Community Collaborations
We love teaming up with others in our community! Check out our upcoming collaborative events below.
For information on registering for an event, be sure to click “Learn More.”
If you’re interested in hosting a Wildfire writing workshop for your community email April.
Self-Paced: Anytime, Anywhere
The Intimate Self: Self-Care, Sex, and Intimacy After a Breast Cancer Diagnosis
A self-paced video course created by April Stearns and Amy Hartl of As We Are Now
There are things no one prepares you for after a breast cancer diagnosis. The way sex changes. The way desire shifts or disappears. The way touch can suddenly feel complicated, painful, or loaded with everything that has happened. April created this course alongside Amy Hartl, an oncology massage therapist and fellow breast cancer experiencer, because this part of survivorship deserves more than a pamphlet and a referral. Across five video sections and a comprehensive writing journal, April and Amy move through the emotional, physical, and mental landscape of reclaiming intimacy after diagnosis, drawing entirely on their own lived experience. True to the Wildfire approach, expressive writing is at the heart of the course: each section is paired with honest, guided prompts that help you find language for what you've been carrying and begin to build a new relationship with your body on your own terms. No partners required, no writing experience necessary, and no tidy resolutions promised.
In person: Bayfield, Wisconsin
May 3-7, 2026
Temple of Kinship MBC Retreat (Free)
An in-person retreat hosted by Alyssa Tsagong and Temple of Kinship with expressive writing support from April Stearns.
Temple of Kinship’s 5-day retreats are for thrivers with Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer to attend with a chosen friend. This retreat will be held at Wild Rice Retreat on the shores of Lake Superior in Bayfield, Wisconsin beginning the afternoon of Sunday, May 3rd - the morning of Thursday, May 7th, 2026. It will include immersion in nature, nourishing meals, therapeutic art and writing activities, movement, and conversation practices designed to be carried home to support thriving. We will go deep, and we will also REST. Your guides will be Temple of Kinship’s co-founder, MBC thriver Alyssa Tsagong, and her friends April Stearns, the founder and editor-in-chief of Wildfire Journal, and Bridgette Christiansen, Conscious Connected Breathwork facilitator.
Time 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm PST
Virtual via Zoom
July 22, 2026
The Surprising Science of Writing It Down: How to Start Healing with Writing Today (Free)
A free Wildfire interactive talk hosted by Wren Morrobel and Living Our Breast Lives.
An educational, inspiring, and practical talk by April Stearns, founder of Wildfire Journal & Writing Community. Drawing on decades of expressive writing research, including studies by Dr. James Pennebaker and the field of Narrative Medicine, this interactive talk reveals how writing can improve emotional and physical well-being. April combines science with deeply personal stories of healing after her own breast cancer diagnosis to show how putting pen to paper can literally change the brain, lower stress, and foster resilience.
Participants will have the opportunity to explore writing prompts in the session, and leave with a new understanding of why writing heals, along with simple tools and prompts they can begin using immediately. This talk offers a compassionate, evidence-based invitation to start writing as a form of self-care and connection today.
Ready to deepen your writing connection? Check out our other workshops.