Healing Through Writing

In this writing-intensive course we will examine how the writing process can serve as a healing tool for adversity and trauma. Using James W. Pennebaker’s Opening Up and Louise de Salvo’s Writing as a Way of Healing as our theoretical base, we will analyze poems, short stories, essays, and books that demonstrate the transformative power of personal narrative. Students will write and revise their own healing narratives in a workshop setting. Assignments will include short in-class writing prompts, 3 essays, electronic journals, and a final portfolio of 15-20 pages of revised work.