Welcome to Lapidus International
The Words and Writing For Wellbeing Community
Lapidus International is a membership organisation open to everyone with an interest in words for wellbeing.
We support and champion words and writing for wellbeing through development opportunities, exclusive member events, access to the latest research, and more.
We offer a supportive network to enhance both personal and professional wellbeing practice.
What Is Words and Writing For Wellbeing?
Words and writing for wellbeing is the use of words to explore thoughts, express emotions, and support personal growth. It’s not about perfect grammar or literary skill, it’s about connecting with yourself through journalling, poetry, storytelling, or reflective writing. Whether used in a group setting or privately, writing can be a powerful tool to process experiences, build resilience, and find clarity.
At Lapidus, we celebrate writing in all its forms as a gentle, creative way to nurture emotional, mental, and social wellbeing. Find out more in our handy guide to writing for wellbeing.
Upcoming Events
New to Lapidus? A very warm welcome to you!
As a new member, you’re invited to Lapidus Welcome, a relaxed quarterly online gathering designed to help new members feel at home within the community. These sessions offer a chance to meet other members, learn more about Lapidus and its work, ask questions, and begin building connections in a warm and supportive space.
The sessions are primarily aimed at members who have joined within the last few months, though existing members who would like a refresher — or who are looking to reconnect with the organisation and community — are also very welcome to attend.
Each session will include introductions and informal networking, alongside a short overview of Lapidus, membership opportunities and benefits, upcoming events, and ways to get involved. Depending on group size, there may also be breakout conversations or smaller discussion groups to help members connect more personally. You’ll have the chance to meet our Coordination team and other members who have recently joined.
Whether you are completely new to writing for wellbeing, newly joined to Lapidus, or simply curious about how to make the most of your membership, Lapidus Welcome is intended to help you feel informed, included, and connected from the outset.
We will hold these events regularly throughout the year and vary the day of the week and time of day to make them as accessible as possible for members in different circumstances and time zones. If you are unable to attend one session, we hope you will be able to join us for a future event.
First session
Friday 26 June, 12:00pm (UK time)
Free to attend – sign up to let us know you’re coming
Sign up here: https://forms.gle/G11RW7YFaed47Rk88
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89202665308
Meeting ID: 892 0266 5308
Please note
Lapidus Welcome is an informal community session rather than a training event or workshop. While participation is encouraged, members are welcome to engage at whatever level feels comfortable for them, including simply listening and observing.
Photo by Maria Lin Kim on Unsplash
Looking to build deeper connections within the Lapidus community?
The Lapidus One-to-One Networking Carousel is a simple monthly networking initiative designed to encourage meaningful, one-to-one conversations in a relaxed and informal way. Rather than attending a large networking event, you’ll be matched with another Lapidus member or two, for a conversation arranged at a time that suits you.
Whether you’re hoping to exchange ideas, reflect on your practice, explore different approaches to writing for wellbeing, or simply meet people within the community, the Carousel offers a welcoming space for thoughtful connection and conversation.
Each month, members can sign up via a short online form. After the sign-up deadline, participants will be paired and introduced by email. From there, it’s entirely up to you how you’d like to connect — online, by phone, or even in person where practical.
The Carousel is especially suited to members who enjoy the one-to-one conversations that can be harder to find in traditional networking events. Conversations can be informal, reflective, practical, creative, or professionally focused — the format is intentionally flexible and member-led.
You are welcome to take part as often as you like, and we’ll do our best to match you with someone different each time.
Upcoming dates
Sign-up deadline: Monday 8th June, Monday 6th July, Thurdsay 6th August, Monday 7th September 2026
Introductions will be sent by email the following Tuesday or Friday.
Please note: By signing up, you agree to your email address being shared with your matched partner(s) for the purpose of arranging your conversation. Participants are responsible for arranging their own one-to-one call or meeting. While we will do our best to make thoughtful matches, Lapidus cannot guarantee availability, compatibility, or ongoing contact between participants. Participation is voluntary, and members may withdraw from future rounds at any time.
Photo by Dylan Ferreira on Unsplash
Tuesday evenings, 7-9 pm UK time (BST) – 2nd-23rd June
Compassion Journalling uses two-pen dialogue, visual mapping, poetry, and mindfulness to help you develop a genuine relationship with your own compassionate voice – not as a performance of self-care, but as a felt, creative resource.
Drawing from Compassion Focused Therapy and self-compassion research, this four-week course offers practical tools for responding to yourself with curiosity, care, and honesty.
