My experience of writing poetry has been inspirational. Last year I attended the Lapidus Writing Conference in Cardiff University and learnt more about facilitating writing for diverse groups. I belong to two local writing groups: Ucheldre in Holyhead and the Bangor Cellar Writers’ group and I have experienced the positive ethos created by skilful facilitators first hand. Many of the intuitive experinces felt as a child have been echoed in recent experiences of poetry for wellbeing workshops and I am constantly amazed at the power of shared writing to enhance creativity and access the unconscious.

My professional work has involved lecturing in English Language and Literature and jointly directing the Secondary PGCE English Course at Bangor, which included the Wales Jamaica Project 2006 : working with PGCE Primary and Secondary trainees in schools to explore the historical links between Sugar, Slate a Slavery (CD Rom produced /published on the NGFL/GWE website, which included collaborating with Fiona Collins, Storyteller.

In 2015 I received the CELT Associate Lecturer award at Bangor University.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Poetry Therapy Practitioner in training
• BA (Hons) English Literature, MA Applied Linguistics.
• Doctorate in Education, Exeter 2016.
• PGCE Secondary English.
• P4C level 1 practitioner
• PTP (Poetry Therapy Practitioner) in training
• MENTOR for WUMS ( Women’s University mentoring Scheme)
• Primary Teacher Educator.

SPECIAL INTERESTS

Research into Bilingual Identity
Writing and a Sense of Place
Ethnopoetics and Intercultural understanding

CONTACT DETAILS

Email: j.j.clapham@bangor.ac.uk
Website: www.http://skylarkcom.wordpress.com

As a Humanistic Counsellor working with Adults, young people and children I am passionate about making poetry, writing and reading accessible to all in order to help empower self expression and exploration. This passion led me to training with iaPoetry and was borne too from my own personal experiences of therapeutic writing. From working and developing counselling services/facilitating groups in many therapeutic andhealthcare settings here in North Wales, I am able to share and offer therapeutic writing and its creative power, alongside facilitate words for wellbeing workshop, introductory programmes to colleagues working in health. I am continually astounded and left in wonderment at how many people, from all walks of life “self medicate”with poetry, writing and reading and feel it’s vitally important to invite and offer writing/poetry both as an integration in my counselling/clinical practice and to groups both in specialist healthcare settings and within thecommunity. As I near the end of my PTP training I am now becoming very interested in good practice guidelines and ethical practice for Poetry Therapy Practitioners here in the UK. 

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Poetry Therapy Practitioner in Training

• PG Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling

• BA (Hons) in Adult Nursing

SPECIAL INTERESTS

Writing/Poetry for Therapeutic Intent in Counselling.
Bereavement, Loss & Trauma.
Palliative Care
Facilitating Reading, Poetry, Writing for wellbeing groups and ensuring accessibility to all, especially diverse and vulnerable groups in the community and in specialist healthcare settings.
Children’s writing & poetry.
Mindfulness and Nature  writing/reading.
Ethics & Good Practice Guidelines.

CONTACT DETAILS

Email: edwards727@yahoo.co.uk

I wrote – constantly – and I still write, though my life has been fractured by personal tragedy and I write less than before, and more slowly. I have always been interested in the link between poetry and medicine. I know from my own experience that there are times when there is nothing, really nothing, but poetry. I facilitate a weekly poetry group at Mind in Birkenhead, and we have produced a book of poems and hope to do another. I am working on my own poems, when I can, and reading, all the time, particularly, at the moment, John Burnside’s latest Still Life with Feeding Snake and Alice Oswald’s Falling Up.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Poetry Therapy Practitioner
• BA Eng Lit Trinity College Washington DC 1968
• MA Poetry University of Huddersfield 1998
• PhD Creative Writing Liverpool John Moores 2007

