Sunday, July 20th, 2025

The class will meet via Zoom, 2:00PM - 4:00PM Eastern

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us.

Instructor Elizabeth Austin’s writing has appeared in TIME, Harper’s Bazaar, Narratively, McSweeney’s, Ms. Magazine, Brevity, and The Sun, among others. She is co-editor of the forthcoming anthology, Root Cause: Stories of health, harm, and reclaiming our humanity in an epidemic of loneliness. Elizabeth holds an M.F.A. from Vermont College of Fine Arts and lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with her two children and their many pets. She writes a newsletter about her family’s post-cancer life and is currently finishing her memoir about her struggle with alcoholism during her daughter’s three years in leukemia treatment.

Learn more about Elizabeth in our Meet the Teaching Artist series. 

Writing Your Pain is a guided workshop that helps participants explore, understand, and honor their relationship with pain through reflective writing, turning pain from a silent burden into a voice— and a partner— on the page.

Pain is an inevitable part of life— whether physical, emotional, or spiritual— and yet we often try to push it away, silence it, or carry it alone. What if, instead of treating pain solely as a burden, we began to explore it as a partner in our life’s journey? In this writing workshop, participants will invite pain to speak. We will then give ourselves permission to speak back, using writing as a tool for self-discovery, processing, and healing.

Through a combination of guided writing prompts, reflective discussion, and personal exploration, Writing Your Pain will help participants reshape their relationship with pain. We'll begin by considering how pain exists in our lives: what it feels like, where it shows up, and how it has influenced who we are today.

Then, through two key writing exercises, we'll explore a dialogue with pain. First, we’ll ask: If your pain could talk, what would it say?, giving voice to something we often suppress. Then, we'll shift perspectives and write a letter directly to our pain, asking: If you could talk to your pain, what would YOU say? This reciprocal exchange allows us to see pain as more than just something to survive— it becomes something to understand and even honor.

Participants will have the option to share their writing in a supportive, judgment-free space, fostering community and connection around shared experiences. Whether our pain stems from illness, grief, heartbreak, trauma, or simply the human condition, this workshop will provide a safe container to explore it, give it form, and perhaps find new meaning within it.

By the end of the session, participants will leave with new writing, fresh insights, and a sense of empowerment, having transformed their pain from a silent weight into a story, a companion, and a source of creative expression.

No previous writing experience is necessary; bring a notebook, a pen, and an open heart.

There are no assigned course texts, but brief excerpts from Cheryl Strayed, Rainer Maria Rilke, Kaveh Akbar, and Joan Didion will be shared during the workshop for inspiration and reflection.

Course Takeaways:

In this workshop, participants will produce two original writing pieces, gain tools for emotional exploration through writing, reframe their perspective on pain, build confidence in vulnerable storytelling, connect with a supportive community, and leave with momentum for continued writing and healing.

Can't Make It Live?

No problem! The session will be recorded and available to watch after the seminar concludes.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

This one-time seminar will be conducted live via Zoom. The session will be recorded and available to watch after the seminar concludes.

Tuition is $75. You can pay for the course in full  or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.

• Instructor: Elizabeth Austin

• Class: Sunday, July 20th, 2025

• The class will meet via Zoom, 2:00PM - 4:00PM Eastern

• Tuition is $75.

Contact us HERE if you have any questions about this class.