“The best writing you can do is the writing you can’t not do. You have to tell the story that is bursting to be told.”
WOMEN ROWING NORTH: WRITING OUR LIFE STORIES
Do you want to leave a legacy for family and friends? Do you want to write a memoir? Or are you going through a transition and, as Brené Brown writes, you want to own your own history so you can write a brave new ending to your story? What tugs at your heart as you contemplate looking back and looking forward? As older women, many of us are pausing to reflect and explore the experiences and relationships that put our lives in motion many years ago.
Women Rowing North: Writing Our Life Stories provides a dedicated and supported space for women to reflect and write about their lives. Based on Guided Autobiography (GAB), an evidence-based method for helping people document their life stories, Women Rowing North: Writing Our Life Stories explores weekly themes and offers activities and writing prompts to help you write your life stories.
This is not a writing course; you do not need writing experience. This workshop series offers you a safe space to explore your life stories. Feedback from group members is supportive and encouraging. There are never any critiques of writing style or content.
Your stories are powerful; by sharing this experience with like-minded women, you will learn about yourself and our shared female experience. In these workshops, we will paddle north together, holding space for each other, and offering deep listening and encouragement.
“Helen is authentic, gentle and insightful. She makes it safe to be vulnerable.” - Sharon, Vancouver, Canada
“Helen provides a calm, supportive environment for women to explore writing their stories. Her spirit is ‘ageless' and her view of the world packed with ‘possibilities’.” - Dyan, Courtenay, Canada
Women Rowing North: Writing Our Life Stories offers a safe, small-group experience for women interested in writing their life stories. We will travel back to look at where we have been and reflect on what we have learned thus far on this life journey. As John Donoghue wrote, you will travel “into the temple of your memory where all your vanished days are secretly gathered and awaiting you.”
Supported by a trained facilitator, you are led through weekly themes, activities, and writing prompts that foster memories and recollections to help you with your writing. You are invited to write 800 – 1,000 word stories on weekly themes and then read your stories within the safety of a small group. You only share what you are comfortable sharing.
Reduced pricing is available if needed. Please email me to work out a price that is affordable for you.
EXPLORING MY LIFE JOURNEY
Wednesday, 9:30 am - Noon (PST)
May 15 - June 19, 2024
Cost: $175 (CDN)
Reflecting back on my past, I am more rooted in the present and ready to journey north. This workshop series offers five themes that I feel are worthy of exploring through life stories as we paddle north.
Each week I will introduce you to one of the following themes through conversation, activities and poetry to trigger memories and spark creativity. All five stories are written at home and then shared with the group.
Pivotal Life Events
“When you regain a sense of your life as a journey of discovery, you return to the rhythm within yourself.” John O’Donohue
Goals and Aspirations
“Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.” Parker J. Palmer
Love and Intimacy in My Life
“To love a person is to listen to the song that is in their heart, and to sing it to them when they have forgotten.” Arne Garborg
My Spiritual Life and Values
“This is the time to begin to think of higher matters than looking ten years younger than we are, wonderful as that can be. We must begin to attend to the inner self now. These years are for allowing the interior life—our continuing questions, our lifelong interests—to direct what we do and who we are.” Joan Chittister
My Life As Lived
“…Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so our lives matter…” Rabbi Harold Kushner
In a small, safe group of like-minded women, you will be led through the Guided Autobiography (GAB) process to create your life stories, two pages at a time. The group setting gives structure for your writing and an opportunity to connect with other women rowing north.
This series is for women who are new to my workshops as well as women who have previously participated in Writing Our Life Stories.
2024 MONTHLY ALUMNI SERIES: WRITING OUR LIFE STORIES
Thursday mornings, January - June 2024
Cost: By donation
A monthly life story writing opportunity for anyone who has taken a life story writing workshop with me! On the first Thursday of the month, we will gather via Zoom to connect, laugh, talk, and explore a new theme. Two weeks later, we will meet to share and listen to each other's stories. The themes for this series will include forgiveness, thin places, finding courage, holding history, planting seeds of hope and the path to awakening. ALUMNI SERIES FULL.
Writing Our Life Stories unleashed an inner voice longing to be seen and heard. I found myself wanting to write more. I continue to take workshops with Helen, including her monthly alumni series. Helen’s selection of relevant photography, poetry, activities and writing prompts accompany one to take a more in-depth journey towards authenticity, exploring alluring topics such as intimacy and vulnerability. My stories have become more poignant, intuitive and self-revealing.”
- Ruby, Deep River, Ontario, Canada
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Guided Autobiography (GAB) is a method for helping people document their life stories. Guided by a trained instructor, participants are led through themes and priming questions that evoke memories of events once known but filed away and seemingly forgotten.
GAB was created by James Birren in the mid 1970s while he was the founding dean of the Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California (USC). Over the ensuing years, he has written three books on GAB and conducted numerous research projects into the impact of GAB.
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It is helpful to understand how your life has flowed in certain directions, but that is not the same as analyzing your life. Women Rowing North is about gathering a personal history.
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This is not a writing class and there will be no critique of your writing or what you write. Group members are invited to give each other respectful feedback and ask clarifying questions without critiquing the your writing skills or your experiences. You will find that your writing skills and storytelling abilities will deepen over the weeks.
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Write the stories you have a strong emotional connection to. Only share what you are comfortable sharing. Confidentiality is a strong component of this process and everyone will be asked to commit to keeping stories and discussions to themselves.
Welcome to Women Rowing North! I’m Helen. I am driven by wonder, curiosity, and a deep sense of purpose. I am passionate about supporting women looking for a safe space and small group experience to write their life stories.
I have been a writer and storyteller since my childhood. I learned early on in life that writing my stories gives me insight and clarity. My hope is to offer you the same experience. As a group facilitator and blogger I am skilled at helping people tell their stories. In the past I have worked with women and children to help them share their stories about parenting, childhood, living in poverty, and immigrant or refugee experiences. I am now committed to working with you to delve into your life stories.
I am certified as a Guided Autobiography instructor by the Birren Center for Autobiographical Studies.