Writing For Wellbeing

Writing can support our wellbeing under the most difficult of life circumstances, helping us to adapt to significant change and to make sense of loss. Numerous Expressive Writing studies have confirmed this and methodologies for practice underpin its effectiveness. However, few detailed accounts have previously offered explanations of how and why putting pen to paper can be so beneficial. This book of 14 chapters enters the landscape of Writing-for-wellbeing: it demonstrates the transformative power of writing in a wide range of contexts. Topics include how two young widows used writing to foster post-traumatic growth, the empowerment and healing potential of Black women's blogs, playwriting exploring LGBTQ identities and queer belonging, how writing helps the newly literate give voice to their trauma in the Australian outback, and how the smuggled writing of Behrouz Boochani gave the world access to the voice of refugees held in offshore detention. This resource discusses the theory and research at the foundation of writing and poetry as a therapeutic and reconstructive practice. It aims to make the topic accessible and affirms its key place alongside visual arts and music-based therapies. This book contains individual and global perspectives, addressing at its core the ubiquitous nature of trauma in our culture and the potential for its reshaping. This volume is a holistic and inspiring resource for those who would use or teach Writing-for-wellbeing.

• | Author: Katrin Den Elzen, Reinekke Lengelle
• | Publisher: Routledge
• | Publication Date: Jul 07, 2023
• | Number of Pages: 282 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Hardcover
• | ISBN-10: 103216316X
• | ISBN-13: 9781032163161