Virtual Legacy Retreat
A cancer diagnosis often prompts people to take stock of their lives and what they may leave behind. One practical way to work through some of the emotions that emerge is through legacy projects: that heartwork that helps you and your loved ones remember special moments and make wishes for the future.
Join us for a 2-day virtual retreat to talk about legacy projects, the emotions that they bring up, and work on those projects in community, with other cancer patients who get it.
We invite parents with an advanced cancer diagnosis, who are raising young children, to attend one or both days of the retreat.
** We are partnered with LeWren to give away wellness bags to the first 10 sign-ups (we will prioritize people who plan to attend both days.) **
Sign-up for this event is now closed.
(We warmly encourage attendance on both days of the "retreat" but welcome as much participation as you are able.)
Day 1: Feb 27, 2022
10:00-11:30am | Virtual Support Group: Considering Legacy and Legacy Projects
Join Bright Spot Network's Joanna Silber Hathaway in a facilitated support group about our legacy, legacy projects, and the emotional weight of this work.
12:00-1:00pm |Wellness Workshop
Ashley Sharp https://www.ashleysharp.net/ will be leading a mindfulness workshop to recenter and reset. Cultivate friendliness and peace through simple mindfulness practices that can easily be incorporated into daily life.
Day 2: Mar 13, 2022
10:00-11:30| Dear Cancer Writing Workshop
You are invited to attend Dear Cancer Writing Workshop led by Sonya Evans. Sonya teaches high school English in California's Marin County. She recently earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Dominican University. A cancer survivor and mother of two daughters, she has experienced first-hand the healing power of writing as a means of creative and cathartic expression and looks forward to sharing that experience with others.
Those affected by disease of any kind are often left with unexpressed feelings. We may have a desire to convey a message to a loved one but find that the spoken word fails us, or we may need the time or the space to articulate our experience or message. In this workshop, you will have the opportunity to communicate those feelings through the process of writing to those you care about. Writing gives us the opportunity to express precisely what we want to say and how we want to say it. These letters may be saved for a later date (if, say a child is too young for the message now or if you need some time and space first), may be shared immediately, may serve as a rehearsal for something you choose to share verbally, or may be kept as a journal just for you. You may wish to focus on any aspect of your disease - from diagnosis through treatment and recovery. Experience the transformative power of writing to release yourself from the words you want to express.
12:30-1:30| Legacy Projects in Community
We are excited to offer a space for parents to work on legacy projects in community with other parents with cancer. We hear over and over again that it's hard to make time and space for legacy projects --to write to kids, make a book, do art -- whatever it is that YOU hope to be doing, we invite you to use this time to work on your own project. You can leave video on, turn it off, or whatever you like. Sometimes things are just easier when you're with people who get it. Hosted by Bright Spot Network Parent Jen Ellsworth. Jen earned her master's degree in social work at SUNY Albany and has since worked as a medical social worker in palliative care, hospice and oncology.