PhD student secures funding for Poetry and Mental Health Workshops

PhD student, Mark Pearson, has been successful in securing £8,501 of community asset development funding in collaboration with Writing East Midlands. The funding will be used for the design and delivery of poetry and mental health workshops in Lincolnshire over the summer.

The workshops will take inspiration from a variety of sources, such as narrative therapy, creative writing, poetry and poetry therapy, to develop a series of exercises and activities. The aim of the workshops is to enable participants to write and share their narratives and reconnect to things that are valued and meaningful in their lives. The residency will create a safe space in which people feel able to share their stories and potentially serve as a starting point for individuals to consider creativity as an ongoing part of their lives. It is hoped this pilot project will lead to a larger region-wide project in 2022/23.

The project aims to:

• support participants to articulate their thoughts and feelings relating to their mental health conditions
• help participants with coping strategies
• support participants to develop new networks
• help reduce loneliness and create a sense of community around writing
• contribute to national initiatives dealing with community recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown

Mark is a PhD student in the School of Education, supervised by Dr Gary Winship, who is a member of the Centre for Research in Human Flourishing.