A Live Online Continuity Program with Lissa Rankin, MD

The Writer's Calling

A Soulful Community Of Writers

Ongoing Program - Join Anytime

2 Hour Live Subscription Program, Twice A Month on Mondays at Noon Pacific Time

1:00 - 3:00 PM Mountain Time | 2:00 - 4:00 PM Central TIme | 3:00-5:00 PM Eastern Time | 20:00 GMT

Watch the video below to find out what THE WRITER'S CALLING is all about

You don’t have to prove anything to live the writer’s calling. If you are writing—even if only in secret journals, soulful text messages on your phone, drunken musings on bar napkins, or tear-streaked scraps of paper tucked in bedside drawers, you are a writer. You have permission to own it.

Some of us write for playful fun. Some of us write to process our world, as if it’s not real until it’s down on paper. Some of us write for healing purposes- not just our own personal healing, but as a spiritual calling of sorts. We may be called to write the same way priests are called to the priesthood or doctors are called to medicine.

We can’t help ourselves. The muse is a relentless lightning rod, a feral, goofy, glorious maker of good trouble, a silly, chaotic insatiable genius who knocks on your consciousness like an impatient and madly horny lover, an irrational rascal just trying to pour art through your fingertips. Muses have had it with waiting until it’s practical to write. 2am works just fine, thank you very much. In The Writer’s Calling, muses are not only welcome, they are invited to come play, cry until snot comes out your nose, tear out their hair, laugh until you pee yourself, rage until justice comes, and get just a little bit manic with magic.

  • You may not write for fame, money, or accolades. But maybe, just maybe, you will! You may write because something inside you must write. Because you have stories that won’t let you go until they’re seen, held, and turned into light. Because writing is how you survive this world, how you alchemize pain into beauty, how you make meaning out of the mess. Because you know—deep in your bones—that your story could help someone else find their way out of the dark.
  • If that’s you, welcome home. You don’t have to do this alone. The Writer’s Calling is the safe, brave space you’ve been longing for. A sacred circle of writers called not just to create beauty and meaning, but to heal, transform, and serve.
  • Kick off your creativity, light up your muse, enter into safe, brave space with a community of IFS-informed writers, work on your book or personal writing, and deepen your healing journey with Lissa Rankin, MD.
  • ​If you feel called to write to heal yourself, or called to help others heal through what you write, or called to be part of global transformation as an activist writer, The Writer’s Calling community might be the home you’ve been seeking to support your writing and help you fulfill your calling.

“If you’re writing, you’re a writer. Write like you’re a goddamn death row inmate and the governor is out of the country and there’s no chance for a pardon. Write like you’re clinging to the edge of a cliff, white knuckles, on your last breath, and you’ve got just one last thing to say, like you’re a bird flying over us and you can see everything, and please, for God’s sake, tell us something that will save us from ourselves. Take a deep breath and tell us your deepest, darkest secret, so we can wipe our brow and know that we’re not alone." - Alan Watts

Dear Beautiful, Brave, Badass Writer,

  • Do you sense that your writing can be medicine for the world, but you need a community of other writers fulfilling their callings to realize your visionary ideas?
  • Do you feel called to tell your trauma-to-transformation story, but it’s emotionally challenging to go back into your memories on your own, without a community of support to help you stay focused and emotionally regulated?
  • Do you feel like you have a story buried deep inside that you need to get out of your body and onto the page? 
  • Are you interested in integrating Internal Family Systems (IFS) and therapeutic writing as part of your own healing and creative process?
  • ​Are you working on a book and you need support to help you stay accountable and follow through on your writing practice?

None of us would ever wish for heart-wrenching traumatic experiences so we'd have material for writing kick-ass stories. But if you've survived something challenging, your story can not only be healing to write for your own therapeutic purposes; it can also help heal others who are struggling in similar ways. Our life’s challenges are grist for the writer’s mill that can be transformed into works of art that not only help us heal; they can also help others who struggle like we have. When we’re in hell, it can be hard to imagine that anything good can come from our suffering. Yet, many of us, at least in retrospect, can see our challenges with fresh eyes and recognize that our most traumatic experiences can either crush us or motivate us to transform into the people we’re meant to become. 

