Poetry Therapy Journal by Poetry Therapy Journal

Poetry Therapy The Irish Poetry Therapy Network Journal Volume 3: Issue 2: Autumn 2018 Volume 1: Issue 2: Autumn 2016

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Living The Dream - Mike Hackett Words for Wellbeing - Clare Scott Action Week 2018 Review Geraldine Campbell ‘Writing Works’ - Book Review Annual IPTN Conference - 2018

IPTN Irish Poetry Therapy Network 1

Contents

Editorial Dear Readers, Welcome to the Autumn 2018 issue of Poetry Therapy, produced by the Irish Poetry Therapy Network (IPTN).

Editorial Theresa Kelly p.2 Living The Dream Mike Hackett p.3

We are grateful to Mike Hackett for his piece ‘Living The Dream’. Mike is our keynote speaker at our Writing For Wellness: Accentuate the Positive conference where he will work with participants on the relevance of our dreams. In this article, he gives us some pointers on how we can remember our dreams in advance of attending the conference.

Book Review: Writing Works by Gillian Bolton, Victoria Field and Kate Thompson

Theresa Kelly p.4

A Visit to Action Week 2018 Ger Campbell p.5

Clare Scott, another facilitators at our upcoming conference, writes of ‘the value of words to the individual for selfexpression, self-exploration and self-healing’ whetting our appetite for her workshop.

Words for Wellbeing Clare Scott p.7

Coming Events 2018 Conference Carol Boland p. 8

IPTN membership is due in September. If you would like to support our work to promote and advance poetry therapy in Ireland, please send €15 to Bernie Walsh, 60 Hazelwood, Gorey, Co. Wexford. Membership also entitles you to a reduction on our annual conference.

Blog: www.irishpoetytherapynetwork. blogspot.ie

Ger Campbell gives us an interesting overview of Action Week 2018, which she attended in New York during the summer. We also include news about our upcoming conference and a book review on Writing Works by Gillian Bolton, Victoria Field and Kate Thompson. We hope you find this issue interesting. As always we invite readers to submit articles, book/poetry/film reviews and workshops relating to the area of poetry therapy and how it supports the personal development and therapeutic development of the individual. Theresa Kelly PTP IAHIP/IACP

Mike Hackett BSc, currently conducts research in Positive Psychology and clinical use of dreams. He is the keynote speaker at IPTNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s upcoming Annual Conference.

my dream, a red-haired

siren sings a soul-aching lament. Her plaintive melodious song echoes loudly in my ears as I wake - "Peter loves you, you are going to part, isn't love misery, a wound to the heart". We spend approximately onethird of our lives asleep and between 20-25% of our sleeping lives, dreaming. Every night, whether we remember or not, we enter the dreamscape. We encounter the mundane and the bizarre. Often, clients present dreams in therapy with a curious fascination as to the meaning of a recent dream and an expectation that you (their therapist) will interpret it for them. Further, we therapists dream. We dream every night. How many of us attend to our dreams though, beyond the somewhat superficial exclamation 'Gosh, I had the strangest dream last night . . .'

Ironically, our profession has emerged from the seminal contributions of Freud and Jung for whom the analysis of dreams became a foundational component of what we now recognise as modern psychotherapy. Freud described dreams as the Via Regia or Royal Road to the unconscious. Jung tells us that our very psyche consists of a series of strata, the lowest layer of which is our shared, collective unconscious full of archaic, primordial character. Our own experience seems to signal some importance for the dreams we carry into waking life. However, few therapists actually know how to work with dreams and dreamwork training is scarce. Why? Some professionals believe dreams border on the realm of the mysterious and mystical and not worthy of the contemporary practice of psychotherapy. For others dreams are too complex/bizarre/archaic and time-consuming to merit appropriate attention when solutions and fixes are necessary priorities. And others, that dreams are essentially meaningless, random; useless artefacts of an evolutionary/biological process

whose function is now redundant. The unfortunate effect of these therapist positions is to render the vast potential for information about their client, the therapeutic relationship, the therapeutic process and indeed themselves beyond the reach of both therapist and client.

Navigate the Dream It is in this context that I am delighted to be invited as the keynote speaker for your upcoming Annual Conference. My aim for the day will be to guide you through the contemporary therapeutic dreamscape. We will navigate participants dream territory thus demonstrating how dreams can be employed in contemporary practice. To this aim, I encourage you to record your dreams in advance of the upcoming conference weekend. We can then delve together into the rich ocean of material in a more meaningful, personal, immediate way.

