The Joseph Conrad Program in Narrative Processing
Medium Day 2025
I. Introduction
The Joseph Conrad Program in Narrative Processing (JCPNP) is an experimental intensive program that immerses those affected by war, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and other traumatic events into creatively writing about their experience with the objective of healing and overcoming any current and post effects of witnessing or being subject to traumatic events. Narrative Processing builds on the success of other programs but adds an intensive component. Bibliotherapy through Case Studies is also added to the program enhancing its novel approach.
II. Background on Narrative Processing
The program itself was born out of real-world life experience by non-combatants living within the Russo-Ukrainian War. Both published authors realized that they were self-treating themselves by writing about their experiences thus alleviating or pre-emptively preventing the onset of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Once they realized that they were practitioners of Narrative Processing, they understood that programs and curriculum could be developed to help others suffering through war and other traumatic events in pre, during, and post environments. Research was conducted on various forms of narrative, writing and creative therapies. The authors realized that Narrative Processing could both be taught as a therapeutic exercise but also formally as a therapy. However, none of the existing therapies were uniquely fit with their own experience and hence the idea of a new system was needed. This was named “Narrative Processing”.
Oksana Chernysh, Ph.D., Director of The Scientific and Research Institute of Medical Technologies, Mental Health and Human Intelligence at Zhytomyr Polytechnic University (ZPU) defined Narrative Processing from a clinical perspective:
Narrative processing encompasses the cognitive and emotional mechanisms through which individuals interpret life events by constructing, interpreting, and reinterpreting personal narratives. For individuals affected by crises such as war, displacement, natural disasters, and trauma, narrative processing is integral to psychological recovery and social reintegration.
“Crises such as armed conflict, forced displacement, and natural disasters significantly disrupt the psychological and social structures of individuals and communities. In addition to material losses, survivors frequently experience disorientation, fragmentation of identity, and existential distress (Herman, 1992; van der Kolk, 2014). Narrative processing — the process of organizing life events into structured and meaningful narratives — has been identified as a crucial psychological mechanism for coping and recovery (Bruner, 1990). Through the medium of storytelling, individuals can reconstruct coherence within their disrupted self-concept, integrate traumatic memories, and reestablish a sense of agency (McAdams, 2001).”
A short study was held on May 19, 2025, in cooperation with the ZPU Institute and also, its PsyLab headed by Natalya Kharytonova. Multiple positive outcomes resulted.
A two-week intensive session incorporating the curriculum of Creative Voices: Writing for Resilience program is scheduled for late July 2025 and will be hosted by Zhytomyr Polytechnic University as the primary academic and clinical partner. The results of this study will be utilized for further long-term research and development of JCPNP and will be published within the scientific community.
NP uses the curriculum from Creative Voices: Writing for Resilience (CV) developed by best-selling, award-winning author Barbara Nickless and trauma therapist Erin Fowler, LPC. Nickless and Fowler centered CV around the idea that if individuals with trauma learn the craft of writing, they will feel empowered and confident to tell their stories, express themselves freely, and make meaning out of experiences. Although CV was informed by principles of trauma-informed-care, the creators were specific that the program was not therapy, instead tapping into the inner healing and resilience we all possess. These classes were offered free to United States military veterans through the Lyda Hill Institute of Human Resilience/Veterans Health and Trauma Clinic. Students received an overview of literary genres and had an opportunity to practice each genre in class and with out-of-class exercises. Additionally, students learned specific writing techniques, such as creating characters, writing dialogue, and showing setting. The class further allowed one of the most powerful healing phenomena to take place — the students in class naturally formed their own communities, and these communities exist still outside of the class setting. NP takes the CV curriculum and expands it to include directed, trauma-focused case studies and guided writing.