Trauma happens. You didn’t “manifest” your trauma. You didn’t “choose” your trauma. You didn’t “cause” your trauma. But it happens. How we handle life’s setbacks- and whether we can find meaning and purpose in what we went through- can be the lynchpin between slow decline and resilient breakthrough. Writing about what you’ve been through and taking charge of your story in a therapeutic way can be a first step towards healing a broken heart, regaining trust, grieving what you’ve lost, and starting to feel safe again after you’ve been through something hard. Sometimes that’s enough- and nobody else needs to read what you’ve written.

But many people feel a passionate activist spirit that compels us to feel a strong sense of mission, a calling that guides us to want to use our stories and share what we’ve learned along our healing journeys with others who are not quite as far on the path of healing. Unfortunately, that calling doesn’t usually come with instructions or a business plan. 

That’s where The Writer’s Calling comes in…

"In the depths of your pain lies the power to illuminate countless lives. Your journey, once marked by shadows, now carries the seeds of inspiration and healing. Let your words dance upon the pages, for through your writer’s calling, you gift others the courage to face their own darkness and find the flicker of hope within.”  - Lissa Rankin, MD, author of memoirs The Anatomy Of A Calling and Sacred Medicine

WHAT IS THE WRITER’S CALLING?

The Writer’s Calling is a soulful, trauma-informed, IFS-rooted continuity community of brave-hearted truth-tellers, artists, muse-led creatives, and writers devoted to living their calling and using their words to change lives. We meet twice a month on Zoom for two hours of creative inspiration, therapeutic writing, group sharing, and embodied magic. We also gather in monthly small group writer’s masterminds to give and receive loving, honest feedback. We dance. We cry. We write. We witness. We remember that we’re not alone.

  • Twice monthly live two hour Zoom workshops (which are recorded in case you cannot participate live);
  • Monthly small group writing masterminds, where you can get small group feedback on your writing or ask for support around other business-related, writing-related, or parts-related feedback from fellow Writer’s Calling participants;
  • Curated writing playlists from DJ Zaza (one of my inner parts who loves music);
  • ​Bonus guest sessions with published authors and luminaries in the publishing world. 

“Writing is an act of courage, a pilgrimage to the heart of truth.”
- Terry Tempest Williams

EACH SESSION OF THE WRITER’S CALLING INCLUDES A MIX OF

  • An IFS meditation to explore where you are in your journey of purpose- and what parts might be sabotaging or preventing you from following through on your dream;
  • One or more unique writing prompts, which you can use to explore your writing or work on existing projects while writing with others;
  • Group shares to get feedback on your writing from Lissa and others;
  • Writing rituals to open your creativity, seduce your muse, and spark enthusiasm from parts that like to write, while relaxing parts that are scared to do so;
  • Writing lessons from Lissa; 
  • ​Breakout groups to connect with your fellow musemates;
  • ​Teachings that blend writing craft with internal healing;
  • ​Movement practices and dance parties;
  • ​A community of kindreds who are walking the same sacred path;
  • ​You might even be surprised by special guest published writers who can talk about their writing process!

“Be the voice you needed to hear when you were silenced.”
—L.R. Knost

BONUSES INCLUDED

Private Facebook Group
You will be invited to join a private Facebook group where you will have the opportunity to dive deeper into these conversations together and to interact with one another in between THE WRITER'S CALLING sessions. You never know where new friendships, parts processing partners, and soul tribe connections will arise!

MEMOIR AS MEDICINE
Access to Lissa & Nancy Aronie’s Memoir As Medicine homestudy program. Knowing you have a safe brave space to tell your story also makes for magnificently authentic memoir writing!

WRITE TO HEAL
Access to The Write To Heal Workbook Lissa created, complete with writing advice, instructions for how to explore IFS (working with protectors and unburdenings) as a self-help process through writing

WRITING PROMPTS
Over 300 writing prompts to keep you inspired to keep writing at home

BOOK PROPOSALS
Real examples of six-figure book proposals that sold from Lissa Rankin and her partner Jeffrey Rediger So you can get an idea of the kinds of business plans publishers are looking for.


THE LITERARY AGENT'S PERSPECTIVE
The Literary Agent’s Perspective- with Lissa’s agent Michele Martin. How to get the right literary agent, what acquisitions editors look for in a memoir, and some tips for structuring your memoir.

THE EDITOR'S PERSPECTIVE
The Editor’s Perspective- with Lissa’s Sounds True editor and memoirist Jennifer Brown, with Q&A around the book publishing process. 

