Healing Words: Poetry Enters the Hospital

Those of you interested in the cathartic psychogenic powers of writing about health, illness, recovery, and death - mark your calendars: In July, PBS Plus will air "Healing Words: Poetry Enters the Hospital."

The 1-hour documentary is co-directed and co-produced by Joan Baranow and Dr. David Watts, whom I had the pleasure to meet during the first Squaw Valley Writers Community Writing the Medical Experience workshop in 2003.

The film features poetry therapist John Fox, CPT (who presented at Squaw that year), director of Shands Arts-in-Medicine Program ad author of Poetic Medicine.

Central questions include:

1. Does art help people recover their humanity and waken soulfulness?

2. How can the arts assist in the practice of healthcare?

3. What IS a healing environment?

From the very talented producers:

"Poetry serves to remind us of the spiritual mission of medicine. We believe that healing is an art, not merely a skill, and thus the practice of medicine should be founded upon a ethos that embraces the whole rage of human emotio...Poetry will tell the stories of our bodies and our hearts during the stress of illness, birth, and uncertain recovery. This program is about participation in our own health. We believe Healing Words can introduce a new way of caring for self and others."

Please, do your healthcare organization a favor - visit http://www.poetryandmedicine.com/ for more information, and set aside an hour this summer to watch Healing Words.