John F. Evans, MAT, MA, Ed.D is a writing clinician and integrative health coach and is certified in Grief Recovery Method.  He shares parts of his own grief journey and own resiliency as a lifetime learner and teacher.  He encourages us to be curious about our own resistance and compassionate with ourselves as we explore our individual visions of optimal wellness. His work is rooted in evidence based approaches as he works with groups, individuals, and health care professionals, teaching them how to use writing for better physical, emotional, and spiritual health.  He has authored five books and has taught journaling and writing for self-development for over thirty years- connecting the mind and body, through language.   He is also a certified in the Advanced Grief Recovery Method. Much of his work since 2010 has been within Duke University's Integrative Medicine, medical school, cancer institute and health and humanities institute. He has taught, Caring for Caregivers, Legacy Writing, Transform Your Health: Write to Heal, Leading Patients in Writing for Health, and Writing as a Tool for Integrative Health Coaches. Currently, Evans blogs monthly for Psychology Today in Personal Perspectives. He co-authored Expressive Writing: Words that Heal (2014). His book, Wellness & Writing Connections: Writing for Better Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Health (2010), is a collection of essays from the Wellness & Writing Connections Conference Series (2007 – 2010).

A growing body of research shows that the heart rate lowers and people are more equipped to fight off infections when they release their worries in writing. In addition to coping better with stressful situations, writing can have a positive impact on self-esteem and result in works that can help others overcome their own obstacles.

He closes by sharing 6 steps OR 6min writing exercise:

When I think about my loss I’m aware that_____________

When I think about my loss I find myself paying attention too ______________

When I think about my loss I accept that ______________

When I think about my loss I appreciate that ________________

When I think about my loss I have affection for ________________

When I think about my loss I affirm that __________________

He is the Executive Director of Wellness & Writing Connections:  http://www.wellnessandwritingconnections.com/   His book: Expressive Writing, Words that Heal, https://www.amazon.com/Expressive-Writing-Words-that-Heal/dp/1611580463

Books mentioned: http://www.anunfinishedproject.net.

 https://www.amazon.com/Family-Disease-Memoir-Multigenerational-Ataxia/dp/1476683182/ref=sr_1_1?crid=18IWYLA9WPMA1&dchild=1&keywords=a+family+disease&qid=1612276896&sprefix=family+disease+%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-1

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