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In September 1994, “Friends” premiered on NBC and began a ten-year run that would leave a lasting impression on the television comedy landscape. Too young to watch that first showing, a teenaged Kat Heiden, MFA ’27, would discover the program in its later seasons, when it would leave a lasting impression on her as well.

“This was before DVD, so I had 20 VHS tapes that I made from recording reruns in syndication,” Heiden recalled. “They were out of order, so I printed out a list of episodes and cross-referenced which ones were on which tapes – and I took them with me to college.”

After finishing high school in her hometown of West Hartford, Connecticut, Heiden headed to college at Chapman University in Orange, California, to major in screenwriting and pursue her dream of writing for television.

She remained in the Los Angeles area for another 12 years and worked for some of that time as a co-writer on “A.N.T. Farm” – a popular Disney Channel series about young performers in an Advanced Natural Talents (A.N.T.) program at their high school.

“I was lucky enough to work with some really fabulous people there, but working in television is not as glamorous as most people think,” said Heiden. “I had full writing credit on a couple of episodes, but a lot of the job was just being in the writers’ room, taking notes while 10 people were talking at once, editing scripts. It’s high stress and long hours.”

Feeling burnt out and losing her enthusiasm for writing, Heiden decided it was time for a change. She and her husband moved to Colorado to be near family, and she took a position as a proposal writer for the American Heart Association – a job that came with the benefit of tuition assistance for continuing education.

“I was really excited because I’m a nerd who loves school,” Heiden laughed. “I started looking at programs focused on fundraising strategies because I work in nonprofit development. I don’t remember the Google rabbit hole that led me to the phrase ‘narrative healthcare,’ but as soon as I hit on it, I was off to the races – researching it, finding out what it was.”

Several medical schools around the country offer coursework in narrative healthcare – an interdisciplinary field that uses narrative techniques to enhance engagement between providers and patients. However, Lenoir-Rhyne is among a much smaller number of institutions that offer a narrative healthcare certificate program open to all professions. While the certificate can be completed independently, Heiden opted to include her coursework while pursuing a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in creative writing.

“I looked at a few programs, and I liked what I saw at LR. Then they sent me an introductory video from Laura Hope-Gill, MFA, who is a writing professor and director of the narrative healthcare program,” Heiden explained. “She talked about no-stress writing and how writing is meant to heal, which is the guiding principle of this program. My jaw dropped and I said, ‘I have to be in this. Have to. This is what I need.’”

Heiden plans to bring the narrative healthcare model to her work at the American Heart Association, though she is still considering how that will look in practice.

“It has such huge potential within this giant organization to leverage the power of storytelling, whether that’s within existing programs like patient support networks or through some other means,” she said. “I’m still discovering the applications through the program, which is really great.”

Now in her third semester, Heiden is also rediscovering the joys of writing fiction. She is currently taking a class in novel writing, which is opening doors to a future that may include publishing or teaching.

“When I was in TV, the environment was very competitive. The best joke wins in a writer’s room, so everyone is trying to outdo each other all the time,” she observed. “The culture of this program is all about lifting up every voice. You all have something to say, even if you think you don’t. Your voice matters, so let’s explore how to use it.”