AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND POETRY THERAPY PRACTITIONERS (PTP) – click for details
BARBARA CHURCHER, PTP , MELBOURNE , AUSTRALIA
I am a psychotherapist trained in New Zealand in psychodynamic and Gestalt approaches. I have a private practice here in Melbourne and, up until 5 years ago, also led a team working with those who experience severe and enduring mental illness.
Before turning to therapy, I trained and worked as an independent midwife, caring for women through the childbearing year, supporting them to birth their babies at home or in the hospital. All of this means I have a deep interest in attachment theory and how we create ourselves in the world. Sometimes this is through the writing of others, a vital mind-to-mind relationship, as it was for me.
My earliest memories are of reading – surrounded by my mother’s books, I had some strange companions as a child, characters who still people my imagination. Myths and legends then became my early loves and, with a sniff of that perfume called library, I am back crouching in the corner where my favourites were shelved.
I have found the way to poetry through PTP training. ‘Poetry’ seems a small word to encompass so much. It has become a deep passion for me, added to my love of words. My work with poetry therapy uses poetry, literature, art of all kinds, and nature (being in it as well as being closely focused on the wonder of our home) and, most importantly, on metabolic entanglement, the understanding that all aspects of this planet are in and of each other.
I encourage and foster opportunities for creative writing, but particularly love the opportunity poetry therapy offers for personal reflection and a deepening of the relationship with oneself. I offer individual and group work.
PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
- Poetry Therapy Practitioner
- Bachelor of Midwifery
- Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) (Practice and research)
- Diploma of Gestalt Psychotherapy (NZ)
- Theory of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (Ashburn Clinic, NZ)
SPECIAL INTERESTS
- Reading, always reading
- Extending my understanding of my work as a psychotherapist
- A passionate love of and fear for the earth, our home
- Zen Buddhism
CONTACT DETAILS
SUZY WILLOW, PTP , NEW PLYMOUTH, NEW ZEALAND
Based in the Taranaki region of New Zealand, I offer online and in-person Poetry Therapy workshops.
I truly believe we are all carriers of poems, and that our poetic heart knows the way home to our most authentic self.
As a registered Poetry Therapy Practitioner, a trauma-sensitive facilitator, trained counselor, and home-poet, I guide women in reconnecting with their authentic voice, especially during periods of transition and transformation.
PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
- Poetry Therapy Practitioner
- Yoga Teacher (200hr) + TCTSY (20hr)
- Professional Counselling (NZIPC)
- BA International Relations
SPECIAL INTERESTS
- Women’s groups
- Authenticity through empowered self-expression
- Connection with the more-than-human world
CONTACT DETAILS
Email: ourpoetryproject.contact@gmail.com
Instagram: @ourpoetryproject
Email: info@iapoetry.org