Pages That Heal: Journaling Through Cancer and Beyond with Melody Jones and special guest Lee Borden

Put pen to paper and find healing. An experiential journaling workshop for cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers. July 18, Grand Junction, CO.

Most of us know someone touched by cancer. A friend, a family member, perhaps a diagnosis of our own, or even supporting someone we love as a caregiver. Wherever you are in that experience, this workshop is for you.

Journaling is a gentle and transformative practice with documented emotional, psychological, and physical benefits. Cancer survivors and the professionals who treat them report that expressive writing reduces depressive symptoms, strengthens resilience, improves quality of life, and can even improve immune markers.

Lee Borden, Executive Director of The Art Center in Grand Junction, knows this firsthand. A cancer survivor, Lee journaled his way through diagnosis and treatment, documenting and sharing his journey publicly along the way. He will join us to share what putting pen to page (in his case, fingers to keyboard) meant for his healing, and what it continues to mean today.

Facilitated by journaling guide Melody Jones, this experiential workshop invites you onto the page through guided journaling exercises and optional sharing moments. No writing experience necessary. This is a supportive, nonjudgmental space, and every voice belongs.

Join us at The Art Center in Grand Junction on Saturday, July 18, 2026, from 1-3 p.m. for Pages That Heal: Journaling Through Cancer and Beyond. Bring your favorite writing materials, including a notebook and pen. All registered participants will receive journaling prompts to take home.

Register through Eventbrite: $27. Your payment is your RSVP. Seating is limited. If we reach capacity, you will be directed to a waiting list.

Meet The Facilitators

Melody Jones

Melody Jones is a former social worker, published author and poet, and journaling facilitator with a gift for meeting people where they are. Whether you’re brand new to journaling or looking to deepen an existing practice, Melody creates an open, safe space where participants feel supported and inspired to discover and create their own journaling practice, along with the perfect dose of humor to keep it all real! Former students have noted they are still journaling consistently weeks or months after their workshops. Melody was raised in Palisade and currently lives in Grand Junction, indulging in too much coffee – according to others. She is currently the president of the Western Colorado Writers’ Forum. Find out more on her website.

Lee Borden, Special Guest

Lee Borden, a Grand Junction native, studied Music Theatre at CMU (then Mesa College) under the guidance of William S. Robinson. He spent nearly twenty years as a radio operations manager, program director, copywriter, and on-air announcer across Colorado and in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Over his diverse career, he has dedicated much of his adult life to crafting commercial copy, short stories, press releases, marketing materials, and white papers.

Lee joined the team at The Art Center of Western Colorado in April 2008 and has served as the center’s executive director for the past ten years.

In April 2025, Lee was diagnosed with p16+ squamous cell carcinoma oropharyngeal cancer. That May, he began a grueling seven-week treatment regimen consisting of cisplatin chemotherapy and thirty-five sessions of intense radiation therapy to his head and neck. While the treatment appears to have been successful, the process was brutal and left him with profound, challenging side effects.

Just before his treatment began, Lee started keeping a CaringBridge journal to share his journey with friends and loved ones. He considers that blog to be a major component in helping him navigate the emotional journey from diagnosis to being, currently, cancer-free.