Listed
Alphabetically by Workshop Leader's Surname
Jessica Clapham
"Mythic
Journeys - Poetry and Storytelling"
"Hope is the thing with
feathers/That perches in the soul"
Emily
Dickinson
In this workshop we will take inspiration from ancient Celtic wisdom and the myth of Pandora. Using a selection of poetry, prose and writing activities, we will explore the theme of identity.
Jessica Clapham has taught in Sudan, China and Lesotho. Her work has involved lecturing in English and English Literature and jointly directing the secondary PGCE English course at Bangor University. In 2016 she was awarded Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Jessica is currently training to become a Poetry Therapy Practitioner.
Sarah Edwards
"Following the Thread - Writing with Welsh Blankets"
"Wanted: a
needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket".
Charles Simic
With Welsh blankets on display, this workshop will use
these traditional Welsh blankets alongside poems and writing activities to
explore and reflect upon our unique word weaving. No writing experience is
needed, just curiosity with a desire to write and see where your words may take
you, following your own thread.
Sarah Edwards is a Trainee Poetry Therapy Practitioner and is passionate about helping others release and embrace their own writing creativity for self-exploration, and to making poetry/writing and words for well being accessible to all. As a Counsellor Sarah integrates therapeutic writing into her work with clients and has facilitated writing workshops for therapeutic purpose in a number of specialist healthcare settings whilst working for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health board and other well being organisations here in North Wales. Sarah delivers writing for wellbeing workshops in the community and as an introductory module to colleagues working in health. Currently Sarah is making the transition from working with adults to working with children and young people in the area of bereavement support at Ty Gobaith Children's Hospice.
Aileen La Tourette
"Tell It Slant - Dramatic Monologue as Emotional Ventriloquism!"
This will be a workshop using dramatic monologue - putting
things into other, constructed ‘mouths’ – chosen and constructed by us - as
a strategy for going to places that might otherwise be impossible to enter, or
enter with any degree of fluidity, dexterity or ability to express the extreme
emotions that lie there. We will look at a few dramatic monologues and
also construct our own. We all have lots of unlived lives or separate
selves, perhaps, and in a dramatic monologue we get to try some on – really, the
voice chooses you.
Aileen La Tourette is a self-defined "transplanted American" who has lived in the UK for almost 50 years. She has an MA and PhD in Creative Writing and taught Creative Writing at Liverpool John Moores University. She has published four novels, a collection of short stories and two collections of poetry. In 2016 she won the Live Canon International Poetry Competition with her poem "The Diving Horse”. Aileen is a Poetry Therapy Practitioner. She facilitates a weekly poetry group at MIND in Birkenhead.
Hazel Mutch
"Everything Begins in the Dark - Writing Winter's Wisdom"
"Everything is born from an opposite and miraculous otherness.
Silence and winter has led me to that otherness".
Silence and winter has led me to that otherness".
David Whyte
As winter approaches, what is no longer needed falls away revealing open spaces, and what is coming next lies hidden, reminding us that everything begins in the dark. As nature pauses and rests, this workshop is an opportunity to do the same. It is an invitation to reflect on the necessity of opposites and to allow our own hidden voices within to provide new perspectives through writing practices.
Hazel Mutch is a psychotherapist and writing for wellbeing practitioner working in the north west of England. She works one to one with adults and young people using creative therapies, and facilitates arts for health workshops specialising in creative writing for wellbeing
Fiona Owen
"Through the Self"
This life-writing workshop will explore, through a variety of exercises, what we might mean by 'the self'', where each particular life opens as a path. We will explore the 'storying' life where autobiography can move us 'from certainty of knowledge into the mystery of being' (Peter Abbs).
Fiona Owen has had five collections of poetry published, the latest being The Green Gate (Cinnamon Press). She teaches creative writing, literature and other arts/humanities subjects for the Open University, and writes and records songs with Gorwel Owen, the latest CD being Releasing Birds. She is a BFA recognised Focusing practitioner, is in training as a Poetry Therapy Practitioner, and directs Ucheldre Literary Society and Rhwng: the Point Between at Ucheldre Arts Centre, Holyhead.
Suzanne Power
"From Journal to
Journey – the You that You never Met"
A journal is a journey into your greatness, and your greatness is more than you can ever imagine. Journal writing is also a progressive journey, encouraging the steps to be taken towards a fully imagined life, towards the You, you never met but have always known. The journal entry offers up indications of where the roots of being draw sustenance - a humble encounter offering all possibilities because it displays the deep truth. In this workshop we will work with the first possibilities of that greater reality, using techniques we are familiar with, but also working with the images arising. Come with a pen, an open mind, a soft approach, and a good companion - your chosen journal.
