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I am a poet, storyteller, producer, teacher, speaker, editor, and a practitioner of narrative healthcare. My forthcoming book entitled Bee Bread: How the Hive of Story Listening and Storytelling Heal the World will be released in Autumn 2026. In this book, I explain how medical research in the newly recognized field of Narrative Medicine reflects wisdom described in mythology and poetry and practiced in storytelling. This site is devoted to the archaic, organic, vital connection between writing and healing. I am available to speak at conferences, facilitate workshops, and guide clients onto the healing path of writing.

I help others incorporate imagination and subjective sovereignty back into everyday life. In doing so, I teach nervous-system regulation, self-healing, and contentment.

I am an unmasked neurodivergent high+ gifted individual, meaning I perceive and experience the world in a multidimensional, suprasensory way. Creativity is a necessary tool for processing and organizing complexity. When I am guiding others in their creativity, they tend to unmask as well. I think this is why approaching creativity feels unnerving and intimidating. It’s a tool for becoming more of who we really are.

I am currently directing the Narrative Healthcare Program at Lenoir-Rhyne University, producing Asheville Wordfest and the inaugural Narrative Medicine in the Mountains Retreat for Doctors and Nurses with Mountain Area Health Education Center and Connie Regan-Blake. I facilitate free community Narrative Healthcare sessions at Peri Social House in Black Mountain, NC at 4 pm on Sundays.

Contact me regarding Speaking Engagements, Storytelling and Poetry Performances, and Narrative Healthcare sessions for groups and individuals at Laura.Hopegill@LR.Edu.