Disclaimer:
I am not a licensed therapist, nor do I claim to be an expert on mental health or anxiety disorders. This is my personal experience with the disorder and how I choose to cope.
I have anxiety. It's a part of my every day life. It's a part of a ton of people's lives. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, it is the most common mental disorder in America, affecting 40 million adults aged 18 years and older. However, only 36.9% receive adequate treatment. Treatment in America for all kinds of health is seen as a privilege and not a right, which explains the low percentage of adult Americans getting the help they need. Too many people just "deal" with the symptoms of anxiety. For me, personally, it's very physical. It makes my chest burn, my throat starts to close up, and it gets really hard to breathe. There is no "calming down" easily. Anxiety can also come in the form of spacing out, rocking back and forth, raking nails on skin, severe mood swings, random bursts of irritability, and controlling behavior. It is not a temporary worry or fear of something. What works for some people who deal with anxiety on a daily basis does not work for everyone.
I find that prompted journals help me cope with my anxiety, and storytelling can (not always) curve an attack for me. That is where my idea for a narrative workshop comes in. My vision is to create a space where those who suffer from anxiety can use a prompted journal of their choosing to tell their stories. They may either work quietly and keep the journal all to themselves, or they may share if they choose to do so. We would meet once a week for two months in somewhere quiet, inviting, and nonthreatening such as a coffee shop. I would choose America's Best Coffee and Donuts in Mansfield, Texas for the first meeting. Because I am not a licensed therapist, and this is not therapy, but rather a class on channeling anxiety into storytelling, I would focus on content and developing skills as a storyteller. I think that prompted journals fall under the spectrum of creative non-fiction and creative writing, which are important genres to discuss and write in.
The first week would be an introduction to the journals chosen to use for the workshop and why storytelling matters. I personally prefer prompted journals because it's easier at first to get started with something guiding you along. Right now, I use Practice You: A Journal by Elena Brower. From there, I would give my students free reign on the prompts. They may go in order of the book, they may leave the book altogether and write their own stories without a prompt, or they may skip around and do the ones they like first.
By the second week and so on, I would want a group discussion on the prompts and why they chose the stories they chose (if they are comfortable sharing), and talk about honing in storytelling skills and how it has helped (or not helped) them that week. I imagine some group discussion, paired sharing, and individual writing time for these meetings.
My goal here is not to "fix" or "heal" anyone, but provide tools that help and allow people to tell their stories in a low-stakes, safe environment and get into the habit of daily writing. My goal is allow people to feel control over their lives and how they tell their stories. It's also important that they walk away from this workshop feeling as though their stories are heard, understood, and that they are not alone. The ultimate goal would be that those taking the workshop will continue to write and tell their stories, whether they share those stories with the world or they keep them in a journal for themselves.
**Note:
I have embedded links to credible sites that focus on Anxiety, coping mechanisms, and provide links to getting help. I also have embedded a link to the journal I use right now. It is a meditative prompted journal. (I like it because it promotes self love, acceptance, and meditation techniques).
I am not a licensed therapist, nor do I claim to be an expert on mental health or anxiety disorders. This is my personal experience with the disorder and how I choose to cope.
I have anxiety. It's a part of my every day life. It's a part of a ton of people's lives. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, it is the most common mental disorder in America, affecting 40 million adults aged 18 years and older. However, only 36.9% receive adequate treatment. Treatment in America for all kinds of health is seen as a privilege and not a right, which explains the low percentage of adult Americans getting the help they need. Too many people just "deal" with the symptoms of anxiety. For me, personally, it's very physical. It makes my chest burn, my throat starts to close up, and it gets really hard to breathe. There is no "calming down" easily. Anxiety can also come in the form of spacing out, rocking back and forth, raking nails on skin, severe mood swings, random bursts of irritability, and controlling behavior. It is not a temporary worry or fear of something. What works for some people who deal with anxiety on a daily basis does not work for everyone.
I find that prompted journals help me cope with my anxiety, and storytelling can (not always) curve an attack for me. That is where my idea for a narrative workshop comes in. My vision is to create a space where those who suffer from anxiety can use a prompted journal of their choosing to tell their stories. They may either work quietly and keep the journal all to themselves, or they may share if they choose to do so. We would meet once a week for two months in somewhere quiet, inviting, and nonthreatening such as a coffee shop. I would choose America's Best Coffee and Donuts in Mansfield, Texas for the first meeting. Because I am not a licensed therapist, and this is not therapy, but rather a class on channeling anxiety into storytelling, I would focus on content and developing skills as a storyteller. I think that prompted journals fall under the spectrum of creative non-fiction and creative writing, which are important genres to discuss and write in.
The first week would be an introduction to the journals chosen to use for the workshop and why storytelling matters. I personally prefer prompted journals because it's easier at first to get started with something guiding you along. Right now, I use Practice You: A Journal by Elena Brower. From there, I would give my students free reign on the prompts. They may go in order of the book, they may leave the book altogether and write their own stories without a prompt, or they may skip around and do the ones they like first.
By the second week and so on, I would want a group discussion on the prompts and why they chose the stories they chose (if they are comfortable sharing), and talk about honing in storytelling skills and how it has helped (or not helped) them that week. I imagine some group discussion, paired sharing, and individual writing time for these meetings.
My goal here is not to "fix" or "heal" anyone, but provide tools that help and allow people to tell their stories in a low-stakes, safe environment and get into the habit of daily writing. My goal is allow people to feel control over their lives and how they tell their stories. It's also important that they walk away from this workshop feeling as though their stories are heard, understood, and that they are not alone. The ultimate goal would be that those taking the workshop will continue to write and tell their stories, whether they share those stories with the world or they keep them in a journal for themselves.
**Note:
I have embedded links to credible sites that focus on Anxiety, coping mechanisms, and provide links to getting help. I also have embedded a link to the journal I use right now. It is a meditative prompted journal. (I like it because it promotes self love, acceptance, and meditation techniques).
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