Dr. Annie Brewster will discuss her book “The Healing Power Of Storytelling: Using Personal Narrative To Navigate Illness, Trauma, and Loss,” co-written with Rachel Zimmerman, Saturday, May 21, at 11 a.m. at The Toadstool Bookshop, 12 Depot Square in Peterborough.

In 2001, Brewster was a mother, wife and a newly minted Harvard-trained physician. Multiple sclerosis wasn’t part of the plan, but after ignoring her symptoms for a time, Brewster couldn’t deny the constant tingling in her legs or her persistent vertigo. An MRI showed lesions, inflammation and a breach in her blood-brain barrier. In her new book she writes, “What scared me most, I now see, was that my diagnosis would take over, become synonymous with my identity.” 

Brewster felt shame about her MS, which fostered feelings of loneliness and exhaustion surrounding the diagnosis. Then, in 2009 she found herself face-to-face with a 30-year-old patient reckoning with a likely MS diagnosis. Bucking professional norms, Brewster shared her story, and was soon sharing it with friends, neighbors and colleagues, as well as on her local NPR station and helping others share their own stories.  

Today, she is the founder of the Health Story Collaborative, a nonprofit dedicated to lifting up patient voices in health care.  

In “The Healing Power of Storytelling,” Brewster and Zimmerman use personal narrative, science-based research and guidance to show patients, families and care providers how to craft and share their own stories in order to heal and move forward. The book offers case studies from Brewster’s years of working with patients, families and other care providers. Stories include people coping with terminal diagnosis; families grappling with grief, loss and trauma; individuals, families and health practitioners impacted by the opiate crisis; mental health diagnosis; and more. Also included are takeaways at the conclusion of each chapter and exercises and prompts incorporated throughout the book.  

Brewster has had a second home in this area for 14 years, first in Hancock for 12 years and now in Nelson for two. Her primary residence is in Cambridge, Mass.

This event is free and all are welcome. For information, call the bookstore at 603-924-3543.