November 2025
The Good Listening Project was invited to present at VCU Health’s annual Good Grief Conference, which highlights the presence and impact of grief in health care spaces. Our session, “Listening Like a Poet: Practice for Meaning-Making and Resilience in Bereavement Care,” aligned beautifully with this year’s theme: resilience in relationships.
October 2025
The Good Listening Project was honored to once again take part in the annual KNN conference in Minneapolis this year. We also shared copies of our newly published KNN Anthology: Stories of Residents & Fellows, which was available to all participants.
October 2025
In September, our very own Listener Poet Yvette Perry took part in Tupelo Press’s 30/30 Project – a poetry marathon and fundraiser where poets write 30 poems in 30 days. Yvette joined seven other poets in this creative challenge, contributing daily poems that highlighted her artistry and commitment to the craft.
October 2025
“Reading this chapbook felt like stepping into a healing ritual—one that drew my body and spirit into full attention. With spare, piercing language, Mahaffey evokes the sensual, the sacred, and the sorrowful, reminding us how deeply we are shaped by what we dare to feel—and by the power of listening that is both attentive and attuned to what so often goes unsaid.” –Jenny Hegland, Executive Director, The Good Listening Project
September 2025
Introducing the The Good Listening Project poetry anthology, Amplifying Voices of Black Women Physicians in Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Programs. Each poem and origin story in this collection was created as the result of a partnership between The Good Listening Project and Health4Equity, an initiative of the WPP Racial Equity Programme.
September 2025
As Listener Poets, we're trained to attend to poemees' stories and imagery to create our poems for them. Sometimes the language poemees use is in the form of common phrases, and even clichés, which can sometimes can even hide poemees' deeper feelings and insights. In this Community of Practice, Listener Poets are invited to discuss this phenomenon and share strategies for turning "Hallmark card language" to rich metaphors.
September 2025
Join Dr. Julia McDonald, physician and Certified Listener Poet, for a meet and greet and book signing for their new poetry anthology, Hysteriography, that uplifts the lived experiences of people with uteruses (and those who love them) through poetry that is unapologetically honest, moving, and needed.
September 2025
This month, we’re delighted to welcome Kay Abesamis to The Good Listening Project’s Board of Directors. Kay brings nearly a decade of experience in oncology and blood cancer research at Pfizer, where she focuses on developing new therapies for leukemia, prostate cancer, and bladder cancer.
September 2025
We’re delighted to introduce our recent graduates – the members of Certified Listener Poet Cohort 11! Each poet brings unique gifts, experiences, and perspectives to the practice of listening and poetry. Now, as they join our Community of Practice, they carry this work forward in diverse and meaningful ways, weaving it into their lives, professions, and communities.
September 2025
One of our information sessions took a special turn when we were joined virtually by a high school class from Pittsburgh, PA. Their teacher was teaching a course on Human Flourishing and asked if his seniors could sit in on the session, learn about the healing and medicinal possibilities of poetry, and pose questions to our Listener Poets.
September 2025
We’re honored that The Good Listening Project was featured in Red Door Magazine’s latest issue, #39 – Impermanence, published by Elizabeth Torres, a recent graduate of Certified Listener Poet Cohort 11. You can find an article about our work on page 32, along with a moving poem by Listener Poet Gray Davidson Carroll.
September 2025
You’re Invited! Saturday, November 29 at 8 PM ET. Anne Marie Wells, Certified Listener Poet Cohort 9, is hosting a virtual book launch for her new book, Write Some Cool Sh!t: 366 Prompts to Rekindle Your Creativity. Come celebrate the launch of Anne Marie’s first self-published book via her publishing house, Star Belt Press, with special guests.
August 2025
By Yvette Perry
Recently one of my poems (and audio reading of the poem), “What You Will Call Me,” was featured on The Blood Project website. The Blood Project aims “to promote exploration and deeper understanding of the role of blood in health, injury and disease, integrated with the patient’s experience in pursuit of enhanced individualized care.”
August 2025
By Jenny Hegland
Twice a month, our Listener Poet community (now 80+ and growing) gathers for our regular Community of Practice. Last month, the focus of our sessions was on poetic voice – that one-of-a-kind artistic expression that allows us to communicate not only our own truths but also the truths and stories of others.
August 2025
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.”
August 2025
Salaam Green, an alum of the first cohort of the The Good Listening Project’s Certified Listener Poet course, has released a poetry collection. The Other Revival is a story of homecoming. This collection of poems revolves around a house built in Harpersville, Alabama in 1841. Thirty-nine people enslaved by Samuel Wallace, the owner of the property, constructed the house and worked the land.
August 2025
Poet and educator Ravenna Raven was recently featured in For the Soul: A Group Exhibition in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. Curated by Geheim Gallery in partnership with Lion and Lamb Fine Art, the exhibition brought together 20 artists from across the country to explore a resonant question: What does the soul of your work look like?