Conference Agenda

Why are some poets more likely to die by suicide than other writers? Research into writing-for-wellbeing has begun to answer this question and it may have to do with which I-positions they express.

Can you tell from a text whether your lover might leave you? Research shows you may be able to predict this by the way they position themselves in a response and whether they match your language use.

But…what if you weren’t afraid of rejection? What if you knew how to express I-positions and develop meta- and promoter positions, empowering yourself through life and loss? Writing-the-self is one way you might do this.

We know that writing can be healing. Psychotherapists and counsellors frequently prescribe it and the field of writing-for-wellbeing is now established with over 40 years’ of published research. Quantitative studies show that writing about trauma – particularly expressing both the events and the emotional impact of those events – can reduce doctor’s visits, increase immunity, and lessen chronic illness symptoms. Some assume that “getting it out” (i.e. catharsis) is what offers the change, but studies shows that meaning making and identity (re)construction may be at the heart of the improvements in how people feel.

This workshop combines creative, expressive and reflective writing practices with Dialogical Self Theory, inviting participants to express and develop the voices within. It offers three transformative writing exercises: (1) a question and response, (2) poetry exploring contradictions, and (3) a written inquiry process that undoes painful thinking.

In the last 30 years I’ve facilitated over a thousand students, and have come to see that most of us struggle with shame about some aspect of our lives. Structured writing can help us overcome resistance to such feelings, become vulnerable in healthy ways, and experience new ways of being.