Write to Heal
12-WEEK WRITING COURSE FOR HEALING AND TRANSFORMATION
This tailormade course will introduce you to different approaches to writing for healing and transformation. The aim is to encourage self-reflection, creative expression and intuitive, culturally specific responses to life experiences, including that of health-related issues to promote wellness. All the assignments are intended to allow participants to develop their unique way of sharing stories and build their confidence in the form they find most suitable.
FIRST MODULE
This course has been successfully delivered as a Bespoke offering to a student cohort of 25. It can be offered as part of ongoing complementary therapy for overall well-being, critical self reflection and personal development by any one or more organisation to their clients. This particular course is tailormade to accommodate the diverse, social and cultural experiences of those from global majority backgrounds – African, Asian, African-Caribbean/Black heritage. You can contact us to discuss this in in more detail here.
You will be invited to share their pieces with the class (in small break out groups) for encouraging, positive feedback, which will be guided by the Course Tutor. To enable your development in the writing process, you will be required to read/view extracts from sources that fit the weekly theme, which will be shared in advance of the week ahead. You will then write a piece based on the theme and as inspired by the weekly reading/viewing extract.
As part of the course, participants receive a complementary life writing title (Mama Lou Tales, published by Way Wive Wordz), a notebook and pen. The aim is to encourage reading as well as writing and complement the development of their writing through observing examples. The notebook is for them to keep a journal of thier progress as well as to inspire writing ideas – as inspired by Julia Cameron’s ‘Morning Pages’ from her book The Artist’s Way (1995).
On successful completion of at least 9 sessions of this 12-week course, participants be rewarded with another complementary title – that exemplifies life writing in a cultural and political activist form: Doing Nothing is Not an Option about the life of Jessica and Eric Huntley, written by Dr Margaret Andrews. This will hopefully incentivise students to complete a minimum requirement and progress to their next level of writing from their cultural experiences.
To discuss arranging this course as a Bespoke Package or to find out when it will next be delivered please get in touch with us.
SECOND MODULE
Following the successful 12 week introductory Write to Heal course, and the submission of the report with recommendations to BAME Voice, we recognise the importance of supporting the participants on their journey to mental health and overall wellbeing through the medium of writing.
In our report we recommended a publication be produced with contributions by the students, which will reflect the excellent quality of writing initiated during the course. The publication will also show what can be achieved with relevant access to funding. We further recommended an additional course, focusing on specific processes which, in this advance programme we call ‘W-rites’ aimed to promote deep healing and wellbeing.
For this advance programme, attendees are invited to locate deeper areas in their life experiences to source effective healing strategies for long term health, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. As with the introductory course, participants are guided to approach their writing, whether fiction or non-fiction by exploring culturally specific experiences, including spirituality and historical references. Additionally, however, there will be a chance for attendees to do ‘residential,’ meaning in-person, mindfulness therapies as part of the course. They will also be given the chance to explore how they continue to live with Covid, lock-down and post-pandemic experiences.
The Residentials
As part of this advance course, there will be an opportunity for students to take part in 3 guided in-person ‘residentials’ lead by experienced facilitators. This will enable participants to engage in empowering mindfulness activities and share their responses reflectively in writing.
Residential 1 – Walking Meditation Healing (Morden Hall Park/Johmard Community Centre
Residential 2 – Sound Healing (Johmard Community Centre)
Residential 3 – Movement Healing (Johmard Community Centre)
Each session will last 2-4 hours and take place on a Saturday, every 2-3 weeks throughout the duration of the course.
To discuss arranging this course as a Bespoke Package or to find out when it will next be delivered please get in touch with us.