In this conversation, Lenny Grant, PhD, explores how expressive narrative writing can help individuals process and heal from trauma. Drawing from clinical experience and research, he shares how crafting personal narratives fosters reflection, meaning-making, and emotional recovery.
Whether in clinical settings, classrooms, or personal practice, Lenny highlights how writing can be a powerful tool for resilience and growth.
Narrative Themes Explored in this Chat
🔹 How Language Shapes Trauma: Explore how our understanding of trauma - from 19th-century train accidents to modern PTSD - has always been influenced by the words we use.
🔹 The Power of Expressive Writing: Learn why writing can regulate emotions, lower stress, and even promote physical healing - offering a unique pathway for recovery.
🔹 The Resilience Writing Project: Hear about Grant’s groundbreaking initiative, helping healthcare and social workers process the invisible wounds of their work through writing workshops.
🔹 Why Writing Matters: Understand why writing, unlike speaking, allows deeper ownership of traumatic experiences and creates safer emotional processing.
🔹 Challenging Cultural Narratives: Grant challenges how society defines trauma and calls for more authentic, healing-centered language.
About Lenny Grant:
Lenny Grant, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at Syracuse University, where he teaches technical writing and Health Humanities. His research explores how social, political, and medical discourses shape understandings of psychological trauma. He co-founded Syracuse’s Health Humanities major and leads the Resilience Writing Project, helping healthcare professionals process trauma through writing. Dr. Grant consults on translating medical knowledge for public understanding and serves on trauma task forces locally and internationally. His forthcoming book, Being There, explores how Health Humanities education prepares practitioners for ethical and compassionate care.
