By Kathleen Kramer The North Bay Healing Circle has been meeting monthly since the summer of 2009. Our formation grew out of a one-day alumni retreat that was held by the Commonweal Cancer Help Program (CCHP) for those who had attended the week-long retreat. Michael Lerner, Commonweal’s co-founder, suggested that we might want to create […]
A poem by CCHP alumnus Stuart C. Johnson
A poem by CCHP alumnus Daniel Blodgett
A poem by CCHP alumna Amber Kennedy
“Girl Scout Camp circa 1970” and “Rope” by CCHP alumna Terry Fletcher
CCHP alumni Terri Mason reflects on her experience at the Commonweal Cancer Help Program retreat.
At CCHP, Stephanie felt accepted for what she was. She felt that she was granted the spaciousness to be and didn’t feel the need to change, to become the same as. And, in that acceptance, to accept everyone’s multifaceted beingness. To learn to love without expecting conformity to expectation or to the dominant cancer narratives of our day.
Having nine people who made including her a high enough priority to delay a pleasurable activity was life-changing for Miki. For that evening, the possibility of belonging was palpable. The memory continued to inspire her to reach for more and more connection and belonging with people, and to find it.
Since Lori’s days as an overnight camper and counselor she’s known the transformative power of immersion experiences, and CHP is most certainly that. Here is a small taste of the gifts that she found at Commonweal.
by Kathy Bero It was spring 2008. I sat broken and alone in my living room listening to a radio talk show. The woman being interviewed spoke about her own chronic health issues over the years and the excellent work she did in spite of those illnesses. She was a doctor, a teacher, an organizer, […]