Hector Vila

Writing to Heal was a completely different pace and mindset from anything else I've taken, and honestly a nice counterweight to more technical coursework. The class is built around expressive and reflective writing as a tool for processing experience — trauma, grief, transitions, identity — grounded in actual research on writing's therapeutic effects, not just vibes. Readings pull from psychology and narrative medicine, so there's real substance behind the practice. The workload is light in a traditional sense — no exams, no problem sets — but that doesn't mean it's easy. The actual work is showing up and being honest on the page, which can be uncomfortable in ways a normal essay never is. Class discussions and workshops require some vulnerability, so it helps to go in open rather than guarded. If you're not in a place where you want to sit with difficult material, it might be tough timing. The professor creates a genuinely safe, low-judgment space, which matters a lot for a class like this — it wouldn't work otherwise. Feedback is supportive rather than critical in the traditional workshop sense, focused more on process than polish. Overall, it's less about becoming a better writer technically and more about what writing can do for you personally. Worth taking if you want a break from grind-heavy classes, or if you're going through something and want structured space to work through it. Go in willing to be honest with yourself.

Writing to Heal was a completely different pace and mindset from anything else I've taken, and honestly a nice counterweight to more technical coursework. The class is built around expressive and reflective writing as a tool for processing experience — trauma, grief, transitions, identity — grounded in actual research on writing's th …Read more

Hector Vila has so much lore that he will spend class telling you about. He was a super nice and accommodating. The course revolves around a few papers you will spend a lot of time in class preparing / drafting. These papers require a lot of personal reflection. Overall good course, too bad he retired.

I thought this was a great course. It made me consider my own past experiences from new perspectives. Professor Vila is passionate about what he teaches, but he will often veer off onto tangents that have nothing to do with classwork or class material. Worth taking to develop a perspective on yourself.