Dear Friends,
A heartfelt thank you to all of you who voted for my picture in the Pretty in Pink photo contest. Although our picture didn’t win the contest, I feel like a winner because I experienced so much love and support.
The story about my cancer scare last month elicited comments of understanding and appreciation from many of you. I loved hearing from you and wished there was a way you could all read what others wrote to me. So this month we’re trying something new. You can comment at the end of my Director’s Reflections, and you will all be able to read what others write.
This feels like a year of paradoxes for Healing Journeys. I’m curious to see what develops. There have been several occurrences that made me think it might be time to wrap up Healing Journeys. Our usual resources of sponsorships and grants to pay for our free conference weren’t available this year. I would have given up, but then an anonymous donor made a significant contribution as a challenge grant and many of you stepped up to the challenge, so we’re within $20k of having the money to meet our budget. I hope to close that gap through our raffle and donations at the conference.
Because I have worked harder to keep Healing Journeys financially viable this year, and I’ve been doing it for 16 years, I’m tired. Another indication it might be time to give it up. And then another generous donor gave us the funding to hire a new Executive Director to share the load. Working with the right person, I would be delighted to continue. You can see the job description here. We hope to start interviewing after the October 9th & 10th conference. If you know someone that might fit what we are looking for, please encourage her/him to attend the San Mateo conference. That’s how she will discover if she has a passion for continuing this work.
So, on the one hand the signs from the Universe have pointed to the possibility that the upcoming San Mateo conference could be our last one. On the other hand, there are indications that the support, the need, and the passion are there to continue our mission to support healing, activate hope, and promote thriving.
When we started offering the Cancer as a Turning Point, From Surviving to Thriving™ conference in 1994, there wasn’t much available to people touched by cancer that would fulfill that mission. Since then, the Integrative Medicine movement has blossomed. Many cancer centers offer programs focusing on healing the whole person. I wonder if Healing Journeys has fulfilled its mission and our conference isn’t needed anymore. Judging by the excitement and registrations for the San Mateo conference, I don’t think that’s true. I’d love to hear your comments on this question.
The program planned for the October conference is awesome. It will truly be a Broadway show for the soul and I think you will be sorry if you miss it, especially if it turns out to be the very last one. As of this writing, we don’t have another one planned. Please share your comments below on whether you feel there is a need for the unique role our conference plays in the world of healing.
In the spirit of healing,
Jan Adrian, MSW
Founder and Executive Director
P.S. We still need volunteers for the San Mateo conference, so please let us know if you can help.
Why does a good program need to end because its founder retires or changes status to “emeritus”?
Healing Journeys is the one of the reasons I’m here today, in as good a shape as I’m in. Seriously. If I hadn’t learned a new way to advocate for myself (from others I met at Healing Journeys), then others, like myself, who are otherwise “independent” folks, wouldn’t be as well-off as we are. Thank you for Healing Journeys.
Now, more than ever, programs like Healing Journeys (is there another like it?) are needed to make people like me feel like persons, not just patients. Empowerment is an overused term, but it’s appropriate to use for these conferences.
Leave it to others to carry on, in your name, Jan. Love & Kisses, Bonnie
I truly wish I could come to the conference in oct. I had planned to go since it is so close to home but something has come up and I can’t make it. Please know, what ever you decide to do all your work has touched many lives and is appreciated beyond words.God bless.
Last December, my girlfriend…no – the love of my life, my soulmate was diagnosed with a rare and very aggressive form of uterine cancer.
It was a bolt out of the blue.
And after a race to surgery (three days before Christmas Eve) and then home on the afternoon of Christmas we – no – she did a long march through chemo.
Until May – when spring sprung, chemo ended and your conference at the UVA’s Darden Business School appeared on our calendar.
It was – in every sense of the word – a blessing beyond words.
A wonderful, amazing mix of medical professionals, on the front lines of the battle against cancer and people coping with cancer.
And the setting was the ultimate metaphor for cancer – the highly disciplined – control all factors – Jeffersonian architecture – from the mind of a man who was – like the cells of cancer – a rebel against the established order.
In short, the seminar was a blessing of the first water. And no – while many treatment centers have embraced some – even much – of what your program advocates for – what they are doing is no substitute for you and your work.
Is it time for you to pass – or share – the baton?
That is a decision that is yours alone.
But I am certain it is NOT time to extinguish the flame.
Jan – Please know that you are providing something that is unique and like nothing else out there, even within the world of integrative medicine. The Turning Point conference is truly inspiring and brought me strength when I was very low. Keep up the good work – even if you have to pass the mantle on to a new director. All the best, Carla
Jan – Because of the Seattle Healing Journeys Conferences I was able to take some swings at those marvelous drums, and feel the reverberations throughout my body, and I can call up those feelings, still today.
At each of the two conferences I attended I felt sad, and warm, and happy, and smarter, and loopy with laughter, and grateful to you and the presenters for enriching my life, in turn.
The organization mustn’t quit; I haven’t presented yet! Many haven’t heard your wonderful messages, laughed our laughs, shed our tears, but through a gift from God Healing Journeys may continue to bring insight and practical tips to countless persons along their cancer walks.
Sincere thanks for a journey well lived, in hopes that you find the right co-leader soon.
Jan,
I have followed your Healing Journey Seminars since they began and have referred many cancer patients to have the life giving experience of attending.
Anything alive must be in a state of change so I am not surprised that you are moving on to a new chapter. Whatever follows will have its own chapter.
Bless you for all you have given. Rest in the truth that your life has had purpose and meaning beyond what most of us achieve.
Love,
June W. Lamb, MFT
It is inconceivable to think that this might be the last Healing Journey’s Conference as I imagine those newly diagnosed now, and in the future, not having the opportunity to experience this exquisite feast for the soul, mind, and heart. Bless you Jan for creating this magnificent venue of hope and inspiration, for all the years of hard work and keeping this going. You deserve to rest and restore yourself, especially after this recent cancer scare. Knowing you, you’ll find another “perfect” pair of willing hands and open heart who will be as excited and committed to keeping this astonishing work moving into the future. Whatever happens, I know it will be for everyone’s highest good, even if it might not feel that way at first. Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving your best so those of us can THRIVE, not just survive. With deep gratitude.
Dear Jan
you will know when and why it is time to hang it up but that is just an expression showing the weakness of words … your legacy is a gift to all of us who have known and reflected on your wit, wisdom and courage.. so it is NOT about hanging it up..
You cant.. it lives ON and ON.. in all of us!!!
Big hug that goes back to 1982 in Fresno!
When Pandora’s Box was opened, all the evils escaped and only hope was left in the bottom. Cancer releases all that un-health in the body and the mind. This conference helps people find and remember the hope. It is the only conference I have seen that truly integrates the mind, body and spirit to illustrate the strength and beauty of that human spirit. It should be declared a national treasure.
Sincerely
Art