Writing Away the Demons
ph: (718) 998-4572
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Press Release
Writing Away the Demons:
Stories of Creative Coping
Through Transformative Writing
by Sherry Reiter, PhD
and Contributors
North Star Press On Sale: April 15, 2009
Contact: Sherry Reiter
Phone: 718-998-4572 sherryreiter@yahoo.com
Poetry Doc's New Book Has “Write” Prescription for Stress
Brooklyn, NY, May 15, 2009 – When confronted with crisis, scientists tell us there are three human responses to stress: fight, flight, or freeze. Writing Away the Demons: Stories of Creative Coping Through Transformative Writing
(North Star Press, May 15, 2009), spotlights a more constructive response to stress — writing.
Dr. Sherry Reiter, a New York based registered poetry therapist and clinical social worker, makes a compelling case for the therapeutic power of expressive writing. The book features thirteen narratives from her clients, students, and colleagues who wrote their way through crisis -- ordinary (yet extraordinary) individuals who’ve written their way to a better life, along with incisive commentary by Dr. Reiter.
Dr. Sherry Reiter’s Writing Away the Demons is unique as a primer illustrating how people heal through writing. The stories in the book provide a window into what it is like to be a soldier after battle, a teenager who becomes pregnant, and an elderly person coming to terms with her final years. Dr. Reiter says that, “Writing Away the Demons is a book that opens the heart and the reader becomes both witness and participant, riveted and educated by stories that include first-hand accounts of alcoholism, domestic violence, sexual abuse, war, depression, illness and aging.”
“It is a creative act of courage to tell the story and write the poem, to encounter one’s griefs, angers, and shame, and to choose a creative channel to intentionally funnel one’s emotions,” according to Dr. Reiter. Some authors in Writing Away the Demons charted their journeys on their own. Others enlisted the aid of a therapist as guide. All of the authors chose creative coping. “They took to their journals instead of reacting with the more usual stress responses (fight, flight, or freeze). As a result, they were able to minimize disorientation, numbness, and emotional discomfort. All of the writers harnessed the restorative capacity of writing to identify, organize, contain and release their stories,” she notes.
The book explores writing as a tool of psychological survival, a way of creating meaning, reconciling struggles and triumphs, helplessness and hopefulness. Writing Away the Demons celebrates triumph over adversity and offers an accessible tool anyone can deploy against a stress-filled, troubled world.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sherry Reiter, PhD, is a clinical social worker and registered poetry therapist who combines talk therapy with writing therapy. As Director of The Creative “Righting” Center, she focuses on poetry, story, and the reclaiming of voice as dynamic healing components. Dr. Reiter divides her time between writing, teaching at Touro College, Hofstra University, and private practice. She is also the coordinator of Poets-Behind-Bars, a writing therapy program for inmates of the Indiana State Maximum Security Prison. She is a past president of the National Association for Poetry Therapy, a recipient of the Art Lerner Pioneer Award (2005) and Touro College Teacher of the Year Award (2009). She lives in Brooklyn with her family. Writing Away the Demons is her first book.
Writing Away the Demons: Sherry Reiter & Contributors
North Star Press of St. Cloud, Inc.
(May 15, 2009)
ISBN: 0-87839-329-3
ISBN: 13-978-0-87839-329-9
www.thecreativerightingcenter.com
Contact: Sherry Reiter 718-998-4572
Blog interview with Dr. Reiter
Wendy Burt-Thomas asks her top ten questions. Click on link to see Sherry's answers.
Exceptional Wisdom Radio interview with Dr. Reiter
Exceptional Wisdom is an Internet Radio Program. Kay Adams is the host of Journaling for A Better Life.
Critics Praise
Reviewer's Bookwatch • August, 2009 • Writing Away the
Creativity can be a tool for a healthier soul. "Writing Away the Demons: Stories of Creative Coping Through Transformative Writing" is a collection of stories by those who, while in crisis, took up a pen and paper and wrote stories, poetry, memoirs, and more in order to cope with their dilemmas ranging from addiction to cancer. Showing the power of literary expression, "Writing Away the Demons" is a very highly recommended read for those who need something to look towards for strength.
--Bethany, Susan, Entrepreneur
Transformative Writing -- as evidenced by the diversity of writers who contribute to this ground-breaking collection -- comes from specific experiences, insights, stories and metaphors, and through those specifics, illuminates what's enduring, what's life-giving, what makes us human. Each writer in this book holds up a lantern of transformative writing to show us not just the way through the dark, but how meeting the darkness with curiosity and compassion makes life shimmer with meaning.
--Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, founder and coordinator of Transformative Language Arts (TLA) at Goddard College
There is abundant scientific evidence that "expressive writing" is a profound way to affect health and well-being. Writing Away the Demons: Stories of Creative Coping Through Transformative Writing is a stellar example of "everyday" people discovering this truth first-hand. Along with this, Dr. Reiter is keenly sensitive to the way sharing our stories reveal soul and the remarkable resilience of human beings.
--John Fox, author of Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-making
President, The Institute for Poetic Medicine
In these remarkable stories, we bear witness to the transformation of pain into power. Sherry Reiter makes an undeniable case for writing as a way through human suffering, with case studies that are nearly archetypal ... A vital and necessary contribution to the literature of therapeutic writing.
--Kathleen Adams, author, Journal to the Self and The Way of the Journal
Dr. Sherry Reiter, one of the pioneers in poetry therapy, is a uniquely gifted writer, practitioner, and educator. Her writing speaks to the heart in a sensitive yet disciplined manner and is compelling because it draws from real life professional experience. In essence, Dr. Reiter's artistic approach to writing is research of the highest order filling a significant gap in the professional literature.
--Nicholas Mazza, Editor of The Journal of Poetry Therapy;
The Interdisciplinary Journal of Practice, Theory, Research and Education
ph: (718) 998-4572
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