III. Background on Selecting Joseph Conrad for Naming the Program
A. Geography
Joseph Conrad (Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski) was born in Berdychiv, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire on December 3, 1857. Berdychiv is actually in the Zhytomyr Region of Ukraine which was occupied by the Russian Empire during the time of Conrad’s birth. Previously, it had been annexed by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The All-Ukrainian Sanctuary of the Mother of God of the Holy Scapular in Berdychiv where he was baptized by the Carmelite monks and houses the Joseph Conrad Museum states this:
“Many visitors often wonder why the museum in memory of the classic of English literature Joseph Conrad is located in Berdychiv, so far from England? And for some, it is a real discovery that the Englishman Conrad was a Pole by nationality, a Ukrainian by birth, and at baptism he received the name Josef Korzeniowski…”
Many of Conrad’s relatives continued to live in Ukraine long after he left. Most significant was his Uncle Tadeusz Bobrowski who became like a second father to him after the death of his own father, Apollo Korzeniowski when Conrad was only eleven years old. Tadeusz would serve as his patron, protector, counsel and main connection to Ukraine and Poland up until the uncle’s death in 1894. Conrad’s love for the land that gave birth to him can be seen in his works and correspondence.”
Thus, Narrative Processing was born in Joseph Conrad’s country of birth and the first program was held in the region where he spent his youth. His own experiences in writing could be defined as his own way of Narrative Processing.
B. Cultural Bridge
Joseph Conrad importantly creates a cultural bridge from Ukraine to Poland to the United Kingdom and the greater English-speaking world. Cultural ties and relations are an important component of what is defined as “soft power”. Conrad is significant because his soft power comes from actuality to include citizenship, nationality, profession and his literary contribution to the English world. Ukraine and Poland have many difficult issues in their past and Conrad presents one that is overwhelmingly positive. His own personal history is a foundation stone for increased understanding and cooperation between these two distinct Eastern European cultures and the Anglo-world.
One of the founders of JCPNP was reading “Heart of Darkness” for the third time while waiting in Lviv for his wife and co-author to conclude some business in Warsaw. That volume of the novel is where he discovered Conrad’s Ukrainian connection where he filed it away for future reference. This cultural effect is what inspired him to create the program in the region where Joseph Conrad was born.
C. Religious Bridge
Berdychiv is an important connection for Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, and Judaism. Although there have been tensions in the past, the Russo-Ukrainian War has caused many of these differences to be overcome. Strengths through interfaith cooperation and aid for Ukraine’s fight have brought many together who were once apart. Joseph Conrad is significant because he was born within a minority religion (Catholicism) in a city known for its ties to another minority religion (Judaism). Both existed within the Orthodox majority which was then under the administration of the Moscow Patriarchate.
The Joseph Conrad Museum as stated:
“The initiative received support from the Ukrainian authorities and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland, and the walls of the Discalced Carmelite Monastery were chosen as the location for the museum. The design of the exhibition was developed by the staff of the Museum of Literature in Warsaw.”
The fact that the museum is housed a Catholic monastery built in 1654 only adds to the ability of Conrad to be a bridge. The Discalced Carmelites are known for their contemplative ways and service to others.
Thus, Joseph Conrad can build a bridge between faiths and potential collaboration with a Holy Order that already houses a museum dedicated to him. He was not personally religious, but he can still be a bridge between multiple faiths.
D. Literary Bridge
Joseph Conrad was not a native speaker or writer of English which is now the predominant language of literature and communication. He did not learn the language until he was in his early twenties. Yet, he became known as a British author despite his Polish-Ukrainian roots. In fact, he is still regarded highly among literary circles for his accomplishments as an author. Joseph Conrad societies exist in several countries throughout the world, including Poland. However, in Ukraine, the place of his birth, none exist although many recognize his literary contributions.
He reminisces about Ukraine in several of his works and effectively communicates the frustration and struggle of living under Russian rule. Conrad’s unique perspective of going from a subject of the Russian Czar; to being displaced from his birthplace; dreaming of the sea and conquering his maritime dreams; and finally settling as an accomplished author in England all become subjects of his literary genius.
Conrad sets a literary example for many who have suffered through various types of difficulties yet have risen above it to write about their experiences. He did this through his fictional works with some insights from his own autobiographical work, A Personal Record.
