Listener Poets
We are a team of listeners who bring engagement, comfort, and belonging to hospital staff, patients, and families through poetry. Click through our profiles to explore our work.
Julia McDonald (She/They) is a Maine-based physician, writer, and international humanitarian. McDonald’s writing has appeared in mainstream news media as advocacy for patients and commentary on the intersection of politics and medicine.
Leigh Finnegan-Hosey is a spiritual care provider with experience working in both higher education and health care settings. She currently serves as the pediatric and reproductive health chaplain for a large academic medical center.
Gray Davidson Carroll is a white, transfemme writer, dancer, singer, cold water plunger and (self-proclaimed) hot chocolate alchemist hailing from Brooklyn by way of western Massachusetts and other strange and forgotten places.
Chanice Withers is an educator, poet, and proud graduate of the Certified Listener Poet program. A natural-born teacher, she shares her gift with the community through her monthly workshop, Poetry in the Park—a space for connection, creativity, and healing.
LaShaune Johnson is a public health professor, breast cancer survivor/advocate, and culturally responsive evaluator.
Joseph M. Jablonski is a typewriting street poet in addition to being a Listener Poet of The Good Listening Project. As a street poet, he entertains as the “Walking Mall Poet” on the downtown pedestrian mall of Winchester, Virginia and beyond.
Zina Mercil is a lover of people, connection, compassion, words, artistic expression, and life. In her roles she specializes in increasing personal awareness, growth, and performance while decreasing burnout and health consequences.
Mindy Shah grew up near the shores of Lake Erie, in Ohio, and spent much of her childhood tramping around the woods and writing stories she seldom finished.
Elizabeth Pringle explores language and the human experience through theatre and film, arts and media education, leadership coaching, and professional development.
Yvette Perry is a lover of music and books, an amateur photographer, a collector of antique typewriters, and one fourth of a Marvel Cinematic Universe household that includes her husband and twin daughters.
Ravenna Raven works as a Listener Poet at hospitals, healing centers, and national healthcare conferences. She teaches creative writing, reading development, and restorative yoga to students of all ages.
Jenny Hegland is a creative facilitator, coach, and social entrepreneur whose life’s work centers around community engagement, participatory leadership, and social justice.
Connect with us
Interested in cultivating resilience and wellbeing in healthcare communities? Contact us to learn more.