Suzanne Power is a prize-winning author who has worked for over 30 years with words. She has had numerous novels, short stories, memoir, columns and poetry published. She has a BA in Journalism and a Masters in Creative Writing. She devised Maynooth University’s Creative Writing for Publication programme, helping many writers to achieve publication and awards. She has been editor of three consumer magazines and features editor of two national newspapers, an award-winning journalist and a national columnist for fifteen years, a broadcaster, producer and researcher working for BBC, RTE and UTV. Suzanne is a Poetry Therapy Practitioner, accredited through IaPOETRY, and has worked in therapeutic and community settings producing published anthologies for, among others: Wexford Library Service, Waterford and Wexford ETB, Hope Cancer Support Centre and Maynooth University.
Clare Scott
"The
Spaces Between"
'Listen:
In
the silence between there is music;
in
the spaces between there is story.'
Sally
Atkins
Spaces between help us to find definition. Space provides the separation that enables us to find ourselves individually. Spaces between words give words their meaning. The space between may be the liminal spaces, the undetermined, the unmapped, and the edgelands. It is their nothingness that gives freedom to be and defines the known, the recognised, the seen, between one destination and the next. The space may be the gold that fills the cracks in broken Japanese ceramic wares. This workshop will use verbal and visual media to explore the spaces between and help us to create personal definitions of who and what we are.
Clare Scott specialises in psychogeography, which is the subject of her PhD study, taking the exposition of its practice to the rural environment of West Wales where she lives and works. Her poems and short stories have been published and performed internationally. Clare is a poetry therapy practitioner in training. She has been a teacher, lecturer and manager, specialising in neurodiversity and mental health, and now works privately with clients, 1:1 and groups, using creative activity and creative thinking. She is the Chair of Lapidus International, the words for wellbeing association and a Director of Rowan Journeys, a Community Interest Company, running workshops for personal change.
Anne-Marie Smith
"The
Gift of a Word"
“Words and eggs must be handled with care.”
Anne
Sexton
How do we respond to words? Where can one word take you? Which words are like gifts in your life?
Through a series of writing exercises -
via poetry and images - we will explore our emotional and physical responses to
words that may make us go 'oh' or 'grrr' or 'aaaah'! Using short exercises
adapted from my ‘writing for wellbeing’ practice, this workshop aims to offer a
safe space to spend some meaningful time with words – through reading, writing,
reflecting and walking: yes, we will have a little ‘walk with a word’! (Bring a
coat if you fancy taking your word outside).
Anne-Marie is in her fourth year of training as a Poetry Therapy Practitioner with the International Academy of Poetry Therapy. She currently runs a monthly women’s writing group, and meets with co-trainees regularly to share practice. She also works as a lecturer in Education at Bangor University where she has started running ‘Writing for Wellbeing’ workshops for staff. As part of her day job she is committed to helping her students develop authenticity in their academic writing, and is exploring the use of creative and reflective strategies to enable them to do so. She lives in North Wales with her husband Peter and a cat called Mitsy who offers daily lessons in stillness and mindfulness.
Jill Teague
"Breathing
Between Imaginations"
"Painting
is poetry that is seen…and poetry is painting that is felt”.
Leonardo
de Vinci
"Beholding" is a term used to describe the intense and focused attention we can bring when looking at works of art. In this workshop, we will use a selection of art, to practice beholding, as well as read examples of ekphrastic poetry, to explore the ways in which the engagement of two imaginations - that of the artist, and the beholders' imaginative responses to their work, produces a creative circular breath that enlivens both.
Jill Teague is founder of Out of the Blue Writing - a writing centre focusing on personal creativity and wellbeing. "Treading Softly" is a branch of her therapeutic writing practice whereby she works with individuals and groups walking and writing in the natural environment. Jill is a Poetry Therapy Practitioner and an Executive Director of the International Academy for Poetry Therapy, where she works as a Master/Mentor, training those who wish to become Poetry Therapy Practitioners and Mentors. She has received awards and scholarships from the National Association for Poetry Therapy, Wales Arts International and Bridgxngs Poetry Center, NYC, for pioneering work in the field of poetry therapy.