THE PUBLISHER'S PERSPECTIVE
The Publisher’s Perspective- with Lissa’s publisher Glenn Yeffeth.  As the founder of Ben Bella Publishing and also Lissa & Jeffrey Rediger’s publisher for their next book YOU-Turn about narcissistic abuse and recovery from medical illness, Glenn Yeffeth knows a thing or two about healing others with your story. 

This PROGRAM Is For You If

  • You’ve survived something hard and know you have a story worth telling—maybe one that could help others survive too;
  • You want to write your trauma-to-transformation story but need support, emotional regulation, and gentle accountability;
  • Writing has already been a lifeline for your healing, but now you're ready to share your medicine with others;
  • You sense a deeper mission inside you - to write, speak, teach, coach, or lead others out of the pain you once endured;
  • You crave a community where you can be your full, messy, brilliant self—and still be held in unconditional love;
  • ​​You have ambitions to write, publish a book, give a TED talk, teach online courses, lead a workshop, run retreats, offer ethical, safe coaching or counseling for others, or otherwise make a living helping others who are struggling the way you did;
  • ​You need a jump start to get you started towards bringing your vision of your calling into reality;
  • ​You’ve already written something you’re proud of, but you’re not sure what to do next;
  • You know the kind of support you wish you had when you felt lost and alone- and you want to be part of the solution for others;
  • You feel a deep sense of mission and purpose to write- right now, in this time and place, at a time when artists and writers are needed more than ever to tell the truth, participate in justice, facilitate healing, upend systems of oppression, and create great acts of beauty.

“Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”
-Mary Oliver

What Makes This Different?

The Writer’s Calling isn’t just about putting words on a page. It’s about becoming the writer you were born to be. We use Internal Family Systems (IFS) as our guiding light, helping the parts of you that resist writing your truth or putting yourself boldly out there feel safe enough for your most creative, visionary, authentic Self to lead. You’ll learn to navigate the inner critics, perfectionists, and wounded children who’ve been silencing your voice—and discover the joy of writing from wholeness. You’ll leave each session not only with new words on the page, but with clarity in your soul, courage in your heart, and connection in your bones.

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
-Mary Oliver, Wild Geese

Your Words Matter. Your Story Matters. You Matter.

You didn’t choose your pain. But you can choose what you do with it. When we tell the truth of what we’ve lived through—when we stop hiding the grief, the mess, the resilience—it becomes medicine, not just for ourselves, but for the world in need of more love.

This is a time of great unraveling—and great possibility. The world needs artists. Truth-tellers. Healers. Visionaries. Writers like you. If you’re ready to say yes to your writer’s calling, if you’re willing to surrender to the sacred fire of storytelling, not for your ego but for your soul and for the good of the collective, we would be honored to walk beside you.

You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be real.
You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to be willing.
Come as you are. Bring your messy, beautiful heart.
Let’s write our way home—together.

With love and fierce encouragement,

Your Host

Dr. Lissa Rankin

*All sessions will be recorded with unlimited availability as long as you are a member of the community

TESTIMONIALS

This has been a gift and I feel the green sprouts of community in my life, a circle, intentional community among my friends, neighbours. (Danielle)


Thank you so much, Lissa. This has been profound and inspiring and world changing. (Christina )


This is just the medicine my creative soul spirit needed to get unstuck from exile. (Sage)


I crave this kind of authenticity. This is deeply compelling and satisfying. Thank you. (Nancy)

I felt genuinely touched, genuinely awed, and genuinely respected. (Kumkum)
Image  Credit Nicolay Kreidler

THE WRITER'S CALLING

A Soulful Community of Writers

Ongoing Program - Join Anytime

Launch Special $97

Only $47 per month

USD

If the cost of this workshop presents a financial hardship, we hope you will contact us for tuition adjustment options. Please write to support@lissarankin.com 

Please Review Our Terms HERE

Dr. Lissa Rankin

Lissa Rankin, MD believes that writing and healing can be intimately related and teaches writing workshops infused with trauma healing and spiritual healing, both in person and virtually. Lissa agrees with Nancy Aronie that trauma is memoir-making material, and we can alchemize our pain into the most beautiful story-telling when we feel safe for the muse to come out to play, in a community of other writers who also feel safe and can help us hold our story while we rewrite it as art. 