A Few Pointers If you struggle to recall your dreams, here are a few pointers. First, set your intention to remember them. Before going to sleep repeat

your intention that in the morning, your dreams (or whatever fragments you can catch) will be available to you. Second, when you wake up, keep perfectly still. Don't move in bed. Ask yourself, what was I just dreaming.

Book Review

Try not to remember everything, simply allow your mind to wander Writing Works Try not to remember everything, simply allow your mind to wander to whatever comes to you. Once you've caught something, even if it is no more than a person, place, thing, colour etc. ask yourself how did you feel on waking. Third, have a special, singleuse journal or notebook and pen beside your bed and use this to record what you've just recalled. Read back over your dream during the day and see if anything else emerges for you. Finally, if your dreams remain frustratingly beyond your grasp, repeat the above steps over a week or two and the likelihood is that you will begin to get better at recall over time. In the meantime, I thank you for the opportunity to join you for your upcoming conference and wish you sweet dreams until then. Mike Hackett is Faculty Lecturer with PCI College in Dublin. He is the founder and Clinical Director of Introspect Counselling - a Dublin City based private practice.

Gillie Bolton, Victoria Fields and Kate Thompson by Theresa Kelly, PTP This book looks at how creative writing can be used as a therapeutic tool. It is written for writers or therapists who are working with groups or individuals, and provides practical advice as to how one can work therapeutically with the written word. The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 deals with ‘Writing From Without’ eg writing about place, writing from published poems, writing from objects and writing from particular forms eg Haiku, Sonnets etc. Part 2 deals with ‘Writing From Within’ and looks at what people need to write about, the different masks we wear in our lives, our identity, finishing with the journey of life and how loss and change impact us. In part 1 the authors present a range of warm up exercises a facilitator/therapist can use with a group or in a one:one situation. Asking people to write about where they are today or to complete an alpha

poem or acrostic. These may be shared within the group but the main purpose of the warm up exercise is to get the creative juices flowing and move people from their arrival at the session/workshop to being present at the session/workshop. In her chapter ‘Writing about Place’ Victoria Field looks at using a remembered place as a metaphor for an aspect or your life, it can also be used as guided imagery. In other contributions to this chapter, authors give examples of workshops run on themes such as the sea, rivers, bridges and hills. Gillie Bolton edited the chapter on ‘Writing from Objects’ and discusses how one can write from a personally important object to an empty box, feathers or stones. The possibilities are endless and the chapter presents good ways of exploring each of these objects and how they can aid the therapeutic process. In ‘Writing from Published Poems’ many popular poems are discussed such as ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird’ by Wallace Stevens; ‘The Guest House’ by Rumi. I particularly liked the treatment of the great zoo by Elaine Trevitt. In this exercise she draws on the work of Cuban poet, Nicolas Guillen who imagined the whole world to be a great zoo. The facilitator will ask participant(s) to imagine what they would put in their zoo. Some of the results she cites from this exercise are very revealing and the exercise is very versatile. In ‘Writing in Form’ I was introduced to the Pantoum by Kate Thompson this was a new

form of poetry writing for me and I certainly found the structure really useful and have used it in sessions already. Part two, as mentioned, focuses on writing from within. Chapter 8 looks at identity. In one of the sessions by River Wolton, the facilitator used an exercise by Schneider and Killick making lists of ‘I am . . .’ ‘I am not . . .’ and using these as stems for writing poetry on identity. In chapter 9 the contributors discuss ways of expanding on life’s journey through the use of memory books, free writing and a Journey of Life workshop for teenage cancer patients as described by Gillie Bolton p. 208. This is a method of helping people to write, again through a list, their journey. The teenagers don’t need to know their destination and this emerges through the writing. It is a good exercise to show how simple thoughts can have profound impact. In the final chapter, the editors offer their own personal writing stressing ‘Our own writing underpins and underscores all the work we do with others. Whatever form this writing may take, it is the process of doing it which is so vital’ p.230 I particularly like Gillie Bolton’s poem ‘Take Care’. The three appendices offer good reference material and help guide you through the book if down the line you want to refer to a particular exercise or poem. A good resource handbook and one to recommend.

A Visit to Action Week: Manhatten 2018

Playing with Erasure Poetry

By Ger Campbell, PTP Action week 2018 was once again hosted by Lila Weisberger supported by the International Academy of Poetry Therapy (iaPOETRY). Attendance was smaller than usual, due to life circumstances that curtailed some people from attending the full programme of events. Although the group was small, I felt that it enhanced the workshops, as it led to a sense of deeper intimacy amongst participants. The overall theme for the workshop facilitations was : ‘Explorations: Rediscovering the Past, Anticipating the Future’. Indeed, T.S. Eliot’s lines provide an apt summary of the various workshops: We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. Here is a short account of the workshops on offer.

