Writing Medicine

Writing Medicine is a drop-in virtual workshop for healthcare professionals and/or their loved ones established in March of 2020. Since its inception, thousands of participants have used the sessions as an opportunity to pause, write, reflect, and share creative work in a supportive community of their peers. Many have also gone on to publish short stories, essays, articles, radio stories and more in places like the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Lancet, McSweeney’s and elsewhere. No prior writing experience is necessary and cost will not be a barrier.

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What Participants Have to Say

  • “The sessions are profoundly helpful. The entire week, I am looking forward to Saturdays… You allow us to think deep–this one hour is too precious to me”

    — Dr. Tara Rajendran, Founder of Oncology & Strings, Kerala, India

  • “An encouraging space to start writing again.”

    — Dr. Rachel Han, Department of Psychiatry, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

  • "The session brought my subconscious into consciousness and it was therapeutic.”

    –Dr. Brenda Kubheka, Johannesburg, South Africa

  • “This weekly group of writers from around the world who are vulnerable and kind, generous souls who have shared their hearts pull me in every time I login. As a social worker I’m a bleeding heart anyways, but often feel healed and nourished by these fellow travelers.”

    – Jenny Kwak, Advanced Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Stanford Health Care

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FAQ

  • We started meeting in March 2020 as a free workshop. We are residents, medical students, ICU physicians, OR nurses, physician assistants, surgeons, social workers, clinical chaplains, respiratory therapists, neonatologists, family practice physicians, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, pediatricians, surgeons, anesthesiologists, emergency responders, trauma nurses, clinic and hospital administrators, psychiatrists, bioethicists, retired clinicians, nursing students, and so, so many more. We are also their spouses, partners, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers and parents. We login in from all over the world--Kerala, India and Whitehorse, Canada, to Johannesburg, South Africa and Detroit, MI; Brooklyn, NY to Palo Alto, CA. We started in March 2020 and have no plans for stopping.

  • We meet on specific Saturdays at 10:00 AM PST, unless otherwise noted. Sign up for the newsletter to be notified.

  • It doesn’t matter.

  • Just make sure you have somewhere comfortable to sit and something to write with. Ideally pen and paper.

  • Laurel Braitman and occasionally we have fantastic guest instructors.

  • Writing & thinking. It will be easy.

  • Yes. Yes, we will. But also, if you just want to write for yourself, that’s fine too.

  • Feel free to get in touch with any questions, big or little, that you have about the sessions.