Writing for Wellness provides a new and focused writing program for cancer patients, their family members, caregivers, and medical staff. It includes information about the author’s own battle with cancer, Healing Words from more than 60 contributors, and instructions for the reader to write his or her own healing words in the It's Your Turn section.

For six years participants in Writing for Wellness classes have come to write and to eagerly share their stories. Wealthy Hollywood writers and producers sit alongside the poorest of the poor. Racial, religious, and cultural minorities all write together, battling to survive, heal, thrive.

In her class Julie's method focuses on specific themes. Anger, frustration, fear, laughter, and tears pour out in prose and poetry, which Julie has collected in her book, Writing for Wellness: A Prescription for Healing.

Now readers can share in the healing by doing their own writing — first reading the Healing Words from more than 60 class participants and then expressing their own feelings with the It's Your Turn section in every chapter.

Features

—        The author, a college writing professor and two-time breast-cancer survivor, shares her experiences to teach cancer patients and family members how to express what they are going through.

—        The audience includes those who have experienced cancer or other tragedies personally or through their family and friends, and those working in medical centers/hospitals.

—        Each thematic chapter includes Julie’s own experiences battling cancer, the writings of her students in Healing Words, and a section for readers, It’s Your Turn, designed to help them begin to heal through writing.

The book is

—        an inspirational, uplifting, and sometimes humorous look at how cancer and other tragedies affect our lives.

—        a unique and focused writing program containing the contributions of more than 60 participants in Julie Davey’s Writing for Wellness classes at City of Hope.

—        filled with easy-to-follow writing techniques you can use to help healing, even if you are a “non-writer.”

About the Author

Julie Davey has loved the written word and classrooms since she was four years old and used to sneak into the elementary school kindergarten class for story time. After receiving her B.A. in journalism and her M.A. in American Studies, she worked as a television writer and newspaper reporter. She was also an associate magazine editor at the California Institute of Technology.

She became a professor of journalism at Fullerton College where she taught writing and supervised the campus newspaper, receiving the college’s highest award for excellence in teaching.

In 2001, she created Writing for Wellness classes at City of Hope Cancer Center to teach fellow cancer patients writing techniques to help them heal psychologically. For her volunteer work, she was recently named “Woman of the Week” by CBS-TV News in Los Angeles.

Both of Julie’s parents, her best friend, her college roommate, and several male friends have died from cancer. She knows firsthand that life goes on. She encourages patients, family members, and medical staff to consciously decide to live life to the fullest.

For more information about Writing for Wellness classes, reviews of the book, and a calendar of activities click here.