Narrative Medicine in the Mountains

Welcome to “Narrative Medicine in the Mountains,” where story shapes science.

Narrative Medicine in the Mountains is a support-oriented initiative for medical professionals and others interested in narrative practice for professional and personal health. Join a faculty of storytellers and physicians for our first weekend retreat in beautiful Montreat, Black Mountain, Western North Carolina.

We will convene at the charming William Black Lodge as autumn color peaks in the surrounding mountains and woods. Learn the history of oral traditions, practice developing stories from page to telling, and discover the mysterious mechanism within each of us that makes narrative practice a tool so powerful that more than 85% of medical schools now embrace it. At “Narrative Medicine in the Mountains,” you will have the opportunity, time, and peaceful space to explore the ancient aspects of Storytelling. Join us to supplement and deepen your understanding and practice of this newly recognized field and to enhance both the clinical and personal benefits in the modern world and in your professional and personal life.

Narrative Medicine is a newly recognized discipline within clinical practices in mental and physical healthcare. Grounded in the work and writings of such figures as Dr. Arthur Kleinman MD (The Illness Narratives), Victor Frankl (Man’s Search for Meaning), Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona MD(Coyote Medicine), and Dr. Rita Charon MD PhD (Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness), narrative medicine re-incorporates the healing nature inherent in stories into contemporary definitions and practices of what healthcare does, and could do: treat the whole human. Narrative medicine training often focuses on the narrative-theory based practices of close-reading and reflective-writing. During our time together, we will expand beyond this training to explore deeper grounding in how stories have healed humans for millenia.

Laura Hope-Gill and Connie Regan-Blake have been following the Narrative Medicine movement for the past two decades. While both see countless possibilities for future retreats for Storytellers and others interested in extending story’s healing properties to everyone, this inaugural “Narrative Medicine in the Mountains” is for doctors and nurses.