Creative Writing Workshop for Cancer Patients

LANCASTER, PA, January 2015 – Creative writing workshops for cancer patients, survivors and caregivers will be offered at the Lancaster General Health Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute on Monday, January 26 from 2 to 4 p.m., or Wednesday, February 4 from 6 to 8 p.m.

The free workshops will be held in the Cancer Institute’s Seraph Conference Room (West), adjacent to the Suburban Outpatient Pavilion, 2102 Harrisburg Pike, Lancaster. Pre-registration is required by calling (717) 544-4636.

The workshops will be facilitated by published fiction writer, poet and professional writing mentor, Melissa Greene of Lancaster, founder of “Write From The Heart Creative Writing Workshops” for adults, children and teens.
 
“Writing from the heart isn’t about grammar, spelling, or punctuation, but what we long to write, deep down,” Greene explained. “It’s a return to our feelings - serious, funny, whatever appears on the horizon. Writing is freedom, a relief from pain. Our inner lives matter - especially today - they calm and replenish us.”

Peter Jupin, Chaplain for the LG Health Cancer Institute, said creative writing can be a very powerful way for cancer patients to explore both the joys and sorrows, the blessings and the hardships of the cancer experience and ultimately to discover how this creative outlet can lead to personal transformation and healing.

“Creative writing is an ancient and time-honored way to give expression to what lies deepest in our hearts and minds, to what we treasure and long for the most, and to our greatest hopes and our biggest fears,” he added. “Writing can become both an inner sanctuary in which to rest and to find safety, as well as a sturdy crucible in which to cultivate a new vision of who we are now and who we are becoming.”

Opened in July 2013, the Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute integrates a healing environment with advanced technology to treat patients with cancer, brining medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgeons and other cancer specialists together in one, centralized location with access to existing services, including the Suzanne H. Arnold Center for Breast Health.