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Doryn Wallach

@dorynwallach

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Women’s Health | Arts in Health Practitioner | Program Development | Therapeutic Photography Facilitator | Storytelling, Media & Public Engagement

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What does your next chapter look like?

Join me for Midlife Women: The Next Chapter, a 90-minute online therapeutic photography experience.

We’ll use photographs as a starting point for reflection, storytelling, and conversation about this stage of life. No photography experience is needed. The focus is on what an image means to you.

October 20, 2026
12:00–1:30 PM ET
On Zoom
$25

I’m offering this as a one-time group, with limited space to allow for conversation and connection.

Register through the link in my bio.

Doryn Wallach, MS, MBH-C

#TherapeuticPhotography #MidlifeWomen #CreativeExpression by @dorynwallach

I’m bringing together the threads that have shaped my work: women’s mental and physical health, the arts, and storytelling.

My background in art therapy, design, and photography has led me to this intersection. I want to explore how women’s health experiences are expressed, understood, and addressed, and what creative work can contribute.

Here, I’ll share research, projects, and people working across these fields. Expect conversations about menopause, maternal mental health, women’s pain, and the role of photography, music, film, writing, and visual art.

I want this to become a place to discover how we can amplify women's stories through the arts, heal through the arts, bring hope, exchange ideas, and make connections.

What would you like to see explored?

Doryn Wallach, MS, MBH-C

#WomensHealth #ArtsAndHealth #WomensMentalHealth by @dorynwallach

Photographs and posters have played a role in social and health campaigns for over a century, from Lewis Hine’s documentation of child labor to ACT UP’s activism to the earliest photovoice projects with women.

In my latest article, I look at that history and a question it raised for my own work: when women share personal stories to advance change, how do we make sure they hear what came of it?

#ArtsInHealth #WomensHealth #Photovoice by @dorynwallach

In this week’s therapeutic photography group for midlife women, I asked:

“What is holding me up in this season of life? Day to day, week to week.”

Remember that the process and what the client gets from it is so much more relevant than the image as beautiful as this is.

One participant submitted this photograph with these words:

“As I reflected on this snapped photo of the trees, I was struck by the contrast between the smaller tree, with its scraggly limbs and falling leaves, and the larger, looming mature pine trees above it. In this season of life, I feel like the smaller tree most days, learning to let go of the inevitable, while my support group (the Lord, my family, and friends) is represented by the taller pine trees. I feel held and validated by them. And with time, when all the leaves have fallen off, I know the regrowth is just below the surface, and spring will bring new life.”

#WomenInMidlife #TherapeuticPhotography #WomensHealth #ArtsAndHealth by @dorynwallach

What happens to PMDD as you approach menopause? I am very curious about this, and there isn't a lot out there on the topic. I want to better understand what happens when symptoms that once followed a familiar pattern begin to change.

One small experiment published in 2017 helps explain hormone sensitivity in PMDD. Researchers studied 12 women whose symptoms had improved when ovarian hormone production was medically suppressed. Symptoms increased when researchers reintroduced estrogen and progesterone, then eased during continued, stable exposure. So what does that mean for women in perimenopause with PMDD?

The findings support sensitivity to hormonal change, as we already know. However, I couldn't find anything on perimenopause and PMDD, and of course, as all women are different, this cannot tell us that every woman’s PMDD will worsen during the transition.

So, how can women and their clinicians distinguish familiar PMDD symptoms from other changes happening at midlife?

I’m just approaching this with curiosity and would welcome perspectives from people researching or working in reproductive mental health, especially with PMDD.

#PMDD #Perimenopause #WomensMentalHealth #ReproductiveMentalHealth #WomensHealth

Sources for reference, outside the caption: Schmidt et al., 2017 · Review of premenstrual mood symptoms in perimenopause by @dorynwallach

What would you want your care team to understand about your experience? I ask women this all the time. It's so important that we have a voice and that people advocate on your behalf when you can't.

