Poet of Witness
Tour/Residency
Survivorship is not only a medical outcome.
It is a human experience.
Every year, more people survive cancer than ever before.
Yet many survivors find themselves carrying questions that medicine alone cannot answer.
Who am I now?
How do I make sense of what happened?
How do I move forward while carrying this experience with me?
The Poet of Witness Residency creates spaces where patients, survivors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals can reflect, connect, and be witnessed through creative arts experiences grounded in deep listening and artistic response.
Because every survivor deserves to be witnessed.
Our Partners:
Alternate Roots
American Cancer Society
What Is the Poet of Witness Residency?
The Poet of Witness Residency is a six-city creative arts initiative exploring survivorship, care, and the human experience of cancer across the American South.
Led by cancer survivor, author, theatre artist, ICF professional certified coach, and narrative practitioner Shannon Ivey, the residency brings expressive/creative arts experiences into cancer care communities through:
One-on-one listening sessions
Poems of Witness created in response to lived experience
Survivor reflection circles
Caregiver gatherings
Community conversations
Public readings and engagement events
Healthcare staff training and appreciation experiences
This is not a writing workshop. It is not therapy.
It is a practice of deep listening, reflection, and human connection: one survivor at a time.
The Process
Center Survivors
Our ethics are simple, but clear: we center survivors.
Not ourselves.
No Fixing
ICF Coaching ethics are heavily at play in the work we do. We do not offer advice, attempt to change or fix, or use any power over any person.
Low Skill/High Impact
Science backed, evidence based LOW skill creative activities around writing/expressive arts lead to person-centered breakthroughs in communication, self-efficacy, and resilience.
Communication thru Creativity
Cancer survivorship involves communicating in high stress medical situations.
Our activities help the overwhelm to be able to learn tools to communicate effectively with the care team.
Past Project
The Tour
Six Hope Lodge Cities.
One Mission.
In partnership with The American Cancer Society Hope Lodges, the inaugural tour will cover six southern cities:
Charleston, South Carolina
Atlanta, Georgia
Birmingham, Alabama
Memphis, Tennessee
Jackson, Mississippi
New Orleans, Louisiana
Why the south?
The South is home to some of the nation's highest cancer burdens, significant healthcare disparities, and a growing population of cancer survivors.
It is also home to remarkable traditions of resilience, caregiving, faith, creativity, and community.
As a late-stage, early-onset colorectal cancer survivor raised and living in the South, Shannon Ivey understands both the challenges and strengths that shape these communities.
The residency seeks to honor the voices, experiences, and wisdom of Southern survivors while contributing to a more human-centered vision of survivorship care.
Meet Shannon.
Shannon Ivey, MFA, AEA, PCC is a cancer survivor, author, Tedx speaker (x2), theatre professor, ICF certified professional coach, and narrative medicine practitioner whose work explores the intersection of story, care, resilience, and human connection.
Her memoir, Welcome to the Sh*t Show, chronicles her experience surviving late-stage colorectal cancer and advocates for a broader understanding of survivorship and patient experience.
Through her Poet of Witness practice, Shannon creates artistic responses that honor lived experience and affirm the dignity of those who share it.
Let’s Work TogetherIf you're interested in a Poet of Witness workshop or residency, complete this form.
We'll review your message and get back to you within 48 hours.
If you are form averse (ha), just email Shannon!
Shannon@shannon-ivey.com