medicine Facilitator Training in January 2021. 
Kristi Vaughn
Kristi plays many roles managing inpatient Advanced Practice Providers (APPs), teaching in the OHSU School of Nursing and working in the Pre-Op Medicine Clinic. Kristi’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project was on using “Storytelling, as a cognitive behavior pain management strategy for American Indian and Alaska Natives.” Kristi spent several months working with the Makah tribe in Washington State. She found that if healthcare providers listen to patients’ stories it created trust, intimacy, and connectedness. Kristi completed Narrative Medicine Facilitator Training in January 2021.
Darlene Zimbardi
Darlene Zimbardi is a writer, performer, artist, an animal lover and advocate for patients and elders.  She has been published in a variety of magazines and blogs. Ms. Zimbardi's comedic and illness advocacy work has been performed as staged readings on both coasts.  Her themes are immigration, illness and healthcare advocacy. She has a BA in Communications, an MA Theatrical Arts and most recently, MEd in Elementary Education. What drew her to Narrative Medicine is the connection and healing through story. She completed Narrative Medicine Facilitator Training in January 2021.
If you or your organization are interested in being a sponsor for this event, please contact [email protected]
 Join us in October 2021 
Become a narrative medicine leader in your community
Lift the undertold stories around you

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