What You’ll Explore
Week 1 – Foundation and attuned listening Week 2 – Developing your compassionate voice Week 3 – Fierce compassion and self-nurture Week 4 – Integration and sustaining practice
What’s Included
Four live sessions via Zoom (link sent the day before the course begins)
A 58-page Compassion Journal Companion to support your practice beyond the course
Invitation to monthly Compassion Circles for graduates
What Participants Say
“I came away feeling lighter and much more aware of the need for compassion to be present in my life – for me. I also loved writing the joint pantoum with our small and lovely group.” – Alexandra Harrington
“These sessions were the best kind of disruption I have experienced in a long time. It takes someone special to be able to hold this kind of space.” – Poonam
“The way you listen and engage with us is so warm. You’re very skilled at taking what we say, honouring our truth and adapting it to suit the rest of the group, while still honouring what each person said.” – Saskia
Not sure if this course is the right fit for you now? Get in touch – kate@self-centred.com
Join us in using creative writing to explore our relationships to local rivers, at this time of ecological crisis.
In this series of 4 online workshops, participants will be invited to focus on a river of their choice and to spend time with their river in between sessions. Using playful prompts, we will weave our riverly discoveries into our words, writing to and from the perspective of our chosen rivers.
We will meet weekly on zoom, between 6 and 8 pm, on the following evenings:
Monday 8th June
Monday 15th June
Monday 22nd June
Monday 29th June
All writing levels are very welcome. There will be opportunities to share your work in the group but there is no obligation to do so. The emphasis in these workshops is not to perfect our writing practice but to use writing as a tool for expression and curiosity.
Places are limited to 8 participants. To ensure group cohesion, please be clear you are able to make all 4 session dates before purchasing a ticket.
Tickets are offered on a donation basis at a suggested value of £30 in total for all sessions. All donations will go directly to the Totnes Climate Hub.
If you have any questions please email Tamzin at hello@apple-barn.com
Tamzin is a writer and gentle activist, and she holds an MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes. She is passionate about using writing as a way of being present to our ecosphere.
‘The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and the realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction’ – Rachel Carson
A friendly and supportive online space to explore, create and express yourself through words.
This is a pressure-free creative space where we use poetry, prose and images to explore, create and express the self through writing, sharing (always optional) and reflecting. No experience of writing or poetry is needed.
Summering Writing Circle, a gathering for those drawn to life at full bloom and full burn. What is ripening in you this summer? Together we’ll explore the season’s full spectrum: its blazing energy and its long, liquid evenings, the vibrancy of living at full capacity, the heat that purges what no longer serves us, and the cool water that washes us clean. Come write from the harvest of your inner life.
This circle opens on the Summer Solstice and closes at Lammas/Lughnasadh (the ancient festival of first harvest), honouring the arc of the estivation season from its most luminous peak to its first, golden turn toward autumn. Along the way, we’ll write into the themes that summer holds: ripening and burning, letting go and gathering in, the full blaze of colour and brightness, and the quieter wisdom of harvest, of taking stock, drawing in, and beginning to look toward what comes next.
The circle gathers twice in live sessions: on 28th June and 1st August (90 minutes each, online), with a slow, nourishing exploration winding between the two through email prompts and a shared Signal/WhatsApp group.
This in-between space is an invitation to write at your own pace, in your own time, held gently by the group.
No prior writing experience is needed, only a willingness to sit with the season and see what it stirs.
About the Facilitator
María Ortega García is a Poetry Therapy Practitioner and therapeutic writing facilitator based between the South East of Ireland and the North of Spain. Working at the intersection of language, creativity, and healing, she brings a trauma-informed, feminist lens to her practice, drawing on poetry, personal narrative, and expressive writing to support self-expression, identity, and transformation.
María works with individuals and groups to create spaces where words can soften what aches, restore connection, and open new ways of understanding the self. Her approach is holistic and culturally responsive, rooted in the belief that authentic voice is a vital force for healing, both personal and collective.
The Summering Writing Circle reflects her deep interest in seasonal rhythms, embodied experience, and the generative power of writing through life’s transitions.
Find out more at mariaortegagarcia.com
Join Lapidus International...
…from as little as £3.50 per month.
As a Lapidus Member, you are part of a supportive, international community who believe in the power of using words to enhance and transform.
You’ll receive a monthly newsletter, get discounts on events and training, have access to our online library of Lapidus journals and more. All for as little as £3.50 per month!
Lapidus News
Our vision
In these times of global upheaval, where words can be debased, Lapidus International will not compromise.
We know that writing endures as a way to express suffering and joy, healing and belonging in the intersection of personal circumstances and social conditions.
Through practice, research, publishing, and partnerships, we recognise words and writing as an accessible force for wellbeing, activism and therapy.
Our membership reflects the voices of all communities, including those who have been discounted, prohibited, displaced and under-served.