Writing Partners

From The Women's Times, October 1, 2003

Breast Health Initiative

The Reach Beyond Breast Cancer program at North Adams Regional Hospital and the North Adams, Massachusetts-based literary organization Inkberry have joined forces to create a new initiative for breast cancer survivors. The Breast Health Initiative pairs writers with women who have had cancer, and together they create a “book” describing the woman’s experience. The work, which relies on transcribed interviews, is confidential; the stories and the book belong to the narrators who can use them in any way they like.

The project was inititated by Reach coordinator Carol Guernsey, who, after learning about a similar program in Providence, Rhode Island, decided it would be a positive way of offering support to women with cancer in Berkshire County. She met with Inkberry directors, Rachel Barenblat and Emily Banner to plan the program, which began this summer with a training session for the participating writers. Guernsey and Kate Abbott, community outreach director of Inkberry, are coordinating the Initiative.

“The intention of the project is to provide a therapeutic experience and supportive evidence for women with cancer,” says Guernsey. While some of the women involved in the project see it as a way to preserve their memories, others use it to process their experience, and some as an opportunity to develop the journals they kept during their diagnosis and treatment. For some participants the story is intended for private recollection only, others want to share what they experienced with their family and friends. “We have four writers working with five patients right now and everyone on both sides has been very enthusiastic and supportive,” says Abbott. “As a pilot project, we’re off to a great start. We hope to have nine partners by the end of the calendar year.”

Funding has come from the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Guernsey and Abbott would like to see the initiative grow to include men, be offered annually and be available to organizations as well as to people with cancer throughout the country.

For more information, contact Carol Guernsey at 413-664-5170.