Reflective writing sessions for healthcare workers and their loved ones.

WRITING MEDICINE

If you think you would benefit from the workshop but the paid option feels out of reach, just write to us (info@laurelbraitman.com). We’ll send you a code to sign up for free or a discounted rate, no questions asked or explanation needed.

Laurel offers her workshops and classes for free or reduced rates to anyone who asks, no explanation needed. Hundreds of students, trainees and others have benefitted from no or low cost writing and communication instruction. Your donations make this possible.

Can you afford more than $25 or have you received a lot of free sessions over the last three years? Please consider making a donation to facilitate others’ attendance in our community.

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

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

  • “This space is a mirror for me.”

    — Amelia Ortega, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Amanecer Psychotherapy, NY, NY

  • “Writing Medicine is like a hearty weekend brunch for the soul.”

    — Jane Thomas, Stanford Medical student and founder of The Poetry Workshop at Stanford Hospital's inpatient psychiatric units

  • “When I see Laurel with her hat, selfless honesty and humor each Saturday (and recognize others that I know in the audience) then I know that I am ok. That is, if they are ok, then I must be ok also— this is invaluable to me during this time.”

    — Dr. Yeuen Kim, MAS, Clinical Instructor, Primary Care and Population Health, Stanford University School of Medicine

  • “Thank you eternally for these Saturday afternoons. They have inspired me to renew writing and an exploration of creativity— two things that faded significantly during my surgical residency.”

    — Dr. M Francesca Monn, Reconstructive Urology Fellow, Eastern Virginia Medical School

  • “Thank you for extending a platform for me to tell a story, a personal one, for the first time. And for encouraging everyone in the workshops to bare their hearts and explore their minds. These are opportunities for growth and purpose during a challenging time for all of us.”

    — Anthony Carli, Physician Assistant student, Midwestern University, Arizona

  • “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

  • “Amazingly, the session brought subconscious into the conscious and it was therapeutic.”

    — Dr Brenda Kubheka, Bioethicist and Risk lead, Health IQ Consulting, Johannesburg, South Africa

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 the first and third Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM PST, unless otherwise noted.

  • 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.

  • Email Laurel to ask for a discount code.