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
A writing for wellbeing space for the neurodivergent community, and open to all.
Spend two hours engaging in gentle writing prompts and journalling activities. I’ll also share a poem, piece of writing or image/photography in each session for us to explore.
The format:
The first hour includes a short introduction, a warm-up writing prompt, and a shared poem. We’ll explore our emotional responses to it rather than literary analysis.
After a short 5-minute break, the final 55 minutes will offer a range of journalling prompts, with space to write, reflect, and (if you wish) share and explore what’s arisen.
I’m hoping this will become a monthly group. This first session is a chance to begin and see what unfolds.
Two free spaces are available for unwaged individuals. Please email for details.
Come as you are…
• Keep your camera off if that feels more comfortable
• No expectation to share anything you write
• You’re free to step away or leave early if needed (prompts can be sent after)
• Take breaks whenever your body or attention needs them
• Come as you are – fidgeting, moving, doodling, lying down all welcome
• Gentle, flexible pacing (nothing timed too tightly)
• You can engage in your own way – writing, thinking, or simply being there
Unnamed Patterns: Writing Towards Recognition
A conversation between Sue Spencer and Dr Buki Akilapa
Sometimes the most painful sentences we carry are not descriptions of events but verdicts on ourselves.
In this interactive LLRC session, we will explore how reflective writing, poetry, and compassionate rereading can help us identify inherited narratives, internalised judgements, and experiences of misrecognition that continue to shape our lives.
Drawing on themes from Buki’s recent LIRIC autoethnographic article, Journey of Reflection: Girlhood, Migration, Grief, and Healing Through Soul Work, this session will take the form of a conversation between Buki and Sue, interwoven with opportunities for reflection, writing, and optional sharing.
Together, we will explore:
- How unnamed patterns can masquerade as truth
- The role of writing in recognising and re-examining inherited beliefs
- Poetry as a way of seeing experience differently
- Self-compassion as a response to old stories and self-judgements
- The movement from misrecognition towards recognition
Participants will be invited to engage in short reflective writing exercises and gentle discussion within a supportive and welcoming space.
No previous writing experience is required. Participants are welcome to write, reflect, listen, or share as much or as little as feels right for them.
About Dr Buki Akilapa and Sue Spencer
Dr Buki Akilapa is Deputy Editor of the LIRIC Journal and a Lecturer in Healthcare Management at Global Banking School (GBS), UK. She holds a Doctor of Education (EdD) from Canterbury Christ Church University, is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
Buki’s research and writing interests include autoethnography, reflective writing, identity, belonging, migration, recognition, and Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes. Her recent LIRIC article, Journey of Reflection: Girlhood, Migration, Grief, and Healing Through Soul Work, explores how journalling, poetry, and compassionate rereading can support self-understanding and transformation.
Drawing on both personal and professional experience, Buki is passionate about creating reflective spaces where stories can be explored, voices can be heard, and writing can become a pathway to recognition, learning, and healing.
Sue Spencer is a freelance creative facilitator and practitioner. After four decades of working in health care and higher education she has turned her passion and expertise to supporting practitioners working in the socially engaged cultural sector. Sue has spoken at a number of academic conferences over the last 3 decades in a range of disciplines including nursing,moral injury and creative writing.
As a former nurse and recovering academic Sue has been exploring the therapeutic potential of poetry for the last two decades. She has offered poetry sessions as an antidote and remedy for stress, overwhelm and busyness in a variety of settings including university & public libraries, hospices and community groups. Sue has written about the potential to augment reflective practice and practice/professional development using creative writing and expressive visual art practices for a number of publications and looks forward to deepening these conversations.
Event Details:
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/launch/jc/86931980650
Meeting ID: 869 3198 0650
Passcode: 803304
Please note that this event will be recorded. The recording will be available for a limited time after the live event. Please allow a couple of working days for us to process and upload the recording after the live event.
For questions before or after the day of the event, please contact Flo on membership@lapidus.org.uk (responses on Tuesdays and Fridays). For queries on the day of the event, please contact mel@write4word.org.
About the Lapidus Living Research Community
The Lapidus Living Research Community (LLRC) meets on the first Saturday of every month via Zoom to discuss all things research, with a focus on qualitative arts-based research practices, theory and methods.