If you have faced a health challenge, you could explore that question through a photograph, a drawing, a few sentences, or a combination.

You might begin with an ordinary detail: something that changed in your day, something you miss, or something another person has misunderstood.
You decide what it means. You also decide whether anyone else sees it.

There is no expectation to make something beautiful or find a positive ending.

If you feel comfortable answering, what would you want someone involved in your care to understand better?

#WomensHealth #ArtsAndHealth #CreativeReflection #PatientVoice #WomensMentalHealth by @dorynwallach

What might a painting tell us about a day of breast cancer treatment?

In Rad Art: A Journey Through Radiation Treatment, artist and retired clinical psychologist Sally Loughridge documented her experience through 33 oil paintings. The American Cancer Society introduced the book in October 2012.
Her paintings recorded changing emotional responses to treatment, including fear, sadness, vulnerability, and uncertainty.

This is one woman’s story, rather than a study of whether painting improves health. It lets others encounter treatment as experienced by the person living through it.

For organizations working in women’s health, how could women’s creative stories inform conversations with staff and families while preserving each woman’s control over what she shares?

#WomensHealth #ArtsAndHealth #BreastCancer #CreativeExpression #PatientExperience by @dorynwallach

What could art therapy offer women during breast cancer treatment?

A small randomized study published in 2006 followed 41 women receiving radiotherapy in Sweden. Twenty received an hour of individual art therapy each week during treatment; 21 were in the control group.

The art therapy group had better scores on the social component of a coping questionnaire at two and six months. Their overall coping score was also higher at two months. These sessions were provided by a trained art therapist in a clinical setting.

This was a small study at one hospital. It offers evidence worth building on, but cannot tell us whether every woman would benefit or whether other creative activities would produce the same results. It only measured coping, not cancer outcomes.

For organizations supporting women through cancer care, a practical next step could be to pilot optional art therapy alongside existing services, then evaluate women’s experiences and coping over time.

#WomensHealth #ArtsAndHealth #BreastCancer #ArtTherapy #SupportiveCare by @dorynwallach

I was told by @flare.endo I should start a Substack, so...I did.

It’s called More to the Story, and I’ll be writing about women’s health, how the arts can amplify women’s voices, and the sometimes absurd realities of life after 40.

There will be research, different perspectives, a little optimism, and hopefully some humor (my teenagers have their doubts).

I’d love for you to follow along, read, and share your thoughts.

Link in bio! by @dorynwallach

Who decides what a photograph means?

In the therapeutic photography sessions I am developing for women, that decision belongs to the person who made or chose it.

A photograph can be a starting point for reflection. You choose what to explore, what to keep private, and what you feel comfortable sharing. There is no expectation to create a beautiful image or disclose a difficult experience.

I am exploring offering individual sessions and small groups for women who want a guided space for creative reflection. No photography experience is needed. These are nonclinical sessions for reflection and well-being.

If you would like to hear more, DM me and let me know whether an individual session or a small group interests you.

#TherapeuticPhotography #WomensWellbeing #ArtsAndHealth #CreativeReflection by @dorynwallach

What happens when women’s experiences of pain become an exhibition?

FLARE: Illuminating Endometriosis brought work by more than 30 artists from 13 countries to New York in September 2026. Painting, textiles, sculpture, and photography were among the media represented, alongside conversations involving artists, advocates, and clinicians.

I am interested in what organizations can learn from bringing those perspectives into the same space.

An exhibition offers an opportunity to encounter experience and start a conversation. Evidence of better care or policy change would require a separate evaluation.

If you were organizing a conversation about women’s pain, who would you want in the room with the artists?

Explore the exhibition record: https://flareendo.org/exhibition

Project: @flare.endo

#WomensHealth #ArtsAndHealth #Endometriosis #ArtAndAdvocacy #PublicHealth by @dorynwallach