Narratives of the Therapeutic Encounter: Follow-on Event on Poetry

This is a follow-on event after the successful Conference ‘Narratives of the Therapeutic Encounter’ (December 2017), which brought together 80 participants from diverse professional, linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

This follow-on event targets an area identified by conference participants as meriting further attention: the emphasis on the therapeutic, and generally creative, potential of poetry in particular.

The event

This workshop will explore the overlap between the therapeutic encounter and the writer’s relationship with the poem – which can involve listening to poetry and responding, and listening to our responses.

Join invited poet, Jane McKie (Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh) Psychoanalytical psychotherapist, Joanne Brooks, and Susie Bainbrigge, organiser of the recent ‘Narratives of the Therapeutic Encounter’ conference, and Senior Lecturer in the Department of European Languages.

We will be able to share poems by poets we admire, and then respond to those poems in our own words. The day will include presentations on poetry, listening, and creativity; a short writing workshop; and culminate with a discussion of how listening is fundamental to creative and therapeutic practice.

The workshop has spaces for 20 participants – and is open to colleagues with an interest in the interface of poetry and therapies, medical humanities, in particular those who would like to explore ways to enhance their creative resources, for writing and/or therapeutic purposes.

Participants are invited to select one poem they admire (to be sent in advance) to the workshop organiser (susan.bainbrigge@ed.ac.uk)

Programme

9.30 a.m. onwards: Coffee

10-12 Morning session

• Poetry and creative processes (presented by Jane McKie)
• Psychotherapy and poetry (presented by Joanne Brooks)
• Listening and responding – from poems sent by workshop participants (presented by Susie Bainbrigge)

12-1 Sandwich lunch

1-3 p.m. Afternoon session

• Writing workshop (taster)
• Sharing work (optional) and reflection (small groups/large group)
•  Whole group discussion and reflection on the morning and afternoon sessions

Aims and objectives

To introduce participants to ways of thinking about the overlap between the therapeutic encounter and the writer’s relationship with the poem – which can involve listening to poetry and responding, and listening to our responses. The workshop aims to open up the creative resources within participants through exposure to poems, discussion of the process of listening to poems, and responses arising from them, and finally the writing of poems, for further reflection and discussion. It is anticipated that longer-term benefits of the workshop would be to enhance creative listening and writing skills through explorations of poetry, as well as fostering further collaborations such as research projects and networks between participants.

Registration

This event is free but ticketed. Registration is via a private Eventbrite page. To receive the password for the Eventbrite page, please email llcmarketing@ed.ac.uk

https://narratives-of-the-therapeutic-encounter-poetry.eventbrite.co.uk

Contact

For further information, contact:

Dr Susie Bainbrigge, French and Francophone Studies (susan.bainbrigge@ed.ac.uk)