PAST EVENTS:
Dealing With Difficult People:
What Do You Do?
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
June 5, 2007 - Communicating with Challenging People
July 17, 2007 - Performance Anxiety
US NAVY SEMINARS AND CONFERENCES:
2007
January 23, 2007 - Grammar Brush Up
February 13, 2007 - Communication Excellence
March 13, 2007 - Communicating with Challenging People
MAY 2 HRSC LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE:
HEMP AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER
“Imagination: The Hidden Door to Higher Performance”
 HEMP
SPEAKS AT 2007 ALZEIMER’S REGIONAL CONFERENCE
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
The Language of Care
COPING WITH MEMORY LOSS THROUGH WORDS and WRITING
Friday, April 27, 2007
Christine Hemp is the author of the award-winning non-fiction book manuscript
The Angels Swim Fast and Glorious in which she explores losing a literary, language-loving
mother to Alzheimer's and her increased need for the transformative power
of language to her -- and her family -- make sense of the caregiving
experience.
Hemp facilitated discussion and a short (fun!) writing workshop
where participants discovered creative, new ways to frame the baffling condition
of memory-loss. Both poems and prose arose out of seemingly insignificant
details of caregiving and offer fresh perspective on our journey with our families
and friends who suffer from dementia.
ABOUT CHRISTINE HEMP: Hemp's poetry and essays are heard on NPR's
Morning Edition and her work is published widely. She has worked with such groups
as Los Alamos Laboratory scientists, Harvard and University of Washington students,
National Park Rangers, corporate lawyers, and Native American tribes, as well
as the U.S. Navy. She has also has broken new ground in England and the U.S.
by uniting youth offenders and police officers, using writing as a tool for crime
prevention. Last fall she offered a writing seminar for caregivers at the United
Methodist church of Edmonds. Her full-length book manuscript about her mother's
dementia, The Angels Swim Fast and Glorious was a recipient of a Washington State
Artist Trust Fellowship for Literature and was a finalist in this year's
Bread Bakeless Prize. The first chapter was a winner in the Iowa Award for Literary
Non-Fiction. Hemp's teaching and facilitating skills have won her a Harvard
University teaching award, and her events and presentations have prompted participants
to comment, "A non-stop, spell-binding presentation!"
DESCRIPTION: This workshop encompassed both writing
and discussion; the discourse focused on how participants' poems/prose can
change their attitudes and coping skills during the course of Alzheimer's – and
afterwards.
EXPLANATION: Participants were given new skills for
articulating the difficulties and successes in caring for Alzheimer's patients.
The power of metaphor, the release of "telling the story," and the
joy of form will be discussed. Participants left with at least one piece
of inspired writing.
AUDIENCE: Direct care staff or professional caregivers as well as family caregivers
who are in desperate need of burn-out prevention and a new perspective on the
mammoth task of caregiving
OBJECTIVE: To transform experience into art; concentration on artistic transformation
rather than documentation.
INTERATIVE ACTIVITIES: Writing and sharing writing; discussion; creating art-based
goals. |
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