Writing Resilience

In this program, we’ll examine the writing of survivors and write about the impact of trauma and oppression on ourselves, and the people, communities, and world around us. We'll explore writing as part of a transformative and resilience-building process. How can we foster resilience in communities? Is resilience inborn or something that can be cultivated? Is healing preferred? If so, why? Is healing possible, and if so, how? Who has access to resilience and what are barriers to access? Is the concept of wholeness helpful and/or detrimental?

This is primarily a writing class, but the study of trauma, systematic oppression, and resilience will be part of how we approach writing. We’ll study and write poems, stories, and spoken word. We’ll read poems, stories, essays, scholarly literature, and we’ll watch videos of spoken word and comedy. Students will assemble a collection of writing related to trauma, healing, and resilience. If you are interested in writing, and social psychological healing, through the arts, this program is for you. This program will be taught with trauma-informed lens and is specifically designed to support those living at the intersections of identities and lived experiences.

Class meetings for this course are held completely online.

This is one of three courses that comprise the Writing Trauma, Resilience, and Healing Certificate at Evergreen. Courses can be taken in any order.