CONTACT DETAILS

Email: littletower@hotmail.co.uk

Writing has always been a way to take care of myself, and I share this with others by facilitating Arts for Health programs. As I develop this, and other work in creativity and wellbeing, my aim is to allow people to experience the capacity of writing to motivate, excite, and empower, as well as satisfy, ease, and heal.  I have used writing with coaching clients for self-discovery and insight. The integration of writing/poetry with psychotherapy is an ongoing area of development for me.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Poetry Therapy Practitioner in training
• BA English with Art & Design
• PGCE
• MA Creative Writing
• Postgraduate Diploma in Integrative Psychotherapy
• Life Coaching diploma

SPECIAL INTERESTS

Writing/poetry integrated with psychotherapy
Writing as part of the coaching process
Writing in combination with making/visual art
Writing as a mindfulness practice

CONTACT DETAILS

Email: hm.skytree@gmail.com
Website: www.hazelmutchskytree.co.uk

I’ve been teaching creative writing since the early 1990s and have seen the way that the writing process and the act of poesiscan bring us into relationship with ourselves, others and the worlds of inner/outer. As a poet and writer, I know, from my own experience, the way writing can bring new light and life to areas that feel stuck and entrenched. I work with the belief that everyone can add their voice to what poet Paul Matthews calls ‘singing the creation’. I teach at community and academic levels, and believe that writing can be a practice in what Buddhists call Right speech, aiding our wellbeing and growing our sense of connection and empowerment. I have published five collections of poetry, my most recent being The Green Gate(Cinnamon Press) and run writing events at Ucheldre Arts Centre, Holyhead.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Poetry Therapy Practitioner in training

• Focusing Practitioner (BFA Recognised)

• BA (Hons) Literature, philosophy and music

• MA in Writing

• Certificate of Education

SPECIAL INTERESTS

Life writing and the art of transformation
Ecopoetry as therapeutic ‘home-making’
Deep story and its vitalising gifts
Where Writing and Focusing meet

CONTACT DETAILS

Email: fiona@rhwng.com
Website: www.rhwng.com

I began offering Words for Wellbeing workshops in 2010. With a background in Counselling and a love of stories and poetry, combining the two felt like the most natural route for me to follow.  I offer an on-going workshop series called Poetry In Motion in Aberdeenshire and run Expressive Writing Groups at Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre in Aberdeen.  I also have an art practise which I combine with my writing to further extend the variety of workshops I offer.  I collaborate with other artists and wellbeing facilitators for one-off projects, wellbeing days and retreat weekends.  I also facilitate labyrinth walk events as a further wellbeing practice. Elaine is currently writer-in-residence at Woodend Barn, Banchory, Aberdeenshire.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Poetry Therapy Practitioner in training
• BA (Hons) History & International Relations
• HNC in Counselling
• CBCS Specialist Module in Bereavement & Loss
• Accredited Labyrinth Facilitator

SPECIAL INTERESTS

Found Poetry & Erasure Poetry
Working within Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre, Aberdeen
Collaborative projects with other artists combining art and writing
Combining labyrinth walking with writing

CONTACT DETAILS

Email: elainereidwriting@btinternet.com
Website: www.elainereidwriting.co.uk

I am a specialist in communication skills and use verbal and visual creative activities to help others understand themselves better, to communicate more effectively and to build skills, confidence and self-esteem, particularly in the field of neurodiversity (ASD / Asperger’s Syndrome / SpLD) and with artists. I have worked in all levels of the education sector, in social services and in sexual health. Now I run my company, the Centre for Creative Activity, working 1:1 with people of all ages, with families, often with artists. I also participate in community projects, such as with drugs and alcohol agencies or groups of young people/children. My personal passion is currently being expressed in my PhD (Creative Writing), exploring the application of psychogeography in the natural environment of West Wales. I am a director (chair) of Lapidus International, the words for wellbeing association and a director of Rowan Journeys, a group of women in West Wales who are helping others to make personal change using intuitive methods and the local landscape.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Poetry Therapy Practitioner in training
• BA (Hons) German
• MA Creative Writing
• PGCE
• OCR Pg Dip Specific Learning Differences
• PATOSS, AMBDA

