Write Your COVID Story (WYCS) is a workshop to help COVID survivors and clinicians treating COVID patients write about their experience. Then, if they choose, they can post their stories in an online database.

WYCS has 3 parts:

1. Two 16-episode podcast / writing workshops: one for patients, the other for clinicians. Both are available on Apple Podcasts. I created these podcasts for Boston Hope in April. Now I want to bring this to the attention of hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes through social media and email blasts.

2. A free live (remote) version of the podcast workshops via Zoom. This offers participants community, support, and connection. I will run this on a monthly basis for the next 6 months. Each workshop will be 4 weeks, re-starting at the beginning of each month. It will distill the 16 episodes into four 90-minute workshops (30 minutes of me explaining the focus of the session; 30 minutes writing; 30 minutes discussion).

3. An online database of written or recorded stories, searchable by location, language, gender, age, and race. I will create this website and handle submissions. (All stories will be accepted, even those not written in my workshops, but as editor I will make sure the formatting is OK, recording works, etc.)

Write Your COVID Story is narrative medicine, in which patients and clinicians use stories as a tool for healing and moving forward. Storytelling can be incredibly powerful for positive recovery from illness and can help clinicians avoid burnout. I believe people's COVID stories need to be preserved for posterity, especially because the people hardest hit have the least powerful voices. I would like to create a place where their voices are heard.

For more information: www.writecovid.com
Photo Credit: Dillon Shook