Beck Klassen is a writer and student of Arts & Sciences at McMaster University (Class of '23). They thrive on connecting with and learning from people in personal and professional environments. Beck became The Good Listening Project's first Listener Poet in 2018 when they helped pilot the program at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington D.C.

Elizabeth Pringle explores language and the human experience through theatre and film, arts and media education, leadership coaching, and professional development.

Frankie Abralind began experimenting with this work when he was lead designer at Johns Hopkins Sibley Memorial Hospital's Innovation Hub. For years on the weekends, he'd been listening to and writing poems for strangers on the streets of Washington, D.C.

Jenny Hegland is a creative facilitator, coach, and social entrepreneur whose life’s work centers around community engagement, participatory leadership, and social justice.

Katherine Gekker is the author of In Search of Warm Breathing Things (Glass Lyre Press, 2019); her poems have also appeared in Little Patuxent Review, Delmarva Review, Broadkill Review, Apple Valley Review, and elsewhere. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.

Kay McKean co-founded The Good Listening Project after working with leadership teams across industries to build trust and psychological safety in workplace cultures.

Ravenna Raven works as a Listener Poet in hospitals, healing centers, and at national healthcare conferences. Early childhood experiences with first responders, surgeons, and hospice nurses propelled her toward writing as a practice for healing and making meaningful connections with others.

Yvette Perry is a lover of music and books, an amateur photographer, a collector of antique typewriters, and one fourth of a Marvel Cinematic Universe household that includes her husband and twin daughters.

Dawn M. Schocken is the Director for the Center for Experiential Learning and Simulation.

Gregory Gray is an Air Force Veteran.

Joseph M. Jablonski is a typewriting street poet in addition to being a Listener Poet of The Good Listening Project. As a street poet, he entertains as the “Walking Mall Poet” on the downtown pedestrian mall of Winchester, Virginia and beyond.

Mindy Shah grew up near the shores of Lake Erie, in Ohio, and spent much of her childhood tramping around the woods and writing stories she seldom finished.

Salaam Green is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Birmingham, Alabama (2024–2026), a native of Greensboro, and founder of The Literary Healing Arts. A storyteller and healer, she is a Kellogg Foundation Racial Healing Facilitator and Alabama Humanities Foundation Road Scholar.

Zina Mercil is a lover of people, connection, compassion, words, artistic expression, and life. In her roles she specializes in increasing personal awareness, growth, and performance while decreasing burnout and health consequences.

Devon M. Bremer is a Director of Clinical Education Administration working with medical students and physicians.

LaShaune Johnson is a public health professor, breast cancer survivor/advocate, and culturally responsive evaluator.

Sailaja Devaguptapu is a published poet, writer and researcher, wellness facilitator, designing and developing courses on Health Humanities; a practitioner and trainer of Heartfulness; and an organizer and trainer for programs and workshops related to wellness, arts, writing & poetry in the context of healthcare and mental health.

Té Speight is a community builder with a current focus on adult and young men’s health.

D'ete Blackshire is a facilitator and artist with a calling to create healing spaces that offer opportunities for transmuting struggle into seeds of hope.

Matt McBride is an Assistant Professor of English.

Tara Waudby is a middle school principal, inspired by the power of listening through poetry.

Carina L. Dacer is a compliance professional and volunteers with healthcare center and charities. She serves as Treasurer on the board of The Good Listening Project.

Heather Coats is a Nurse Practitioner and Director of Research at Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association.

Sharon Dardis is a recently retired RN, BSN, and hospice and children’s bereavement coordinator.

Kelsey D. Mahaffey is a non-profit leader working to educate and engage communities in the All of Us Research Program from the National Institutes of Health.

Chanice Withers is an educator, poet, and proud graduate of the Certified Listener Poet program. A natural-born teacher, she shares her gift with the community through her monthly workshop, Poetry in the Park—a space for connection, creativity, and healing.

Geva Thole is a poet and Behavior Health Specialist living in Wisconsin.

Gray Davidson Carroll is a white, transfemme writer, dancer, singer, cold water plunger and (self-proclaimed) hot chocolate alchemist hailing from Brooklyn by way of western Massachusetts and other strange and forgotten places.

Jo Linder, MD recently retired after serving for more than a decade as Assistant Dean for Students/Director of  Student Affairs in Maine Medical Center’s Department of Medical Education.

Chidube Nkiruka (1976–2024) was a Listener Poet whose work reflected his deep commitment to healing and justice. His fascination with rhythm and poetry was connected to its capacity to birth resilience, resistance, and recovery amidst those suffering from neglect, abuse, and addiction.

Nancy S. Scherlong, LCSW, CHHC, SEP, CP, PTR/CJT, CM is owner of the psychotherapy, coaching and training business entitled Change Your Narrative LCSW PLLC. She is a corporate wellness educator, coach and trauma therapist trained in the methods of EMDR, SE, IFS, MBSR, DBT, narrative medicine, poetry, journal therapy and is a certified psychodramatist.

Anne Marie Wells is an award-winning and Pushcart-nominated poet as well as a playwright, memoirist, and oral storyteller.

Erin “Fitz” FitzGerald is a human who believes deeply in the healing power of generous listening. She is a hospice and palliative medicine physician and was an instructor and director of Healer's Art, a medical school course created by Rachel Remen, which utilizes generous listening as a skill to be with others' suffering and humanize medicine.

Julia McDonald (She/They) is a Maine-based physician, writer, and international humanitarian. McDonald’s writing has appeared in mainstream news media as advocacy for patients and commentary on the intersection of politics and medicine.

Leigh Finnegan-Hosey is a spiritual care provider with experience working in both higher education and health care settings. She currently serves as the pediatric and reproductive health chaplain for a large academic medical center.

Sibihan Lawrence is a London-born Performance poet, Certified Listener Poet, Theatre maker, Arts Education Specialist, Storyteller. And a dismantler of master-narratives.

Monica Storss is a poet and researcher whose work on Relationality and Emerging Technology is based out of Northeastern University and MIT.

Dylan Klempner is an award-winning journalist and multidisciplinary artist whose work focuses on the role of creativity in health and healing.

D. F. Tweney is a journalist, editor, poet, community builder, and publisher. He lives in the California Bay Area, where he helps tech companies tell their stories, takes care of his family, practices mindfulness in the Plum Village tradition of Vietnamese Zen, and swims in the Bay.

Elizabeth Torres (b. 1987, Bogotá) is a Colombian-American poet, translator, and interdisciplinary artist residing in Denmark.

Ellen J. Reich is a Spiritual Companion and a Process Writing Facilitator. She was certified to lead process writing groups in 2008 with the Amherst Writers & Artists method.

Kathryn West (she/her) is a social worker and health communications professional who lives and works in the Chicagoland area.

Nicole Demos, a disabled inclusive educator for over 32 years, and now author holds an M.A in Education and an M.Ed in International Counseling.

Rebecca Wilson (she/her) is a cultivator of creativity, queer poet, curious observer, and soulful storyteller, uniquely gifted at bringing people together, speaking gently to harsh realities, and stirring transformation.

Sophie L. Schott is a medical student, researcher, and writer based in Houston, Texas. Her scholarly work bridges clinical education and advocacy, aiming to strengthen medical training through inclusive, justice-oriented curricula.