Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
My guest Jenny Hegland is the Executive Director of The Good Listening Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to humanizing healthcare through the healing power of poetry and compassionate presence. We discuss the work of TGLP and the power of sharing our stories and having them reflected back to us in the form of poetry. Learn more at the website:
goodlistening.org
This episode includes:
-The origin story of The Good Listening Project
-The power of poetry to reflect our deep stories
-Why being heard by someone else is deep medicine
-The synergy between the storyteller and the listener poet
-How TGLP works
-Why grief is the number one concern of healthcare providers served by TGLP
-You don't have to be skilled at poetry to become a "listener poet"
-The crafts of listening to and writing poems for others can both be taught
-The quality of listening can actually affect the quality of sharing that happens
-How both community and mystery support us when we hold space for others
-What it involves to become a "listener poet"
"We give the gift of staying with; there is nothing to fix."
-The Good Listening Project
š Subscribe to my email list: eepurl.com/ExfLL
š Support your local bookstore by buying my books on Bookshop: bookshop.org/lists/books-by-karen-wyatt-md and Indiebound:
7 Lessons for Living from the Dying : indiebound.org/book/9781786783110
The Journey from Ego to Soul: indiebound.org/book/9780982685563
š Subscribe to this podcast on
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/end-of-life-university/id1033282990
Google: podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9sZXNzb25zZnJvbWR5aW5nLndvcmRwcmVzcy5jb20vZmVlZC8
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/7bdr4odBlaaDy8NoJhcFsL
iHeart Radio: iheart.com/podcast/256-end-of-life-university-31099550
Stitcher Radio: stitcher.com/show/endoflife-university
š Check out the Series Iāve recorded in the past: eolupodcast.com/series
š Join the team at my Patreon page patreon.com/eolu and get access to the EOLU mug: āMind if we talk about death?ā (only Patrons can purchase it). PLUS get our new bonuses: the monthly EOL News Update, movie reviews from 2 Doctors and a Movie, and automatic access to A Year of Reading Dangerously!
š Intro Music Credit:
"Bright Wish" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
My guest Jenny Hegland is the Executive Director of The Good Listening Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to humanizing healthcare through the healing power of poetry and compassionate presence. We discuss the work of TGLP and the power of sharing our stories and having them reflected back to us in the form of poetry. Learn more at the website:
goodlistening.org
This episode includes:
-The origin story of The Good Listening Project
-The power of poetry to reflect our deep stories
-Why being heard by someone else is deep medicine
-The synergy between the storyteller and the listener poet
-How TGLP works
-Why grief is the number one concern of healthcare providers served by TGLP
-You don't have to be skilled at poetry to become a "listener poet"
-The crafts of listening to and writing poems for others can both be taught
-The quality of listening can actually affect the quality of sharing that happens
-How both community and mystery support us when we hold space for others
-What it involves to become a "listener poet"
"We give the gift of staying with; there is nothing to fix."
-The Good Listening Project
š Subscribe to my email list: eepurl.com/ExfLL
š Support your local bookstore by buying my books on Bookshop: bookshop.org/lists/books-by-karen-wyatt-md and Indiebound:
7 Lessons for Living from the Dying : indiebound.org/book/9781786783110
The Journey from Ego to Soul: indiebound.org/book/9780982685563
š Subscribe to this podcast on
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/end-of-life-university/id1033282990
Google: podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9sZXNzb25zZnJvbWR5aW5nLndvcmRwcmVzcy5jb20vZmVlZC8
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/7bdr4odBlaaDy8NoJhcFsL
iHeart Radio: iheart.com/podcast/256-end-of-life-university-31099550
Stitcher Radio: stitcher.com/show/endoflife-university
š Check out the Series Iāve recorded in the past: eolupodcast.com/series
š Join the team at my Patreon page patreon.com/eolu and get access to the EOLU mug: āMind if we talk about death?ā (only Patrons can purchase it). PLUS get our new bonuses: the monthly EOL News Update, movie reviews from 2 Doctors and a Movie, and automatic access to A Year of Reading Dangerously!
š Intro Music Credit:
"Bright Wish" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
