Memoir Writing as Spiritual Practice: A Guided Course: January 14 - March 25, 2025 (with Dr. Jamie Marich)
A new online course from Dr. Jamie Marich available on a sliding scale for those seeking to explore or to deepen their writing practices
Memoir Writing as Spiritual Practice: A Guided Course
January 14-January 28-February 11-February 25, 2025
Follow-up coaching call: March 25, 2025
Live calls with Dr. Jamie Marich from 6:00pm-7:30pm ET
ABOUT THE COURSE
How much do I tell my clients about my own mental and physical health struggles? Where does the line of therapeutic benefit exist in sharing of myself in clinical and larger work settings? What issues must I consider if I am feeling called to be candid about my own struggles in the public forum (e.g., blogging, videos, speaking, advocacy)?
Many folks believe that they have to be famous or have the most uniquely original life story to write a memoir. Or we may believe that the only worthy memoirs are from those writers who are lucky enough to sign on with a major publisher and have their books end up on the New York Times bestseller list.
What if you could approach writing your memoir–or a nuanced exploration of one aspect of your life–as spiritual practice?
In this guided course, trauma specialist, author, and memoirist Dr. Jamie Marich gives you gentle guidance on approaching the creation of your memoir as a spiritual practice. Whether you have an intention to share your writing with the world, or whether you are engaging in this writing process for your own health and healing (or some combination of motivation), you are welcome to join us for this collaborative experience. A long-time writer who brings in aspects of her own life into clinical writing that she calls “memoir-ish,” Jamie has recently gone through the process of writing a formal memoir, You Lied to Me About God. She has a great deal of information and insight to share about memoir writing and the fusion of expressive arts practice.
The course consists of pre-course practices to get your creative flow moving, and then four active modules. The modules, made available every-other-week consist of a live 90 minute Zoom coaching call with Jamie. The call will be recorded and made available in the course portal through our learning management system, Thinkific, for you to access indefinitely. Additionally, the course dashboard contains extra materials to inspire your process, and a message board monitored by Jamie through the duration of the course.
Another live, group coaching call with Jamie scheduled one month after the close of Module Four is also included in the price of the course.
This course is ideal for:
- aspiring memoirists
- people seeking creative outlets for spiritual practice
- people looking to explore vulnerability in communication
- students
- therapists
- spiritual practitioners of any background or faith tradition (or no specific tradition)
- seekers
Costs
We are offering this course on a sliding scale and entrust you to use an honor system to determine which level is most appropriate for you:
- $295.00: Professional writers; those engaged in a thriving business at the moment, regardless of the field
- $195.00: Emerging writers; those who see the importance of taking such a course but may need a little extra assistance at this time
- $95.00: Students at any level and those in need of assistance
If you are deeply interested in the course at the moment and the $95.00 level is inaccessible at the moment, please consider reaching out to us at [email protected] and make a pitch to take the course. We have a limited number of full scholarships to offer for this course.
Presented by Jamie Marich, Ph.D., LPCC-S, REAT
By Registering for this Training, You Acknowledge and Agree to the Following:
- Informed consent: This course is not a replacement for formal mental health care or diagnosis and treatment by a clinical professional. Even though course instructor Dr. Jamie Marich is a mental health clinician, she is not acting in that capacity for this course.
- Conduct: Respectful conduct during live calls and on the discussion boards that respects the safety and dignity of all course members is expected. Rude or disruptful behavior will not be tolerated, and neither will racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, or other hateful behavior. Course director Dr. Jamie Marich reserves the right to address any problems with an individual participant that inhibit a safe learning environment for the cohort. She also reserves the right to remove anyone from the course (without refund) at any time for a violation of these expectations.
- Confidentiality: Although this course is not a formal clinical experience, there is still an expectation that you will treat what is shared by your fellow students in the course as confidential information. Please do unto others and you would have them do unto you.
