Certified Listener Poet & Bridge-Builder for Creative Healing
Nancy Scherlong, LCSW-R, CHHC, SEP, CP, PTR/CJT-CM, brings a deep well of experience – and heart – to The Good Listening Project’s Board of Directors.
A psychotherapist, educator, and long-time expressive arts advocate, Nancy believes that “creative resonance” – the feeling of being seen or understood through art – is a “powerful complement to any healing process.” A Certified Listener Poet and new member of our Board of Directors, Nancy is already helping to build bridges between The Good Listening Project and a broader network of institutions, storytellers, and changemakers.
Below, she shares her reflections on poetry, listening, healing, and what drew her to the work of The Good Listening Project.
How would you describe the work that you do? What are your roles in your communities?
I believe that creative work is intrinsically healing and that healing work is, by nature, creative. As a therapist, I help people explore different perspectives and embody new realities – story and poetry and writing are perfect vehicles for this. Sometimes the metaphors are organic or spoken and I am “harvesting” what people bring so as to identify or unearth a pattern and help to “plant” something new.
As a creativity coach, I feel more like a midwife – supportive, guiding, present to what someone wants to bring forth and act as a mirror or co-advisor in the stuck points.
I also work with universities, companies and groups as well as with individuals – as a coach and community educator – to improve wellness and communication. I might provide a talk, tell a story, lead a workshop or conduct a listening or discovery session to better discern what is needed. To me, it all feels interconnected.
What is the first memory you have of feeling moved by poetry?
I love Dickinson’s quote about knowing it is poetry when “it feels physically like the top of my head were taken off,” though of course I did not and could not have known this quote when I was eight or 10, when poetry first entered my life.
I was raised by one of the most well-read people I’ve met to date – my mother, who did not go to college as she didn’t feel she had access, but who created her own education through books. She would always say to me in my 20’s when I would move to a new town, “Now be sure and get a library card.” She always gave books for gifts. I was the only child I knew with a set of first editions of the classics – at the time, Dickinson, Frost, Rossetti, Thoreau and many more.
I remember feeling “gotten” or received when I read poems like “I’m nobody, who are you” or an ancient wisdom beyond my years – but somehow in my bones – like: “I’ve got promises to keep – and miles to go before I sleep.”
Poetry was a kind of secret language. It could say something without telling the whole story. Books have always been resources and friends. In creative arts therapy, we often find a poem that matches a feeling. When someone finds that resonance, it’s like being handed a canvas, or a companion, to feel less alone. That connection is a powerful complement to any healing process.
What first drew you to The Good Listening Project and the Certified Listener Poet course, and how did that experience influence your decision to join the Board?
I had been meeting with a colleague who had “CLP” in her credentials on her email footer. Being an avid decoder of acronyms, I asked her what it was and she said “Certified Listener Poet,” which led me on to a Google search about the next cohort training and I enrolled. I was attracted to the macro nature of The Good Listening Project’s work and the opportunity to be of service in a bigger way than I feel I often have – as well as to be a part of a like-minded community of folks working at the organizational-level in health care, bringing voice to service gaps and marginalized populations.
Though I’ve long done this work as a social worker, what appealed to me was the opportunity to return to it through the lens of my artistry – and to refresh my writing practice by coming full-circle to include the edits of a poemee, something I hadn’t done often before this. I’ve always felt like a vessel for others’ messages, but in this process, I was invited to shift from my own poetic voice to a different lens – as a listener. The poemee became part of the process, and their voice helped shape the final piece.
I also deeply appreciated the Certified Listener Poet training – the powerful connections formed within my cohort and the ongoing support from the Community of Practice. After a long service period of being at the helm of a non-profit arts training organization, I longed for colleagues and collaboration. Joining The Good Listening Project’s Board is an opportunity to lead from a different seat – bringing my experience in behavioral health, higher education, and health equity.
What are dreams that you have about the future of The Good Listening Project?
I am a bridge-builder by nature and am a part of many service organizations over the course of my 35 year career – universities, training institutes, non profit arts organizations and the like who don’t yet know about the work of The Good Listening Project. I would like to help steward these connections and to create in-roads for collaborative projects. I would be honored to have a role in the process of training new Listener Poets if it is helpful with my perspective as a registered poetry therapist and journal therapist, and as a student of narrative medicine. I see rich possibilities for The Good Listening Project to deepen its engagement with the behavioral health field, where storytelling, trauma-informed care, and creative expression are urgently needed.
I am happy to join such a vibrant Board, filled with energy and folks entering the work from so many different social identities. My husband and I are working on some joint ventures in community story-telling in health care spaces that will help participants to articulate their health care needs in an environment that has not always been focused on their individual stories. More on that soon, and I would love to explore ways to bring The Good Listening Project into that work.
Is there anything else you’d like to share for this spotlight?
I’m so happy that a friend – and some unexpected free time during the pandemic – led me to the good work of The Good Listening Project. I look forward to creating some “good trouble” over the next few years as a team!