Healing Words

Healing Words is an anthology of works created by IPFW students, faculty, staff, Fort Wayne community members and friends. Members include veterans from the Korean War, Desert Storm, Iraq, and other eras of service along with civilians. The contributions of these authors were written as original works, based upon exercises from The Ladder UPP(TM) workbook by Silouan Green, a Marine pilot veteran. The IPFW Ladder UPP(TM) Creative Writing Group, sponsored by IPFW Military Student Services, focuses on assisting veterans, military members and other survivors of traumatic events such as terminal illnesses like cancer, rape, assault, combat, domestic violence, deaths to tell his/her individual story. These stories are in the formats of short essays, short stories, poetry, letters to specific individuals, and so forth. The group has had a fluid membership with rolling entry and departure of group members, and has been meeting once a week since 2015 to share stories and provide support for transition, recovery, and day to day living beyond trauma. The group is open to any person who has experienced a traumatic event, who may be experiencing post traumatic stress, and wishes to be able to tell their story in the journey to wholeness.