Schetky to Speak on "Loss, Hope and Healing"

Retired forensic psychiatrist, poet, and author Diane Schetky, MD, of Rockport will interweave poetry and anecdote in "Poems on Loss, Hope, and Healing," a Quarry Hill Adventures in Living Well event planned for Wednesday, Feb. 10, from 1:30 to 3 p.m.at Quarry Hill in Camden (snow date: Wednesday, Feb. 24).

In a presentation tailored to adults age 55 and older, Dr. Schetky will read from her self-published "Poems on Loss, Hope, and Healing" (lulu.com, 2009). She will also describe her effort as a Hospice volunteer to help Maine State Prison inmates express themselves through poetry—a project for which she won a Governor's Service Award in 2005.

Dr. Schetky has written and contributed to numerous articles, books, and publications, including "Forensic Reflections Through Poetry" published in the Journal of American Academy of Psychiatry and Law in 2006. In 2002, the American Psychiatric Association and American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law honored her with a Guttmacher Award for her work as editor of "Principles and Practice of Child and Adolescent Forensic Psychiatry;" and in 2006 she won a Golden Apple Award from the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law for lifetime contributions to the field. Now retired from private practice, Dr. Schetky continues teaching psychiatry at Maine Medical Center in Portland.

To register for the February program, call Quarry Hill at 230-6114. Admission to the program is free and includes light refreshments. Copies of Dr. Schetky's "Poems on Loss, Hope and Healing" will be available for purchase and signing. (Note: Adventures in Living Well programs are canceled when Camden Public Schools close due to inclement weather.)

Following "Poems," the winter/spring Adventures in Living Well series will continue with: "At Sea Around the Table," with Anne Mahle, chef, author, and cocaptain of the schooner J. & E. Riggin, on Wednesday, March 24, from noon to 2 p.m. at Quarry Hill (snow date: Tuesday, March 30); "Living in Community/Working in Collaboration," with Clarity, the artist/writer team of Su.Sane and Robert Hake, on Wednesday, April 21, from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Quarry Hill; and "Paradise in a Pot: Container Gardens Anyone Can Grow," with Liz Stanley of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, on Wednesday, May 19, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the Camden Public Library (cosponsored by the library).