Thus, Conrad sets an example of how one can work through the difficulties of life through writing about them.
IV. Joseph Conrad as a Narrative Processor
“Facing it, always facing it, that’s the way to get through. Face it.” — Joseph Conrad.
There have been entire volumes of books written about the psychology of Joseph Conrad. These include one that promotes him as an Author-Artist-Psychologist (Kirschner, Paul. Conrad: The Psychologist as Artist, Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh SC, 1968). A full psychoanalytical book (Meyer, Bernard C., Joseph Conrad: A Psychoanalytic Biography, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1967) about Conrad has also been written. He has been one of the most studied authors of his time. He himself said:
“Everything about my life in the wide world can be found in my books.” — Joseph Conrad to Kazimierz Waliszewski, December 5, 1903, Conrad Letters, vol. 3. P.89.
The premise is that Conrad processed many of the difficulties he suffered throughout his whole life through his prose. He was adamantly against writing explicitly about his own struggles and found his outlet in fiction. “Conrad’s most insightful later critics, Edward Said and Ian Watt, also recognized that the key to interpreting Conrad’s fiction was to read it biographically. Not that Conrad made it easy. He let people believe that some stories were autobiographical when they weren’t, and he concealed parts of his past that inflected others.” Conrad seems to have psychologically processed his difficult memories through his prose without having to fully reveal his complete inner world. Fiction is rarely used in narrative or writing therapies, yet, for authors like Conrad, clearly it was a more comfortable outlet than writing explicitly about difficult or traumatic experiences. He did to some extent reveal some of these struggles through personal correspondence throughout his lifetime.
“Novelists walk right in and roam freely through a person’s feelings, perceptions and thoughts. What happened is what you make of it. That, Conrad argued, could make fiction the truer record of human experience. ‘Fiction is history, human history, or it is nothing,’ he said. ‘But it is also more than that; it stands on firmer ground, being based on the reality of forms and the observation of social phenomena, whereas history is based on documents…on secondhand impression.” (Jasanoff 2017)
Sometimes it is simply too difficult to write about one’s actual experiences but that doesn’t mean it cannot or should not be done. Those who can process at that level should be encouraged to. JCPNP is based on the premise that the genre or style is less important than the actual process itself. Freedom of expression is the key to healing. Teaching people to express themselves narratively and providing them with actual case studies is the goal of JCPNP.
Joseph Conrad has been chosen as an example also because of the sheer volume of research available on him, his work, and the interpretations of his work. A program named after him has no personal agenda save for the attention and scholarship it can potentially create in his name. JCPNP is not a be-all, end-all because only certain individuals will benefit from its content. The program s designed to be a multi-toll within a larger toolbox for the treatment and processing of (Complex) PTSD and others who may have experienced traumatic events but are not necessarily diagnosed with a particular disorder.
V. Methodology
Most writing therapy programs in existence:
1. Make use of only non-fiction explicit accounts of traumatic events.
2. Provide no guidance into the craft of writing.
3. Provide no examples of works by other writers with similar experiences.
The Creative Voices Writing for Resilience (CV) program developed by best-selling, award-winning author Barbara Nickless and trauma therapist Erin Fowler, LPC offered at the Lyda Hill Institute of Human Resilience/Veterans Health and Trauma Clinic to US Active Duty Military and Veterans for free incorporates creative non-fiction, fiction, poetry, lyrics, screenwriting and other narratives for those dealing with trauma, stress, and difficult life events to include combat. Multiple other formats exist in the US for veterans to include Ron Capp’s Writing War: a Guide to Telling Your Own Story which he developed for the Veterans’ Writing Project. Writing Exposure Therapy (WET) developed by Sloan and Marx is approved by the US Veterans Administration for the treatment of PTSD. Empirical data exists based on studies of WET which show the effectiveness of writing as therapy.
