How narrative medicine helps nurture the mind and body

Joi and her son

When she was just 5 months old, Joi Boose was diagnosed with truncus arteriosus, a birth defect that happens when the blood vessel coming out of the heart fails to separate completely during development, leaving a connection between the aorta and pulmonary artery.

Pediatric cardiologist Dr. David Thoele was her diagnosing physician, although at that time, he had not yet joined Advocate Children’s Hospital.

“I continued to receive care from Dr. Thoele after he joined Advocate, and I still have annual checkups with him and the Adult Congenital Heart Clinic,” said Joi, who’s now 30 years old.

At one of her appointments about 15 years ago, Dr. Thoele and Joi talked about ways to deal with anxiety, including deep breathing.

“Dr Thoele’s empathy and compassion is contagious. Even if you’re not the type to meditate or do breath work, simply seeing how enthusiastic he is will make you consider it.”

Dr. Thoele was also developing his ideas around integrating narrative medicine into his practice.

“Narrative medicine is telling and listening to stories,” explained Dr. Thoele. “Our goal is to facilitate healing, rehumanize health care and increase capacity for empathy and self-reflection. We want to create a more nurturing environment in the medical field.”

Part of the program includes a writing exercise Dr. Thoele developed called the Three Minute Mental Makeover, or 3MMM. Health practitioners write together with their patients in clinical situations, then share what they wrote.

“It’s writing three things you’re grateful for, the story of your life in six words and three wishes. It sounds challenging, but it can be quite powerful in reducing stress – especially when people continue to practice it at home.”

Dr. Thoele gave Joi a narrative medicine notebook that she journaled in for many years. She and Dr. Thoele also swapped poetry and photos.

“Now I do most of my journaling on my computer, but I still keep the notebook as a reminder to stop and take a breath when I’m feeling anxious,” she shared.

Joi’s last surgery was in 2013. She credits narrative medicine with helping her get through it – both physically and mentally.

“Journaling and breath work helped me immensely through all of the anxiety of surgery. I also feel like my physical illness was lessened because of the positive thoughts that narrative medicine guided me to. It was an important part of my healing.”

Joi is grateful for the care, support and friendship Dr. Thoele has provided over the years.

“Dr. Thoele has been such an integral part of my life and through my medical journey. He knows my husband and our son. He’s like family,” she said. “Having a friend and companion on your side who is also your doctor means the world to me. And his work with narrative medicine will help patients for years to come.”

How you can help

Narrative medicine is supported by philanthropy, and the group at Advocate Children’s Hospital is growing.

“There’s a lot of interest in our narrative medicine program, and our research showed that doing the 3MMM writing exercise reduced stress for patients, doctors, nurses – everyone who did it,” shared Dr. Thoele. “When health practitioners write with their patients, it creates a connection and transforms their relationship. Instead of ‘you and I,’ it becomes ‘we.’”

Please consider making a gift to support the narrative medicine program. You can also learn more by joining Dr. Thoele’s Facebook group, The Weekly Breather: Telling Our Stories.