OUR BODIES, OUR STORIES: Workshops + Performance for People Facing Cancers + Life-threatening Illnesses

REGISTER and learn more:

February 10, 2024, 2:00 - 3:30 pm — Public Workshop

February 24, 2024, 1:00 - 5:00 pm — Creative Retreat

March 2, 2024, 4:00 - 5:15 pm — Performance for Community

Events are free to the public @ERUUF, 4907 Garrett Rd, Durham, NC, 27707

All are welcome — patients, caregivers, community supporters, and healthcare workers

Programs facilitated by Marie Garlock, PhD, with music by Rev. Stacy Grove

Who can benefit?

Patients, caregivers, community supporters, and healthcare workers.

Open to anyone with current or past experiences navigating cancer and other life-threatening illnesses — personally, interpersonally, or professionally.

Our goal is to offer free participation in creative processes that are meaningful, playful, centering, and satisfying.

What are we curious about?

Our Stories

…How do we communicate our stories of illness on our own terms, with and without words? How can our lived and vibrant truths expand beyond others’ descriptions or expectations of us?

Our Bodies

…How do we feel more at home in our bodies just as they are? How can we honor what our bodies uniquely know?

Health Justice

…Based on our own experiences with illness or giving care, what does health justice mean to us? What are our dreams for change?

Why now?

In the COVID-19 era, people with cancers and life-threatening illnesses experience increased health risks, more isolation from in-person communities of support, and higher need for renewing activities that boost mental and emotional health amidst stressors.

With lived knowledge that comes from responding to daily and longterm challenges and finding joy against the odds, patients, caregivers, and health workers hold valued insights that can tell the stories of more just, healthy, interconnected futures for us all.

Our Bodies, Our Stories events provide opportunities for patients and providers (who are much more than these roles alone) to:

Playfully explore and claim their own hard-earned wisdoms and to bear witness to others’
Find space for realness and silliness, for grief and renewal amidst overwhelm
Honor the span of courage, tenderness, frustration, fulfillment, anger, awe, loss, and renewal that arise as both solo and deeply shared experiences

Learn More

Learn about our collaborators and facilitators

We are grateful for funding support of the Eno River Fellowship Foundation
We are grateful for community partnerships including ERUUF Pastoral Care and the Resource Center for Women in Ministry in the South

Media — Help us spread the word!

Flyers for print or email
Images with text for social media
Questions? Reach Marie at marie@itisinyou.org, 919-607-5533. Reach Rev. Jim at jlewis@eruuf.org