- Cancellation Policy: If canceling prior to two weeks before the course, students are entitled to a full refund less a 5% processing fee OR the option to apply the dollar amount paid towards a future training with the Institute for Creative Mindfulness. If canceling less than two weeks before a scheduled event, trainees are entitled to a 50% refund, OR the option to apply the dollar amount paid toward a future training with ICM. Only medically documented reasons or family deaths are considered as an exception to this policy. No-shows are not eligible for a refund. If you terminate your training or need to leave it early for any reason, you are not eligible for a refund. All other situations will be handled on a case-by-case basis. Please email us at [email protected] with any questions or concerns.
- Correspondence from Training Organization: The Institute for Creative Mindfulness regularly sends correspondence about the training, including an email confirmation at registration and several emails leading up to each training. The emails presently come from [email protected]. Additionally, The Institute for Creative Mindfulness may send out emails from [email protected]. If you are not receiving these emails, you are required to check your Spam folder as correspondence from new organizations often ends up there. Once you receive your first correspondence, please save the email to your address book. If you have not received a confirmation email or other correspondence from the organization within seven days of the event, it is your responsibility to reach out to us by email or phone.
Objectives
After this course, participants will be able to:
1. Summarize the general contentions about self-disclosure in peer-reviewed literature from the human services professions
2. Discuss how documentation of lived experience from clients and professionals alike is both similar and different to what is in the peer-reviewed literature
3. Make decisions on self-disclosure in clinical setting using ethical code guidance from their specific professions and from their state of licensure (if applicable)
4. Identify one’s own intrapersonal and interpersonal blocks to engaging in appropriate self-disclosure, both clinically and in the public forum
5. Contextualize and articulate how self-disclosure from professionals, both clinically and in the public forum, can play a major role in decreasing and eliminating mental health and addiction stigma
6. Develop a personal plan for maintaining ethical boundaries while also emerging or further developing as a clinician-advocate
About the Instructor
ICM Founder & Director Jamie Marich
Dr. Jamie Marich (she/they/we) began her career as a humanitarian aid worker in Bosnia-Hercegovina from 2000-2003, primarily teaching English and music. Jamie travels internationally teaching on topics related to trauma, EMDR therapy, expressive arts, mindfulness, and yoga, while maintaining a private practice and online education operations in her home base of Akron, OH. Marich is the founder of the Institute for Creative Mindfulness and the developer of the Dancing Mindfulness approach to expressive arts therapy. Marich is the author of EMDR Made Simple: 4 Approaches for Using EMDR with Every Client (2011), Trauma and the Twelve Steps: A Complete Guide for Recovery Enhancement (2012), Creative Mindfulness (2013), Trauma Made Simple: Competencies in Assessment, Treatment, and Working with Survivors, Dancing Mindfulness: A Creative Path to Healing and Transformation (2015), and Process Not Perfection: Expressive Arts Solutions for Trauma Recovery (2019). Marich co-authored EMDR Therapy & Mindfulness for Trauma-Focused Care along with colleague Dr. Stephen Dansiger in 2018, and their new book with Springer Publishing Healing Addiction with EMDR Therapy: A Trauma-Focused Guide released in 2021. North Atlantic Books published a revised and expanded edition of Trauma and the 12 Steps in the Summer of 2020, and they released The Healing Power of Jiu-Jitsu: A Guide to Transforming Trauma and Facilitating Recovery in 2022. Her latest release with North Atlantic Book, Dissociation Made Simple: A Stigma-Free Guide to Embracing Your Dissociative Mind and Navigating Life came out in January 2023. She has three more projects in the works with North Atlantic Books, including her personal memoir about surviving spiritual abuse called You Lied to Me About God, due out in Autumn 2024.
The Huffington Post published her personal story of being out as a clinical professional with a dissociative disorder in May 2023. The New York Times featured Marich’s writing and work on Dancing Mindfulness in 2017 and 2020. NALGAP: The Association of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Addiction Professionals and Their Allies awarded Jamie with their esteemed President’s Award in 2015 for her work as an LGBT advocate. The EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) granted Jamie the 2019 Advocacy in EMDR Award for her using her public platform in media and in the addiction field to advance awareness about EMDR therapy and to reduce stigma around mental health. Jamie also sits on the editorial board of the EMDR Journal of Practice and Research, and she was the 2008 winner of the Poster Research Award at the EMDRIA Annual Conference.