Writing Works: A Resource Handbook for Therapeutic Writing Workshops and Activities (Writing for Therapy or Personal Development) [Paperback]

'Gillie Bolton, Victoria Field and Kate Thompson are doing remarkable, deeply meaningful work - with eloquence and compassion. They encourage writing to help heal spirits and minds. I salute their clarity and conviction - we need their wisdom in this world.' --Naomi Shihab Nye Poet, Editor and Educator, Texas

The use of creative writing as a route to personal development is a powerful therapeutic tool - a fact that is recognized in the growing numbers of workshops and writing groups within professional contexts, including clinical, health and criminal justice settings. Writing Works is a guide for writers or therapists working with groups or individuals and is full of practical advice on everything from the equipment needed to run a session to ideas for themes, all backed up by the theory that underpins the methods explained. Experienced practitioners in the field contribute detailed illuminating accounts of organizing writing workshops for a wide range of different clients, together with examples of their outcomes. This book will be an invaluable start-up reference for arts therapists and professionals working across the health, social care and caring professions, and one that will be referred to again and again.

Gillie Bolton is a freelance writer and lecturer. She is Literature and Medicine editor of the Journal of Medical Humanities and Progress in Palliative Care, and is associate editor of the Journal of Poetry Therapy. She is author of the key creative writing therapy text The Therapeutic Potential of Creative Writing: Writing Myself, also published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Victoria Field is a freelance writer and facilitator, working in therapeutic writing across the fields of adult education, schools, personal development retreats, the health service and mental health settings. She was the first qualified poetry therapist in the UK. Kate Thompson is a counsellor who uses journal writing as a therapeutic medium with clients and runs therapeutic journal writing groups.