Yvette Perry, PhD, Health Equity Programs Lead for The Good Listening Project, and Kevin Dieter, MD, Certified Listener Poet Cohort 11 alum, presented a workshop at the 2026 conference of the Health Humanities Consortium in Indianapolis, Indiana in April. The session, “Holding Space for Caregivers through Poetry: A Workshop to Foster Compassionate Deep Listening,” addressed the conference theme ("Health Justice: So it Goes?") by amplifying the voices—often unheard—of informal caregivers within the health care system.
Focusing on the TGLP Caregiver Haven initiative, Drs. Dieter and Perry led in-person and virtual attendees in considering the ways that Listener Poet session provide caregivers space to express the complex and layered emotions of caring and providing care for a loved one during illness and the end of life. The workshop provided multiple opportunities for attendees to reflect and to write.
“I was so impressed with how quickly the workshop attendees got to writing,” said Dr. Perry. “In many similar presentations in the past we’ve eased people into writing by leading them in smaller scale writing exercises like mandala poems. But in this workshop even with the first reflection and writing exercise there were folks who wrote full poems on the spot. I should have expected no less from participants at a conference focused on health humanities—this was definitely ‘preaching to the choir’!”
The main writing exercise was the “55-Word Poem” prompt. Kevin shared this exercise, adapted for health care environments by Anne Scheetz, MD and Mary E. Fry, MD, as a way to force health care professions uncover and articulate the essence of an experience—much like cooks simmering wine to evaporate off excess liquid, leaving behind intensely flavored sauce.
Nearly all participants shared their 55-word stories, which focused on their own caregiving experiences, caregivers they’ve encountered through their personal or professional life, or other intense relational experiences in healthcare environments. Yvette, who attended the conference in person, shared that throughout the conference workshop, multiple attendees shared how meaningful the session was and how unexpected the depth of their reactions were.
“I hope that [Yvette and me] standing shoulder to shoulder (virtually) is a testament of how this work (The Good Listening Project) can bring physicians and medical education administrators/leaders together to exemplify and demonstrate the impact of poetry in self-care and deeper understanding of those we care for,” said Dr. Dieter.