All Lapidus members are welcome, regardless of research experience. LLRC events are free and no tickets are required. Use the Zoom link above to access the event.
A writing for wellbeing space for the neurodivergent community, and open to all.
Spend two hours engaging in gentle writing prompts and journalling activities. I’ll also share a poem, piece of writing or image/photography in each session for us to explore.
The format:
The first hour includes a short introduction, a warm-up writing prompt, and a shared poem. We’ll explore our emotional responses to it rather than literary analysis.
After a short 5-minute break, the final 55 minutes will offer a range of journalling prompts, with space to write, reflect, and (if you wish) share and explore what’s arisen.
I’m hoping this will become a monthly group. This first session is a chance to begin and see what unfolds.
Two free spaces are available for unwaged individuals. Please email for details.
Come as you are…
• Keep your camera off if that feels more comfortable
• No expectation to share anything you write
• You’re free to step away or leave early if needed (prompts can be sent after)
• Take breaks whenever your body or attention needs them
• Come as you are – fidgeting, moving, doodling, lying down all welcome
• Gentle, flexible pacing (nothing timed too tightly)
• You can engage in your own way – writing, thinking, or simply being there
Writing for Wellbeing Workshop for women in the beautiful setting of Scampston Walled Garden conservatory, North Yorkshire. No prior knowledge required. Please bring a notebook and pen/pencil. The July theme is “Individuality – Being a Person”. Booking essential. For more information and to book, please contact sandie@essenceofwriting.com
An invitation to writers of all levels (beginners are as welcome as the more experienced) — to loosen the ligaments, put perfection aside, and write for the quiet joy of discovery; to share a space where words unfold boldly, imperfectly, and in response to curiosity.
Each block of three months offers a gentle rhythm of practice: a facilitated Anchor Session followed later in the month by a companion Open Writing Session, where you can return to your work, deepen the ideas sparked in the workshop, and write alongside others in quiet company.
How it works:
Anchor Session (first Tuesday of each month, 5.00-7.00 pm, UK time):
A guided workshop exploring a theme, text, or prompt through discussion, short exercises and optional sharing. These sessions provide inspiration and direction for your writing practice.
Open Writing Session (third Tuesday of each month, 5:00–6:30 pm, UK time):
A lightly held, communal writing space in which you can develop your ideas, try new forms, or simply write in the company of others. Optional check-in and sharing at the end.
Block Pass: £105 for three months (includes three Anchor Sessions and three companion Open Writing Sessions). This block encourages continuity and engagement, with sessions scheduled monthly to help you build a routine.
Single Sessions: please enquire.
Block 3: July – September 2026
Anchor: 7 July | 4 August | 1 September
Open: 21 July | 18 August | 15 September
This is a 90-minute online reflective writing workshop that explores how embodied metaphors (objects, spaces, textures, and sensory imagery) can facilitate deep personal reflection without requiring full narrative disclosure. Drawing on the work of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, this workshop foregrounds metaphor as a form of cognition—a way the mind structures experience beyond literal narration.
Participants will engage in guided, metaphor-based writing prompts that invite them to enter experience through images rather than stories—for instance, imagining an emotional state as a place, object, texture, or landscape, and allowing these images to “speak back.” Each exercise will be followed by a brief reflection and sharing, supporting a contained and psychologically safe group process.
In a safe space, we will collectively explore how metaphor can be consciously leveraged in reflective and therapeutic writing. We will support each other to notice the inner images that organize emotional experience and gently reshape them to generate new insights. The workshop aims to offer a practical and portable tool for emotional processing, creativity, and self-understanding.
No prior writing experience is required.
About Facilitator:
Dr. Ananya Mahapatra is a psychiatrist with over 14 years of experience in clinical and research work. She transitioned from the role of a government consultant to an independent, person-centered practice in New Delhi two years ago. She is also a writer working in the intersection of creative writing and well-being, and conducts reflective writing workshops to support emotional growth and resilience. Trained in Bibliotherapy, she works at the intersection of mental health, mindful reading, and reflective writing — exploring how stories, metaphors, and expressive writing can help individuals process grief, identity shifts, and transitions that often remain unspoken.
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.