Narrative Medicine with Jennifer Frank

Narrative medicine is a process by which patients, providers, and caregivers can work through the emotions and experience of a serious or chronic illness. This special workshop is open to all who are interested in chronicling their own health care journeys through essay writing. Jennifer Frank will share examples from her own essays as well as one written from a patient perspective. Participants will be asked to reflect on what the pieces mean to them. Dr. Frank will discuss the elements of narrative medicine, how it is used in support groups, medical schools, and other areas to delve more deeply into the human aspect of the medical experience. The session will end with participants brainstorming the key ideas that they would like to explore in their own narrative medicine pieces.

This session is offered free as a community service, but registration is required as space is limited.

Teaching Artist: Jennifer Frank is a family physician, wife, and mother living in Northeast Wisconsin. She started her writing after completing her medical residency traning where she found it healing to write about her experiences with patients. In 2015, her first novel, Getting It Right the Second Time Around, was published. She then, she has continued to publish narrative medicine pieces in a variety of journals. For about a decade, she blogged on work-life balance for Physicians Practice website. She is currently working on a novel about pregnancy loss and also a non-fiction book on Physician Leadership.