The Good Listening Project
Good listening is healing.
Listener Poets cultivate resilience and wellbeing in healthcare.
We serve healthcare staff, medical students, patients, and caregiver communities through listening poetry.
Learn more
Meet the Listener Poets
Where we listen
Why we listen
Explore our work
As Listener Poets, we create spaces where people can speak openly.
We then write poems inspired by our conversations to commemorate and celebrate these stories.
“I wonder if these medical professionals, in caring for people who face such insurmountable odds, walk around all the time carrying this weight I’m hauling now.”
He had been trying to cope with the grief ever since and was on a quest for soul-searching and meaning-making.
She spoke about the ways this traumatic event shaped who she is today: a person with an “unshakeable peace” born of deep faith,
She wanted to help people feel comfortable and transform the shame around colon issues. "I want to talk about things that matter, the things people don't want to discuss.
When we met, she was coming off a stretch of nine 14-hour shifts. She was tired but in good spirits.
She reflected on how her resilience was born from moments of shared mirth amid life's trying chapters.
“Life is complex and dirty, but digging in is important to me,” she said. “Maybe if more of us understood history, we could understand each other better.”
We are expected to research, contribute to scholarship, earn grants – all on our own time.
We are expected to research, contribute to scholarship, earn grants – all on our own time.
Every day, I try to see through the patient lens, and I ask: what can we do to change this broken system?
She was very proud of her daughter and has hopes for “a bright future that’s as pain free as possible”
“I’m trying to focus on doing little things to make people feel better during everything that’s going on in the world,” she told me.
“It’s hard to see others struggle,” she said. “How can I help with their struggle without struggling myself?”
"I'd tell her it's OK to be loud...it's OK to challenge and to bring all of you into these spaces where no one looks like you..."
“I'm continuously questioning: did I do it right?" she said. "I’ve always done a good amount of second-guessing, but I’m re-learning how to show up differently.”
“It’s weird,” she said. “This is one of the biggest accomplishments of my life, but it doesn’t feel like it.”
"It changed me; It changed the way I look at life," said this woman about her profound experience during her pregnancy.
“It’s been more challenging than normal lately,” she said. “I’m only one person. It's a struggle for me to say no, but I can’t do everything that’s being asked of me right now.”
"I've been processing how to make the most of the small amount of life we have to live," said this physician.
"I've been processing how to make the most of the small amount of life we have to live," said this physician.
The ripple effect
The ripple effect of good listening fundamentally shifts how it feels to work with and care for others.
When thoughtful listeners hold space, people feel heard and understood, and the experience is often cathartic.
What’s new
Poem for Our Future
We’re excited to present this co-created “Poem for Our Future.”
This is a collaboration of our community’s shared hopes for the future of healthcare.
We loved receiving an outpouring of your deepest hopes for the future of healthcare. We hope you enjoy seeing how our communal "Poem for Our Future" reveals our shared dreams.
Contact us
If you’d like to support good listening in your healthcare community, we would love to hear from you.