JCPNP takes the successes from these therapeutic writing programs and therapies to the next level. First, it draws on CV for its use of multiple writing forms (creative non-fiction, fiction, lyrics, poetry, rap, graphic novels\comic books, screenwriting). The program is especially unique because it adds bibliotherapy exercises into the mix.
Bibliotherapy is a form of therapy that uses structured reading material. Bibliotherapy is often used as an adjunct to psychotherapy for such purposes as reinforcing specific in-session concepts or strategies or enhancing lifestyle changes. Carefully chosen readings are also used by some individuals as self-help tools to foster personal growth and development, for example, by facilitating communication and open discussion of problems or enhancing self-concept.
JCPNP utilizes bibliotherapy in a unique way based on the Case Study method. These proprietary case studies are developed only for use within JCPNP. The Case Study method has been employed successfully for business (Harvard Business School), policy (Harvard Kennedy School), and medical academics. The idea was developed based on one of JCPNP’s founders based on his academic experience with Harvard Business and Kennedy School Case Studies.
“Case studies serve as a powerful qualitative methodology, allowing researchers to delve deeply into the intricacies of social phenomena within their natural settings. This approach provides a unique opportunity to capture the richness and complexity of real-life contexts, facilitating a focused examination of specific instances. “(Annamalah 2024).
A novel approach is utilized for JCPNP. Case Studies are tailored to the receiving audience (Veterans, Internally Displaced Persons, Frontline Survivors, Military\Civilian POW’s, Emergency Service Personnel, Trauma Doctors\Nurses\Attendants, Combat Medics, etc). The initial Case Studies are targeted at veterans and war-affected civilians. As JSPNP develops, more will be added.
The typical JCPNP Case Study is a summary of a narrative work with direct quotes from the work that relates to a specific demographic. Specific points from the narrative works are highlighted to provide examples of agency by those who have suffered similar experiences. Most JCPNP Case Studies are drawn from other conflicts\traumatic events in order to illustrate to participants that other nations\cultures\peoples have experienced events similar to their own. At times, some cases from participants’ own historical circumstances may also be used. This depends on the mental state of the participants. JCPNP Case Studies are designed to create a psychological link to the author’s own experience and draw out the experience of the individual JCPNP participants.
JCPNP Case Studies all conclude with a Discussion Section and Writing Prompt. The methodology behind this is that it eases participants into becoming comfortable with writing about their own personal experiences. This has already shown results in a short-term study conducted on May 19, 2025, at Zhytomyr Polytechnic University. A second more intensive two-week program is planned for July 2025. Results from both studies will be made publicly available.
VI. Delivery
A. Group
JCPNP was initially designed to be delivered in a group setting. The first Case Study test session held on May 19, 2025, was with a group of approximately forty people with responses totaling twenty-four. This is a larger group than would be expected for those who would attend a formalized version of JCPNP once a set curriculum is developed. However, for testing purposes, this provides a larger dataset required for research outcomes.
Creative group therapy that focuses on participation and process engagement has shown to be effective especially related to social inclusion and empowerment. The importance of group outcomes shows that often the outcomes help create personal connectedness, feeling supported and feeling less loneliness (Skriver-Mundy-Benedikte, et. al 2022). Writing groups often create their own networks after the sessions have concluded adding an element of continued support.
The group dynamic promotes the image of being in a learning environment versus a therapy program. Since a good portion of JCPNP is instructional, this has the potential for the most results-oriented delivery. JCPNP is being designed to tailor curriculum and case studies for individual demographic groups (veterans, emergency services personnel, displaced persons, etc.). A common thread running through the group gives it purpose and a sense of shared or similar experiences. General groups are also possible if enough background information exists on attendees to select appropriate case studies. Additionally, group settings are more appropriate for those who may have certain markers for suffering or witnessing traumatic events but not necessarily those diagnosed with PTSD or Complex PTSD (CPTSD).
B. Individual
Those diagnosed with PTSD and\or Complex CPTSD may not respond as well to group settings. Those who have been diagnosed may benefit from narrative processing, however this must be conducted by a trained clinician. Research and data exist on WET which is designed more for individual sessions but lacks instruction on the creative writing process.
