- Event Date: 31/07/2026
Writing for Wellbeing workshop
Event Details
- 11:00
- The Bothies, Scampston Hall Walled Garden, North Yorkshire, YO17 8NG
- From £15
Event Description
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
Please Note:
Other events you may like
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