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Poetry as Therapy: A Workshop

Organisation

DAFNI KEK

Methodology

Creative writing, poetry

Type of activity / modality

Activity, Workshop / In presence

Summary

Poetry as Therapy is a creative writing workshop that allows participants to use poetry and its techniques to express themselves, their feelings and reflect on their life experiences.

Theme

The workshop Poetry as Therapy uses the methodology of creative writing in poetry, a form of artistic expression, inspiring participants to use their imagination to bring personal experiences and views to their work. It doesn’t only focus on traditional, technical forms of writing, but displays imagination and invention.

Participants

The workshop was initially developed for Ukrainian female refugees living in Athens. Still, it is suitable for diverse groups of learners.

Objective

The objectives of the workshop are for the participants:

  • to use poetry to express their feelings;
  • to enhance creativity;
  • to get acquainted with creative writing techniques and poetry as a way to express themselves;
  • to learn to work in a tight time frame.

Materials

The materials needed for this workshop are pens or pencils and sheets of paper for all the participants. Also, a flipchart will be useful for the facilitator to explain the steps of the activity.

Preparation

The facilitator should select a location for the workshop that is a space considered safe by all participants. A place that provides a physically and emotionally safe environment for all participants, especially a place where people can freely express themselves without fear of prejudice or any negative judgment. The process of sharing personal information may be stressful for some of the participants, so the facilitator should be alert to understand any inconvenience, take the lead and handle the situation.
In addition, the facilitator should have a familiarity in using creative writing techniques and especially poetry in order to be able to explain the necessary steps, the techniques and the creative process of writing a poem.

Step-by-step instructions

  1. Participants are asked to write four (4) random words on a piece of paper.
  2. Participants exchange the papers and write a poem with the words that came to them.
  3. Participants share their poems, reading them aloud.
  4. Participants discuss the general mood of the poems, the metaphors used, and their feelings during the writing and sharing of the poems.
  5. Participants are asked to make a drawing inspired by their poems. They are asked to draw the main character of the poem too.
  6. Participants share their drawings, and they are encouraged to talk to their main characters giving them advice, eg. how to feel better in the given circumstances.
  7. At the end, participants reflect on the experience and discuss the ability to create under pressure.

Evaluation

The last step of the workshop is for participants to make drawings inspired by their poems and also draw the main character of the poem. More specifically, the participants are encouraged to talk to their main characters giving them advice, eg. “How to feel better in the given circumstances?”, “Do you have a special routine for when you are not feeling very well?”, etc. Additionally, the participants are provided the space to share their thoughts and feelings and discover a new way to express themselves through creative writing and poetry.

Tips – Safety

The workshop can be adapted to suit coherent and diverse groups of learners. Participants may share personal information and this process may be stressful for some of them, so the facilitator should be alert to understand any inconvenience, take the lead and handle the situation.

Group size

The group size for this workshop does not matter, but it is more challenging to manage the workshop with the participation of many individuals. Working with a big group of people makes it harder to make people feel safe to share about themselves. 8 to 10 participants would be the ideal group size.

Complexity

The complexity of the workshop can be rated at 2. The facilitator needs to take some time to prepare the different phases of the workshop, review the methodology and prepare the workshop’s reflection phase.

Time

1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours would be ideal for the poetry as therapy workshop.

Author(s) – Sources

Nataliya Dovhopol

In this section you will find the official translations of the activities in Italian, Portuguese, Swedish and Greek when they will be ready

In this section you will find the official translations of the activities in Italian, Portuguese, Swedish and Greek when they will be ready

In this section you will find the official translations of the activities in Italian, Portuguese, Swedish and Greek when they will be ready

In this section you will find the official translations of the activities in Italian, Portuguese, Swedish and Greek when they will be ready

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