VESSEL: Writing Through the Fears of Death, Responsibility, Isolation, and Meaninglessness

DEATH. RESPONSIBILITY. ISOLATION. MEANINGLESSNESS. The four existential fears that human beings must confront. Dr. Nancy Farber Kent, a humanistic psychologist, professor, and musician, invites you to come along with her on a year long journey towards achieving a dream. Using herself as a model, she teaches us about the human condition, and how while we are each unique, we all wrestle with the same four core fears that lead us to anxiety, depression, and hopelessness. VESSEL is written in real-time, as a series of psychotherapy "sessions" between the author and her therapist self. Through her own process, Dr. Farber Kent illustrates techniques of writing-as-therapy: writing our way down the page until we hear our own authentic voices; and two-chair Gestalt therapy: dialoguing with parts of one's self to resolve inner conflicts and sooth those critical voices that we all have in our heads. As she writes her way through her current interpersonal and intrapersonal challenges, Dr. Farber Kent reflects back on her own experience through addiction, suicidality, and being the psychologist-on-the-other-side. She shares with us her philosophy that "we are all mentally ill" and encourages us to think about the world as one big psychiatric hospital. Through her authentic sharing, Dr. Farber Kent will model for you how to find your own voice and unique purpose through creative approaches that foster authentic connection to yourself and others. You will learn how to overcome the loneliness that we all experience at times. Come along, be inspired, laugh, and learn...