Healthcare at the Margins

In our healthcare system, personal stories are often sidelined by clinical protocols, and both patients and providers can lose touch with the human experience. This is particularly the case for women, people of color, and the LGBTQIA+ community. In this evening of storytelling, facilitated by Dr. Laura Colket, we will create a space where we can deepen empathy and turn the act of listening into a form of medicine. 

Come share your own medical journey—whether it involves pregnancy, chronic conditions, menopause, or primary care—or simply show up and hold space as a witness. If you are a healthcare provider, we invite you to leave your clinician hat at the door and join us simply as a human being. When we listen deeply, without the pressure to fix or explain, we turn the quiet struggle of the individual into the collective strength of our community.

The stories we share will be framed by gentle, grounding somatic exercises to help us stay present. We ask that everyone who attends come ready to listen. Whether you share your story or offer your presence, your participation is what makes this witness possible.

Dr. Laura Colket is the founder of Whole Human Leadership, the co-founder of the Center for Research on Storytelling in Education, and the author of Becoming: Transformative Storytelling for Education’s Future. She is passionate about the power of storytelling to fuel greater connection and drive personal and organizational growth. She also knows, from personal experience, how much our medical stories can shape us. Professionally, she brings 20+ years of experience as an educator and leader in primary, secondary, higher education, as well as the nonprofit sector, in the U.S. and internationally.