Sharon is a gifted instructor and guide. She bings knowledge, experience and sacredness to this process. --Participant from "Writing as a Healing Ministry", at Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley
Sharon's writing class helped me find a writing voice that I did not know or believe I had. Once it revealed itself, she gently fostered its growth like a gardener who mindfully takes care of her seedlings. --Member of the Writers' Workshop at Stanford Medical School
She has a penchant for getting people engaged in the learning and participation processes. ... I actually couldn't wait for the chat sessions and next week's assignments to begin.--Member of the UCLA extension Writers' Program online course, Writing to Heal, Part I & II
At the end of each evening, driving home I glide--happy, fearless, ethereal and...eternal? Perhaps. --Member of a "Writing Through Cancer" workshop series
Sharon at a workshop, Photo: Connie Reider)
The only way to learn to write is by writing....The more we experience the pleasure that comes from communication...the better we get at these skills. --Peter Elbow
I offer a number of creative writing workshops and also lead expressive writing groups for men and women living with cancer, each designed so a person's experience of cancer to be expressed in prose, story and poetry. My work with cancer patients was ignited by my own cancer experience a decade ago and the work of psychologist James Pennebaker, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin. My approach to leading writing groups for cancer patients is described in my books, A Healing Journey: Writing Together Through Breast Cancer (2004) and When Words Heal: Writing Through Cancer (2006).
The process of writing, even if the theme is heavy, is wonderful. --Isabel Allende
A workshop in Mallorca
What Participants Say
Sharon is calm, compassionate, wise and present.
Right from the start, Sharon created a beautiful and safe environment in which complete strangers could share intimate stories of personal trauma and share pieces of those stories never shared with anyone else.
Sharon was wonderful. She was supportive, attentive, encouraging and available.
Sharon is one of the most effective teachers I have met in a lifetime. Sharon created a wonderfully safe resting place which stimulated the senses and allowed me to write directly from the heart.... The focus was ncredible, the work created astounding, the technical insight terrific. The writing habits learned in class were seamlessly transported into my personal practice.
Never before have I been involved in such a safe and supportive environment in which to think and feel both deeply and expressively from within. This course has given me confidence and a place to discover that I really do have stories to tell...Thank you for your supportive and experienced guidance.
Sharon is incredible at getting us to open doors. I will be forever grateful for the gift she has given us--the ability to go in and hear what wants to be said, and leading us to opening up the rusted doors to the various forms that what wants to be said can take.
The safety and shared feeling of ourselves as writers was exhilarating--a very special experience for me. Sharon is a wonderful leader.
Sharon models the role she teaches...insightful and very sensitive to the needs of participants.
