Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
From Hell To Hope: A Collaborative Writing Group For Women In Recovery
Session Abstract or Summary
For some time now, researchers have understood that the experience of writing and sharing expressive texts can support positive change in the lives of people suffering from difficulties that range from homelessness and substance abuse to dislocation and resettlement. Although the mechanism through which expressive writing promotes such change is not well understood, it is generally understood that those changes are both cognitive and social in nature. “Writing for Recovery," the particular method of collaborative expressive writing used in this project, can help participants to “[attain] a new sense of personal and relational identities as a result of storying and re-storying their lives” (Taylor et al, 2014, p. 3).
The clients of the Kanawha Day Report Center, a drug free alternative sentencing program, who participate in this project are at critical junctures in their lives. Each of the researchers has experienced critical junctures of her own. In this project, researchers and participants write together about turning points in their lives, in the hopes that writing and sharing expressive texts can promote positive personal and relational changes, and help all to understand what those changes might mean in individual lives.
Presentation #1 Title
From Hell To Hope: A Collaborative Writing Group For Women In Recovery
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
For some time now, researchers have understood that the experience of writing and sharing expressive texts can support positive change in the lives of people suffering from difficulties that range from homelessness and substance abuse to dislocation and resettlement. Although the mechanism through which expressive writing promotes such change is not well understood, it is generally understood that those changes are both cognitive and social in nature. “Writing for Recovery," the particular method of collaborative expressive writing used in this project, can help participants to “[attain] a new sense of personal and relational identities as a result of storying and re-storying their lives” (Taylor et al, 2014, p. 3).
The clients of the Kanawha Day Report Center, a drug free alternative sentencing program, who participate in this project are at critical junctures in their lives. Each of the researchers has experienced critical junctures of her own. In this project, researchers and participants write together about turning points in their lives, in the hopes that writing and sharing expressive texts can promote positive personal and relational changes, and help all to understand what those changes might mean in individual lives.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Elizabeth Campbell is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Marshall's EdD in Curriculum and Instruction. Her research interests include community-university partnerships, collaborative writing, and social justice.
Presentation #2 Title
From Hell To Hope: Finding Oneself in Addiction
Presentation #2 Abstract or Summary
To truly gain an understanding of how West Virginia’s epidemic of drug abuse and addiction has proven so destructive and tenacious, this paper follows the emotional paths that led participating women down the road to addiction. Oftentimes, home and school environments play a critical role in how individual’s lives will unfold; this paper pays particular attention to the feelings participants remember from those days.
What begins to emerge is a picture of individuals who are consistently on the margins of the school community, who often go unnoticed by staff, and who never truly get meaningful support and guidance outside of academics. Although turbulent moments and unpredictable events are revealed in this group, this paper addresses the feelings, more so than the events, memories, or people in the narrative. This attention to emotions can provide a therapeutic acceptance of who they are and what they can do going forward.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Lee Ann Vecellio is a certified School Psychologist with Cabell County Schools & an Ed.D. student in Curriculum and Instruction at Marshall University.
Presentation #3 Title
From Hell To Hope: Finding A Way to Recovery
Presentation #3 Abstract or Summary
During the last few years, drug addiction has grown at alarming rates in many areas throughout the United States; West Virginia has been hit especially hard. Not only does drug addiction affect the individual, families and communities, it also creates difficulties for police agencies, court systems, and correctional institutions. Addicts are often stigmatized as “bad news” and in some instances alienated within the criminal justice system and from their communities.
Keeping an addict trapped in the past prevents them from being successful and decreases motivational efforts for change. Combining principles of expressivist writing and restorative justice, our community-based women’s recovery writing group encourages participants to literally rewrite their lives. This paper, which grows out that group, explores how participants re-establish connections with their communities, their families, and themselves, so that they might recover from addiction and begin to heal.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Leighann Justice Davidson is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at West Virginia State University & an Ed.D. student in Curriculum and Instruction at Marshall University.
Presentation #4 Title
From Hell To Hope: Dreams of Different Futures
Presentation #4 Abstract or Summary
The experience of “From Hell To Hope: A Collaborative Writing Group for Women In Recovery,” is leading participants to a host of new understandings about how lives come undone, and how they can come back together. This presentation is a dramatic reading of excerpts from the writing of six participants – three researchers and three day report clients – that help to map their roads from hell to hope.
Presentation #5 Title
From Hell To Hope: Dreams of Different Futures
Presentation #5 Abstract or Summary
See Presentation 4: Davidson, Vecellio, and Campbell will co-present.
Presentation #6 Title
From Hell To Hope: Dreams of Different Futures
Presentation #6 Abstract or Summary
See Presentation 4: Davidson, Vecellio, and Campbell will co-present.
Conference Subthemes
Health
From Hell To Hope: A Collaborative Writing Group For Women In Recovery
For some time now, researchers have understood that the experience of writing and sharing expressive texts can support positive change in the lives of people suffering from difficulties that range from homelessness and substance abuse to dislocation and resettlement. Although the mechanism through which expressive writing promotes such change is not well understood, it is generally understood that those changes are both cognitive and social in nature. “Writing for Recovery," the particular method of collaborative expressive writing used in this project, can help participants to “[attain] a new sense of personal and relational identities as a result of storying and re-storying their lives” (Taylor et al, 2014, p. 3).
The clients of the Kanawha Day Report Center, a drug free alternative sentencing program, who participate in this project are at critical junctures in their lives. Each of the researchers has experienced critical junctures of her own. In this project, researchers and participants write together about turning points in their lives, in the hopes that writing and sharing expressive texts can promote positive personal and relational changes, and help all to understand what those changes might mean in individual lives.