Ekphrastic Writing / Tag Books: Lila Wesiberger Each of us made a tag book from luggage labels which are held together with a metal ring or string. The purpose of the tag book was to enable people to write something on a daily basis throughout the week. It allows for journalling, drawing, art work, and really anything that takes your fancy that you wish to glue on to the page. It’s also a nice way to keep a memento of a holiday or occasion that you want to record. Ekphrastic writing is an excellent way of letting your imagination run free. The use of post cards, photographs, pictures are used as a means of writing in the voice of someone in the picture or painting. Exploring Gratitude I facilitated this workshop and used a mindfulness meditation as an introduction to the

concept of gratitude. Expressing gratitude has been shown, from a number of studies, to have scientifically proven benefits for physical and psychological health. I used music and poetry as part of the facilitation. The feedback was excellent. Exploring convergence of Chaos and Mapping The workshop was facilitated by Nessa McCasey, and through the use of poems, we explored the impact of chaos and chaotic people in our lives. Exploring Our Inner Journeys. Therapist SelfCare through Mindfulness Meditation, Writing and Collage Mari Alschuler facilitated this workshop and we engaged in a number of mindfulness exercises. It was fun working with collage to the theme of selfcare.

Erasure Poetry Erasures in Life. Exploring Laughter As We Face Changes Cara Nusinov provided us with an unforgettable workshop, using a combination of laughter Yoga and Erasure Poetry. The concept of Erasure Poetry was new to me. Using newspaper articles, pages from old books or magazines, you block out the words you want to discard with tape or tippex, and leave the words you want to keep. You then have a poem or piece of prose left on the page in a crazy type of pattern. This is fun to do and I advise people to give it a shot.

Exploring Journalling through Meditation Once again Mari Alschuler provided us with a number of meditation techniques, and I particularly enjoyed the mindfulness walking meditation. We explored the importance of meditation and its impact when we make it part of our daily practice. According to Mari, it is best to start with just a few minutes. Part of the process is to journal a short piece about your experience and process. Exploring Spiritual Expression I enjoyed this workshop facilitated by Nessa McCasey and learned how to use Lectio Divina. Lectio Divina literally means divine reading or spiritual reading. Although it is an ancient tradition used in monastic settlements, it is still used in closed communities by nuns and monks. It allows for a process of going deeper. The four principles of Lectio Divina I believe can be adapted to the four Jungian psychological principles of sensing, thinking, intuiting and feeling. For anyone interested in working this way there is plenty of information available on the web. Exploring Nature as Medicine In this excellent workshop Jill Teague introduced the Medicine Wheel and animal totem cards. This allowed us to write freely and explore ways in which nature can promote wellbeing.

Owl decides to make tear-water tea, and to do so he has to think of things that make him cry so that he can have tears for the tea. Once he fills the kettle with tears, he puts it on the stove to boil. “Owl felt happy as he filled his cup. ‘It tastes a little bit salty,’ he said, ‘but tear-water tea is always good.’” Tear Water Tea This final session was both poignant and, at times, humorous, as it was devoted to the memory of Johanna Martinez. Johanna, a longtime member of the group, died in June 2018. The poem Tear Water Tea by Arnold Lobel was used, with prompts provided by Lila. Each of us had a cup and saucer, and a card. We wrote and cried our memories on to the card, which was placed in the tea cup. As Johanna had been so full of life, we also sang and danced to remember her joyful spirit.

a better quality of life. We also show how arts interventions can save money and help staff in their work.’

Words for Wellbeing - a personal view By Clare Scott ‘Writing for wellbeing’ has emerged relatively recently as a recognised form of therapeutic activity and joins the visual arts and drama as a beneficial way of working in the field of health. The challenge to mental wellbeing of the changes in global and national, economic and environmental situations is a given. The practitioners who offer this type of activity have to be suitably experienced and skilled through suitable training, having expertise and understanding of writing and therapeutic competencies. Lapidus International, the words for wellbeing association is the professional body for these practitioners, and acts as a source of information for those who are interested in this work. The first question that may be asked, is how we know whether the expressive arts can support or ameliorate mental health? Lord Haworth of Newport, Co -Chair of an allparty parliamentary inquiry into the benefits of the arts to health and wellbeing, says about their report published July 18th 2017: ‘The evidence we present shows how arts-based approaches can help people to stay well, recover faster, manage longterm conditions and experience