Lissa has been writing since kindergarten and was offered her first book deal when she was 12, which she turned down, since they were her private stories. She was a creative writing major at Duke University and wrote her first fiction book as her thesis on African American women's literature while in college. Throughout her medical training while becoming an OB/GYN, she wrote stories inspired by her patients and used writing to heal the moral injury she felt while working within a corrupt medical system. 

When she quit her job as a doctor in 2007, she finally succumbed to her lifelong desire to be a career writer. Her first book Broken, a memoir about her journey through the wounded health care system, never got published because she didn't have an audience. So at the urging of her literary agent, in 2009, Lissa began blogging and publishing The Daily Flame, a daily email love letter from your "Inner Pilot Light" (Self) to your wounded parts, based on the healing model Internal Family Systems (IFS), a trauma healing spiritual path which Lissa incorporates into all the healing and writing workshops she facilitates.
Because her blog and Daily Flame emails quickly garnered a large readership, she was able to publish her first book in 2010 and has been blessed to have her last 8 books published. Her third book, the New York Times bestseller Mind Over Medicine, has sold over 300,000 copies in 28 languages. Her newest book Relationsick, comes out Spring 2026.

Trained as a creative writing major at Duke University, Lissa has been teaching writing workshops since 2012, both online and at retreat centers around the US and in international destinations like Malta, Paris, and Bali. During the pandemic, she collaborated with Memoir As Medicine author Nancy Aronie for a series of writing retreats online. She also teaches Write To Heal, about IFS and memoir writing, with IFS lead trainer and Harvard trained psychiatrist Frank Anderson, MD.

In addition to putting in her 100,000 hours and writing every day, in 2012, Lissa founded the Whole Health Medicine Institute, where she and a team of luminary faculty train physicians and other health care providers about “Whole Health” and the “6 Steps to Healing Yourself.” Lissa has starred in two National Public Television specials, her TEDx talks have been viewed over 5 million times, and she leads workshops, both online and at retreat centers like Esalen, 1440, Omega, and Kripalu. 

Her latest health equity project is non-profit work committed to democratizing trauma healing and spiritual healing while eliminating the public health epidemic of loneliness, bringing Internal Family Systems and other healing modalities out of its current status as a luxury good to anyone who needs it and is open to it, regardless of socioeconomic status, race, or gender identity. 

Lissa just moved to Sonoma County with her partner Jeffrey Rediger, who is also a doctor/ author. Her daughter Mira is going to art school in NYC, and her dog Gaia, also known as “The Moose” is frequent inspiration for goofy writing and lots of love.

Our 2025/26 Schedule

TWICE A MONTH on MONDAYS* AT

12:00 - 2:00 PM Pacific Time | 1:00 - 2:00 PM Mountain Time | 2:00 - 4:00 PM Central TIme | 3:00-5:00 PM Eastern Time | 20:00 GMT

***Very rarely do we schedule The Writer's Calling on a different day and you will receive a reminder as with all other dates.

  • July 7, 2025
  • ​July 21, 2025
  • ​August 4, 2025
  • ​August 19, 2025 <<< TUESDAY!
  • ​September 8, 2025
  • ​September 22, 2025
  • ​October 6, 2025
  • ​October 20, 2025
  • ​November 3, 2025
  • November 17, 2025
  • December 1, 2025
  • December 15, 2025
  • January 5, 2026
  • ​January 19, 2026
  • ​February 2, 2026
  • ​February 16, 2026
  • ​March 16, 2026
  • ​March 30, 2026
  • ​April 13, 2026
  • ​April 27, 2026
  • ​May 11, 2026
  • ​May 26, 2026 <<< TUESDAY!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How do I contact customer service?
Please contact us by sending an email to support@lissarankin.com
What kind of technology will I need in order to participate?
All you’ll need is a computer, tablett or a smartphone and internet access in order to participate. All live calls will be on Zoom. You will receive your login information when you sign up and in reminder emails.
What if I can't attend a session when it takes place ? 
All sessions are recorded so if you can't attend the live session you'll be able to soak up the juicy teachings, healing intentions, and spiritual energy of this course at any time it’s convenient for you.
Can I cancel my subscription? 
Any time before your monthly charge has been processed. Simply write to support@lissarankin.com
How long are the sessions?
Each session is approximately 2 hours. You can join any time during the live session.
"How long do I have access to the recorded sessions?
There is no limitation to the availability of recorded sessions and course-related content.
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If  the cost of this program presents a financial hardship then we hope you will contact us for a sliding scale option. Please write to support@lissarankin.com