Certified Listener Poet,
Cohort 11 Summer 2025
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. This kind of free-writing practice keeps her words playful and fluid; Ellen loves deep listening and guiding others to honor their inner critics by sending them on vacation so that word-play can bounce around uninterrupted and with joy.
Ellen is also a mindfulness instructor (trained through KORU, now MIEA – Mindfulness Instruction for Emerging Adults) who learned Transcendental Meditation more than 50 years ago. Her practice evolved over the years and deepened into daily practice in 2018, when she began her training in Spiritual Direction. Ellen pursued additional training in Grief Support and is drawn to companioning those facing the pain of loss.
Her earliest “work roots” lie in graduating law school in 1982 and working for a daily, morning newspaper (The Charleston Gazette) for the next five years. She earned her MFA from Goddard in 2011. Ellen has been married since 1985, lives in North Carolina with her husband and dog, and has two sons, two daughters-in-law, and one grandchild (so far). For Ellen, the deepest spirituality is found in being fully present with daily life.