The conclusions concerning the level of mental health training needed for those delivering WET have still not been drawn. The developers of WET state that they do not know yet and that more research is need (Sloan and Marx 2025).
WET also does not provide specific case studies for client interventions. Case studies provide a those diagnosed with PTSD\CPTSD an example of agency created by someone who may have lived through or suffered a similar trauma. The JCPNP case study method essentially is designed to “draw out” an individual’s own experience through real life examples. However, there are potential complications to this including dissociative symptoms brought on by case studies that are very similar to the client’s own experience. Individual clients who are diagnosed with PTSD\CPTSD will need more detailed and refined intake interviews. JCPNP would need several clinical trials to further be developed for this group.
VII. Conclusion
The Joseph Conrad Program in Narrative Processing is designed to be flexible. This allows a more tailored approach depending on the intended participants. Utilizing the Creative Voices practice of integrating various genres and instructions for how to write within those adds a more creative approach which keeps participants from being restricted in how they choose to process their difficult and/or traumatic experiences in a way that is more comfortable to them. This differentiates JCPNP from NET and WET. Joseph Conrad provides a strong example of how one can process their difficulties in life through the writing process.
Integrating the Bibliotherapy Case Study method is another factor that sets JCPNP apart from other programs. Case Studies specifically tailored for each group creates a comfort level for participants because it provides specific examples from within their own profession and/or group. Utilizing Case Studies has already been proven effective in short studies conducted at Zhytomyr Polytechnic University in May and July 2025. Most importantly, the case study method provides motivation through writing prompts for those who might be hesitant or having trouble starting their own narrative processing.
Peer-to-peer is another way that JCPNP can be utilized and especially for those who might have some stress symptoms but not PTSD or CPTSD. Especially within military, veteran, first responder, natural disaster, and displaces communities, peer-to-peer is preferred. Separate JCPNP curriculum can be designed for each individual group with approved inputs from facilitators, psychologists, and other professionals.
JCPNP takes best practices from Creative Voices, WET, and NET. These are all programs that have proven effective for trauma recovery through various settings and delivery systems. JCPNP also has potential as a Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG) practice by validating an individual’s experience and providing them with an outlet for artistic expression.
Finally, JCPNP can also be used as part of basic training for military, first responders, disaster relief, refugee workers, and other professions working in volatile environments. JCPNP’s use is twofold in this instance as first it can be used directly by the professionals directly involved in rescue, response, or combat. Second, a very basic version of JCPNP can be taught onsite (or immediately after) to the victims so they can begin processing their trauma immediately. The added benefit is that those victims who are willing to share their narrative processing provide eyewitness testimony for legal, cultural, compensation, and other post-disaster\conflict uses.
JCPNP practical use and implementation is already underway at the peer-to-peer level in Ukraine. JCPNP needs further clinical study and development for use by professionals in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, social work, medical, and spiritual counsel. The program is currently in a learn-by-doing state given the many difficulties facing Ukraine in an ongoing war.
REFERENCES
American Psychological Association dictionary. https://dictionary.apa.org/bibliotherapy
Annamalah, Sanmugam. (2024) The Value of Case Study Research in Practice: A Methodological Review with Practical Insights from Organisational Studies. Journal of Applied Economic Sciences, Volume XIX, Winter, Issue 4(86).
Crowe, Creswell, Robertson, et. Al. The Case Study Approach https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3141799/
Jasanoff, Maya. The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World, Penguin Press, NY, NY, 2017, p. 9.
Skriver-Mundy, Benedikte, et. al. Mental Health Recovery and Creative Writing Groups: A Systematic Review. Nordic Journal of Arts, Culture, and Health. Vol 4. Issue 1. April 2022, https://www.scup.com/doi/10.18261/njach.4.1.1
Sloan, D., & Marx, B. (2025) Written Exposure Therapy for PTSD: A Brief Treatment Approach for Mental Health Professionals. American Psychological Association; Washington, DC.
