Healing Journeys Conference - Charlottesville, VA and Knoxville, TN.

lizzydavis

I attended the "Healing Journey's" Conference in Greenville after my colon resection and before chemo. I highly recommend it.
Lizzy


---Director's Reflections - by Jan Adrian, MSW

Dear Friends,
I had another reminder this week of what a difference one person can make. I’ve written about Robin Davenport before. She was responsible for our Cancer as a Turning Point conference being offered in Greenville, SC.

I talked to a man this week from Texas who attended that first conference in Greenville in 2005 with his wife. She had just been diagnosed with colon cancer and they were afraid and devastated. He told me he hadn’t laughed since he heard the diagnosis until he heard Terri Tate’s presentation at that conference. He learned that it was possible and OK to laugh, and to live fully, even though they were living with cancer. At that conference he saw role models that taught them how to live, truly live, with a cancer diagnosis. It changed his life.

His wife, Sylvia Thompson, had a gift for expressing herself in poetry. After her diagnosis, she felt she had a mission to use that gift in a way that would help others. A book of her poems was published and she got to do a public reading and book signing before she died in March, 2008. Even the title of her book is inspiring to me — In the Garden of Illness: I Sit by the Well of Hope. I hope you enjoy some of her poems in this newsletter, as well as a story by her husband, William.

And then I thought about how the ripples continue to expand from Robin’s passion to bring the conference to Greenville. A psychologist from the University of Virginia Cancer Center attended a Greenville conference and instigated bringing us to Charlottesville. The Director of the Wellness Community in Knoxville, TN attended a Greenville conference and has arranged for us to offer it in Knoxville in celebration of their 20 year anniversary. When they experienced what a difference it made, they wanted to share it with their communities. As a result of their efforts, next month the conference will be offered in both Charlottesville, VA and Knoxville, TN.

Each of these free conferences will feature the languages of the spirit (humor and music), as well as presentations by experts on healing. In Charlottesville, Michael Lerner, PhD, will talk about Deep Healing With Cancer. In Knoxville, Jeremy Geffen, MD, will talk about The Seven Levels of Healing: Celebrating Life and Spirit on the Journey. And we will hear from the experts on using guided imagery to complement your healing journey — Marty Rossman, MD, in Charlottesville and Belleruth Naparstek in Knoxville. Please spread the word to anyone you know who can use some education or inspiration related to their healing journeys.

We expect almost a thousand people to experience the conference this June for the first time, and we know it will make a difference in their lives. None of this would have happened without Robin’s passion and commitment. Robin told me after one of the Greenville conferences that she would never again think that one person couldn’t make a difference in the world. Robin died in January, 2008, and I hope she can see what a potent force she continues to be.



3 FREE Conferences in 2010!

Continuing Education Available

June 5 & 6
Charlottesville, Virginia

More Information

This conference is free, but you must Register.


June 26
Knoxville, Tennessee

More Information

This conference is free, but you must Register.


October 9 & 10
San Mateo, California