This distinctive collection explores the use of narratives in the social construction of wellness and illness. Narrative as an area of study in communication has been gaining popularity in recent years, and its application in the health area has become particularly strong. The emphasis of Narratives, Health, and Healing is on what the process of narrating accomplishes--how it serves in the health communication process where people define themselves and present their social and relational identities. Organized into four parts, the chapters included here examine health narratives in interpersonal relationships, organizations, and public fora. The editors provide an extensive introduction to weave together the various threads in the volume, highlight the approach and contribution of each chapter, and bring to the forefront the increasingly important role of narrative in health communication. This volume offers important insights on the role of narrative in communicating about health, and it will be on great interest to scholars and graduate students in health communication, health psychology, and public health. It is also relevant to medical, nursing, and allied health readers.

This distinctive collection explores the use of narratives in the social construction of wellness and illness. Narrative as an area of study in communication has been gaining popularity in recent years, and its application in the health area has become particularly strong. The emphasis of Narratives, Health, and Healing is on what the process of narrating accomplishes--how it serves in the health communication process where people define themselves and present their social and relational identities. Organized into four parts, the chapters included here examine health narratives in interpersonal relationships, organizations, and public fora. The editors provide an extensive introduction to weave together the various threads in the volume, highlight the approach and contribution of each chapter, and bring to the forefront the increasingly important role of narrative in health communication. This volume offers important insights on the role of narrative in communicating about health, and it will be on great interest to scholars and graduate students in health communication, health psychology, and public health. It is also relevant to medical, nursing, and allied health readers.

How can individuals live well in the midst of inescapable trauma and illness? What symbolic and material resources foster resiliency among individuals facing vulnerable circumstances?Imagining New Normals: A Narrative Framework for Health Communication engages these questions and positions narratives as central to human survival and social change. Storytelling reflects the narrative impulse and is a powerful form of experiencing and expressing suffering and loss. Acute and chronic illnesses represent corporeal and social threats to a person's previously imagined life course. Patients, healthcare providers and activists alike rely on storytelling to make sense of expectations gone awry and imagine new normals. Imagining New Normals: Is not about sickness, although many people who populate its pages have experienced treatment and what remains in the aftermath. Uses narratives from an explicitly broad vantage point, casting a wide net that incorporates autobiographical stories, cultural scripts, institutional plots, and the process of storytelling to examine health communication. Frames storytelling as a relational, poetic and political process of identity construction Embraces the storytelling capacities of various aesthetic forms (e.g. visual imagery, choreography, music) Explores the intermingling of narrative and scientific logics in diagnostic work Highlights innovative clinical communication practices Tracks personal narratives in public health-related information, entertainment and activist rhetoric Juxtaposes the therapeutic potential and limits of storytelling in virtual and face-to-face communities Raises ethical considerations for narrative practice and research

At a time when the traditional sheltered workshop model has fallen under rightful criticism, and a new paradigm for disability programming is not yet in place, Upcycling Sheltered Workshops offers a revolutionary alternative. As many push to dismantle sheltered workshops, Susan Dlouhy and Patty Mitchell present the Creative Abundance Model, a proven method that redirects sheltered workshops from routine to creativity, putting participants in the driver's seat. The Creative Abundance Model does away with the repetitive tasks that characterize traditional workshops. Instead, it is a structured but more open program that incorporates art, music, and other creative pursuits, freeing participants to discover their individual skills and talents. The authors both advocate for the model and provide instructions for implementing it, outlining such steps as obtaining funding, gaining the support and participation of the surrounding community, and preparing studios. Case studies from around the nation and inspiring photographs illustrate Dlouhy and Mitchell's methods and document the many ways in which participants in Creative Abundance thrive.