Personal narrative has backed this up too. Matt Haig, author of The Humans, 2014, wrote a description of his experience of depression, Reasons to Stay Alive (2015) and how he helped himself, “And most of all, books. They were, in and of themselves, reasons to stay alive. Every book written is the product of a human mind in a particular state. Add all the books together and you get the end sum of humanity. Every time I read a great book I felt I was reading a kind of map, a treasure map, and the treasure I was being directed to was in actual fact myself.” From ancient times the value of words to the individual for self-expression, self-exploration and self-healing has been acknowledged. It is at least as effective as any visual arts practice for this purpose. The therapeutic activity involves forming a connection with a stimulus, which may be fact or fiction, poetry or a story, a painting, a photograph, a performance, and that creates a response that may be transformative. It is undertaken one-to-one, or in a workshop which is facilitated by a practitioner who has writing and therapeutic expertise, so that the process that is experienced by each participant is safe and beneficial. The work of the facilitator of a words-for-wellbeing workshop is to enable the participants to find and use their voice, to explore and express their inner process, to change their understanding and re-create their stories. The tenor and content of our stories are essential to the healthy life of any individual, any community and can enable social change as well as personal change.

‘Words bring us together and silence separates us, leaves us bereft of the help or solidarity or just communion that speech can solicit or elicit.’ (Solnit, 2017, p.18) I work with people with communication difficulties, with neurodiversity, diagnosed as autistic or Asperger’s syndrome. We undertake workshops involving writing or other forms of verbal and artistic expression as a way of helping them to improve the communication of their experiences, their ideas, their thoughts to themselves and others. I see my role as an interpreter, helping them to get in touch with their feelings and express it in effective language, sometimes moving from the non-verbal to the verbal. I can vouchsafe for the difference it makes to their management of stress, their self-confidence and their sense of wellbeing, averting emotional crises and easing their intimate relationships. The process can help them adjust to personal circumstances and to cope better in social and work situations. ************ All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing, ‘Creative Health: the Arts for Health and Wellbeing’, July 2017, http://www.artshealthandwellbeing .org.uk/appg-inquiry/ Rebecca, Silence is Broken, The Mother of All Questions, Haymarket Books, Chicago, Illinois 2017

Clare Scott’s PhD in Creative Writing explores the exposition of psychogeography in rural West Wales. She runs a private consultancy: Centre for Creative Activity, is Chair of Lapidus International, Director of Rowan Journeys C.I.C., Director of iaPOETRY, member of NAWE and PATOSS

Irish Poetry Therapy Network

7th Annual Conference in collaboration with

Lapidus International and iaPOETRY

Writing For Wellness: Accentuate the Positive Experiential Sessions It’s that time of year again when we at IPTN prepare for our annual conference. This October, we have a most diverse and stimulating programme, working in collaboration with Lapidus International and International Academy for Poetry Therapy. These two international organisations will bring their experience of writing for wellbeing to Ireland for, what promises to be, an exciting weekend of workshops for selfdiscovery and personal development. Over the two days of the conference, we will be making a journey through the inner world of dreams, poetry, and oral and written story-telling, with qualified and experienced

facilitators working in the UK, Wales and, of course, Ireland.

Dream Traveller – Mike Hackett We are delighted to welcome Mike Hackett, psychotherapist and passionate oneironaught dream traveller as keynote speaker at our event. Mike works as a therapist in private practice, is a lecturer with PCI College and is facilitator of the Dublin Dream Appreciation Group. This highly interactive session introduces you to modern dreamwork in the therapeutic context and offers suggestions as to how to begin to work with dreams in your personal /professional life.

Hands-on workshops on Day 1 – Saturday, include facilitations by Carol Boland (IPTN), Ger Campbell (IPTN), Jill Teague (iaPOETRY) and Clare Scott (Lapidus). On Day 2 - Sunday, Mike Hackett will facilitate a session on dreams, which will be followed by facilitators from UK, Vicky Fields and Kate Pawsey. Details of the full programme are available on IPTN’s blog on the Events page: http://irishpoetrytherapynetwork. blogspot.com/

As regards participants, no writing experience is necessary and work during the sessions will not be critiqued. We look forward to seeing you on 13/14 October 2018.

Writing For Wellness: Accentuate the Positive Where: Ashdown Park Hotel, Gorey, Co. Wexford When: Sat/Sun, 13/14 October 2018 Fee: €70 per day (€60 IPTN & Lapidus members) €120 weekend (€100 IPTN & Lapidus members) Booking is essential. To reserve your place (weekend participants get preference) please email:irishpoetrytherapynetwork@gmail.com or call 085 1138367. Cheques should be made payable to Irish Poetry Therapy Network and sent to Bernie Walsh, 60 Hazelwood, Gorey, Co. Wexford. Meals can be purchased in the hotel 8 . Please note that due to the personal nature of our workshops, participant numbers are strictly limited.