Keck Narrative Medicine Program and the Cancer Support Community Los Angeles Receive Grant from USC Arts in Action

The Keck Narrative Medicine Program, in partnership with the Cancer Support Community Los Angeles (CSCLA), has been awarded a $10,300 grant by USC Arts in Action. Part of the University’s Visions and Voices arts and humanities initiative, Arts in Action funds collaborative projects, co-led by USC personnel and community organizations, that use art to address systemic oppression and society’s most pressing issues. CSCLA is a nonprofit whose mission is to uplift and strengthen people impacted by cancer by providing support, fostering compassionate communities, and breaking down barriers to care. The 2024 grant supports “Building Community Around a Shared Cancer Journey: A Narrative Medicine Approach,” a year-long program that will offer a series of narrative medicine workshops to individuals from under-resourced and underserved populations facing cancer diagnoses, as well as caregivers of patients and those impacted by a cancer diagnosis in their family.

As a method, field of study, and clinical practice, narrative medicine centers individual and community stories in the service of health and social justice. In the narrative medicine workshop, a work of art – a painting, a poem, film, music, or another form of creative expression – is used as a medium and vehicle for individual and collaborative interpretation, attentive listening, perspective-taking, and self-reflection. Crucially, the workshop encourages self-expression, often in the form of storytelling through personal reflective writing. “Building Community Around a Shared Cancer Journey” aims to empower cancer patients, caregivers, and family members to share their stories within a community of support and with their healthcare team in order to improve patients’ overall treatment experience and health outcomes. Consistent with Narrative Medicine’s commitment to social justice, the workshops cultivate an environment where participants can tell and listen to the stories of individuals and communities that continue to experience entrenched health inequities, stigma, and discrimination surrounding cancer diagnoses.

The generous Arts in Action grant enables the Keck Narrative Medicine Program and CSCLA to expand a 2023 pilot project that was developed and led by Kathy Riley, then a student in the Narrative Medicine master’s program and Associate Director of Programs for CSCLA. The initial project called “Celebrating Diverse Voices in the Cancer Journey,” which was also funded by Arts in Action, consisted of six narrative medicine workshops geared towards diverse populations including LGBTQ+ members, people of color living with cancer, and caregivers of pediatric cancer patients. In November 2023, the project culminated in a public event where participants shared their reflections and spoke of the impact that the workshops had on their illness experience. A particularly memorable moment at the event was when one of the participants expressed how the workshop helped her to find joy and support from the others in her group, as it was the first time since her diagnosis that she felt truly seen and heard. The workshops also led to the creation of community poems, like the one below, co-written by the participants. Illustrating the notion of art begetting art, the narrative medicine workshops show that when art is put into action, it not only has the potential to change lives, it inspires new art as well.

This year’s project, “Building Community Around a Shared Cancer Journey,” will be co-led by now USC alumna Kathy Riley, who will represent CSCLA as community partner, and Keck Narrative Medicine faculty Dr. Erika Wright and Dr. Kairos Llobrera. In addition to working with the communities served by CSCLA, the program will offer workshops to USC students who have a family member diagnosed with cancer. Understanding that students experience emotional distress when a relative receives a cancer diagnosis, which may be exacerbated when combined with the rigors of academics and the challenges of living away from the diagnosed loved one, the narrative medicine workshops will bring together students going through similar journeys to share their stories and establish connections that will foster a supportive community. Through the workshops, the project seeks to contribute to student wellness initiatives at USC by offering narrative medicine as a resource for student emotional wellbeing and introducing them to CSCLA services.

Please find a Community Poem from the “Exploring the Pediatric Caregiver Journey” Workshop (4.24.23) below.