Legacy Creation

Legacy Creation is a personalized process of reflection and storytelling that is often undertaken by those with life-threatening illnesses, but can also provide healing potential for people at any stage of life and health. 

We seek to feel honoured, and to honour others. In the vulnerability of honouring ourselves and others from a deeply authentic place, we create connection. And, in creating connection, we in turn nurture our true selves, and increase our capacity to nurture others.

For people who are more extroverted, it can be more natural to connect with others with ease in an authentic way. But, for those of us who are more introverted, interpersonal relationships are sometimes harder to navigate, and we often need significant nourishment from inward connection. One of the ways we can connect inwardly is through the arts and humanities—for example, through looking at or making art; through watching dance, or dancing; through reading or writing.

Although I also love to dance, my expertise is in the healing power of writing. Legacy Creation is a very focused kind of writing, one that is reflective on one’s life for the purpose of sharing experiences, values, feelings, and wisdom with beloved family and/or friends, or anyone else for whom we feel our reflections may be of benefit. 

It can also be something we do only for ourselves. The notion of legacy imparts a sense that these are words we will leave behind for after we die — and often this is the intention — but we can also approach a legacy project as a way of honouring a period in our lives that we are needing to move on from, or a part of ourselves that is needing a voice.

I work with people who are wanting to explore legacy creation. This may mean facilitating a process of writing letters to family members to be given to them after one’s passing, or recording a list of ways a person feels they have made a difference in the world. The possibilities for content and form are as broad and varied as each person is. 

This is not psychotherapy, but a sensitive, creative process to which I bring compassionate space and reflective support. This means that clients in need of psychotherapeutic support must have that in place separately. We will discuss the need for this, and parameters of the legacy creation service, at an initial meeting.