SPECIAL INTERESTS

Psychogeography
Ekphrastic Writing
Neurodiversity
Ceramics

CONTACT DETAILS

Email: clare.cca@icloud.com
Website www.centreforcreativeactivity.com

I am lecturer in Education at Bangor University where I teach Childhood Studies and Research Methods. My work and writing exist on the edge between the academic and the creative, and my interest in reflective and autoethnographic writing seeks to cross that divide. As part of my PT training, I currently facilitate a small ‘writing for wellbeing’ group for women, and I also meet regularly with my co-trainees to share poetry, writing, good practice and learning.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Poetry Therapy Practitioner in training
• BA (Hons) Applied Language Studies
• MA Latin American Studies
• PhD Sociology of Childhood
• PGCE

SPECIAL INTERESTS

Language, place and identity
Autoethnographic and Reflective writing
Journal writing

CONTACT DETAILS

Email: amsmith1@outlook.com

As a Master Mentor for The International Academy for Poetry Therapy (iaPOETRY), it is my pleasure to be working with a broad range of enthusiastic and talented professionals who are committed to obtaining their credential as a Poetry Therapy Practitioner.  I encourage all those who train with me to integrate their own specialisms and interests into their poetry therapy practice, and have worked with trainees who, for example, have incorporated dance, mindfulness and ceramics this way. I provide workshops and courses, and online courses, relevant to those in training as well as to all who are interested in writing for wellbeing. I have regular peer group meetings where those in training are able to facilitate and share thoughts their and ideas. As a Master Mentor I am qualified to train those wish to become Mentors for iaPOETRY.

I am founder of “Out of the Blue Writing”, based in Snowdonia, North Wales, where I facilitate writing groups and work with individuals. I have developed a branch of my work called “Treading Softly” which combines walking and writing in the natural landscape. I also provide a variety of online courses, including “Open Space” which specialises in one to one online, client-centred work. I am an Executive Director of The International Academy for Poetry Therapy (iaPOETRY), and work as a Master/Mentor for the organisation. I have received awards and scholarships from Wales Arts International and NAPT (National Association for Poetry Therapy) for pioneering work in the field of poetry therapy, as well as scholarships from BridgXngs Poetry Center, NYC.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Poetry Therapy Practitioner
• iaPOETRY Master/Mentor
• Certified Applied Poetry Facilitator
• BA (Hons) English Literature
• PGCE

SPECIAL INTERESTS

• Therapeutic Writing in the Natural Environment
• Nature as Medicine/Medicine Wheel/Animal Cards
• Ecotherapy
• Ekphrastic Writing

CONTACT DETAILS

Email: jillteague@yahoo.co.uk
Website: www.jill-teague.blogspot.com

I am currently training as a Poetry Therapy Practitioner with iaPOETRY. The training brings together my experience as an educator, researcher, counsellor and creative writing facilitator, in community, educational and mental health settings. I am a published poet, and hae written many journal articles on creativity and creative writing. I have a special interest in the capacity of the arts to enable intercultural communication and challenge discrimination.   In 2015, I was Artist in the Community in Northern Ireland (Arts Council NI Award), with an intercultural creative writing project, A Write to a Sense of Belonging. Current research: the impact of involvement in arts programmes on people involved in the criminal justice system.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Poetry Therapy Practitioner in training
• BA (Hons) English Literature
• MA (English Literature)
• M Ed (Adult Education)
• Higher Diploma in Education, Diploma in Person-Centred Counselling
• PhD

SPECIAL INTERESTS

Creativity, research, ekphrasis, writers with sight loss, poetry in schools

CONTACT DETAILS

Email: shelleyztracey@gmail.com
Blog on creativity: https://journeyspace.wordpress.com/