Save the DATE!

Our next storytelling retreat for Stanford clinical students is 10am-4:00pm on October 8th at Pie Ranch in Pescadero, CA. The workshop is now full but you can sign up for the waitlist here.

Now more than ever, there are opportunities for clinicians and clinicians-in-training to make their voices heard--whether that's live onstage, creating a stories for radio or print, writing an opinion piece for a major newspaper, giving talks and presentations, writing articles or a novel, or sharing their experiences from the frontlines of healthcare. At our fall, winter and spring Medicine & The Muse Storytelling Workshops clinical students from Stanford School of Medicine get an intensive in the art and craft of storytelling for a variety of media--from radio to short story, creative nonfiction to live storytelling. Previous guest instructors have been selected for their know-how and experience as well as their generosity, kindness and interest in supporting student work. Past guests have included Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks; Jordan Bass, executive editor of McSweeney's Publishing; Annie Brown, producer of the New York Times Daily Podcast, the bestselling writer Bonnie Tsui, the poet MK Chavez, and many more. Together, we think, we write, we learn, we share.

The most powerful outcomes of these workshops, however, may have nothing to do with improving clinical students’ communication abilities. The workshops have become an important way for students to get to know one another away from the demands of campus and coursework and clinical rotations. Our days together on the farms offer valuable and precious time to reconnect with self and others and their own inner purpose. Students practice being vulnerable and engaging their humanity in the service of their training as healers. We can’t wait to get back to it.

The October workshop will be led by me.

Sample lessons and topics we cover:

• tips and tricks for being your most creative and authentic self and capturing your best ideas

• how to identify the elements of compelling stories and their structure

• instruction on oral presentation skills and presence, in clinic or onstage

• the art of asking better questions

• the difference between a story and merely an interesting topic

• how feel more creative in daily life and learn how to make time for creative work in medical school

• what agents, editors and producers are looking for and how to pitch ideas

Bring Us to Work With You!

Our team loves facilitating workshops at other institutions, companies, groups and practices. Virtual or in person.