In a couple of weeks our 20th anniversary celebration and 2014 free conference will be history. Some of the conference presenters have spoken or performed at previous conferences so they may be familiar to you. For example, Jonna Tamases has performed her one woman drama called Jonna’s Body, Please Hold as part of at least 4 past conferences. On a scale of 1 to 5, she often is given a rating of “10.” In other words, off the charts. Jonna is a survivor of 3 cancers and has written and performs a powerful drama about her experience. Here’s what a few people have said about her at past conferences:

• Amazing! My 3rd time to see her — once paid for her performance in Victoria, BC. How does she do it??
• Touched my experience, my emotions, my fears, and offered a hope for thriving afterwards.
• The best thing EVER!!
• Amazing, humanizing, hilarious, my favorite!
• Jonna was so wonderful. She was able to convey what I was never able to say.

Our closing presenter at the Campbell Cancer as a Turning Point™ conference will be Beth Nielsen Chapman, who performed at our Greenville, SC conference, but this will be her California Healing Journeys debut. Beth is a singer-songwriter, breast cancer survivor, and environmental activist, who has written songs for Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Bette Midler, Elton John, Neil Diamond, Faith Hill, Willie Nelson, and more. “This Kiss” ASCAP’S 1999 Song of the Year, sung by Faith Hill, garnered her a Grammy nomination. Through her music at the conference, Beth will take us on some of the journeys of her heart, and share some of her life lessons and her stories. Be prepared to be touched and inspired.

You can learn about our other presenters here. The conference will again address both your head and your heart, keeping in mind our mission to support healing, activate hope, and promote thriving. We believe, in the words of Dr. Lawrence LeShan, “The person exists on many levels . . . physical, psychological and spiritual . . . and none of these can be reduced to any other. To move successfully toward health, all must be treated.”

I’m excited about the presenters at the anniversary evening and the conference on September 5th & 6th, and I would love for you to experience them. If you can’t be there, I encourage you to take this as a reminder to find ways to support your healing, activate your hope, and promote your thriving. Just like we need to feed our physical bodies on a regular basis, we also need to nurture our spirits. When we find things that feed our souls, it’s up to us to give those activities priority in our lives.

As always, I welcome your comments; to reply please click here.

In the Spirit of Healing,

Jan Adrian, MSW
Founder and Executive Director
www.healingjourneys.org