Joannah L. Merriman, M.A. . is a psychotherapist, community educator and writer. She has presented workshops and seminars locally since 1979 and nationally since 1993. Her parents bought her a five-year diary for Christmas when she was eight years old, which helped direct the course of her life.
Her primary focus is the use of reflective writing as an avenue to enhance journaling for creativity and healing, and to capture life stories in manageable pieces that don’t overwhelm the writer. Flow-writing and reflecting into deeper exploration enriches the process of creating the metaphoric quilt that is our life experience. She leads memoir critique groups and works with individual writers on their manuscripts.
Writing for herself and others, she lives in Fort Collins, with her long-time partner, two Golden Retrievers, and two cats. Surrounded by paper, pens, yarn and fabric, and a library full of books, she is working on two novels and a memory scrap collection.
Classes Taught with the Therapeutic Writing Institute:
A Quilt of Words: Gathering Our Memory Scraps
Education:
B.A. Psychology – University of Toledo
M.A. Holistic Psychology and Counseling – Boulder Graduate School
M.A. English/Communication Development – Colorado State University (thesis pending)
University of Iowa Summer Writers’ Workshop
Licensure, Certifications, etc.:
Certified Journal To The Self Instructor
Certified Proprioceptive Writing Facilitator
Grief and Bereavement Counseling – CMI Institute
Partial List of Client Organizations:
National Association for Poetry Therapy
ArtUnraveled Creativity Conference (Arizona)
Goddard College (Vermont)
Poudre Valley Hospital
Colorado State University
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
Hospice of Larimer County
Colorado Association for Counseling and Development
Poudre R-1 School District
American Society for Training and Development
Unitarian Universalist Association (Mountain Desert District)
American Cancer Society, Larimer County Chapter
Grinnell Fire Protection/Tyco, National Service Division (Massachusetts)
Websites: