Lapidus Living Research Community (LLRC)

In 2023 Fiona Talkington immersed herself in writing her dissertation for the Metanoia Institute’s MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic purposes. Her autoethnographic research gave birth to a twelve-room interactive gallery, each one a space for the expression and communication of the chronic neuropathic pain Fiona has lived with since treatment for breast cancer in 2008. Here Fiona shares the physical and creative processes of her ‘inner dragon’ and how that led to her working with international pain research projects, a book chapter on using the arts to educate clinicians, as well as facilitating creative workshops with students and research groups. Participants are welcome to bring their own writing/art materials.

About Fiona

Fiona Talkington is best known in the UK and abroad as one of the BBC’s longest serving radio presenters. From the award-winning eclectic music show ‘Late Junction’, to the BBC Proms from the Royal Albert Hall, to documentaries and talk shows, Fiona is an experienced host and producer. Her writing has covered her speciality, Norwegian music and the arts, to reviews and articles and, more recently health issues and the communication of pain. She has been awarded the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit for her services to the arts, and an honorary doctorate (DLitt) from the University of Reading. She is presenter/producer of the PAINSTORM podcast covering many aspects of living with neuropathic pain, and is currently an ambassador for the IASP (International Association for the Study of Pain), advocating for the use of the arts in global clinical research.

In this session, we will explore different forms of writing and what we think writing is ‘for’ in today’s conditions. We are in a ‘digital age’ (some would say) and an era of change, challenge and climate crisis. How do these environmental factors influence what and how we write, and what we understand to be ‘writing’? Fiona will show a poem-film touching on these themes to stimulate our conversation.

About Fiona Hamilton
Fiona Hamilton recently co-translated a novella by Emma Santos who published in French on themes of feminism, mental health and living outside societal norms. Fiona was a co-founder of the Climate Choir Movement and is involved in various arts for health initiatives. She is Head of Programmes for Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes at Metanoia Institute/Middlesex University. Her writing includes a play about the power of dance and music, a poetry collaboration entitled Fractures and a chapter in the book Cornerstones (Little Toller Press, 2018) on land and landscapes, poems in Project Boast (Triarchy Press, 2018), a story in verse Bite Sized (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2014) and articles in many journals.

In this session, I will share how I came to know myself, be myself and become myself through the process of using creative writing in self-study research.  We will explore the concept of autoethnography, and the transformative power of creative writing as both a method of inquiry and a conduit to developing and curating a sense of identity. 

About Lauren

Lauren is a counsellor and psychotherapist, who has also recently embarked on the next chapter of her career as a lecturer and research supervisor.  With a background in Linguistics and Phonetics, she has always been fascinated by the power of language, the way we can speak, think and write ourselves into existence, and how words shape and reflect our worlds. Her MSc research took the form of an autoethnographic exploration of mixed-race identity—a journey of in-betweenness, otherness and belonging.

How can we use poetry therapy in working with war trauma? The results of group workshops by Ukrainian volunteer Anna Liudnova include diagnostic tools, the book “Dialogue with Yourself: Recovery through Writing,” and the poetry performance “The Voice of Emotions in Motion.”

About Anna

Anna Shevchuk (pseudonym: Anna Liudnova) is a writer, folklorist, art critic, performer, and volunteer. She is studying to be a Certified Applied Poetry Facilitator with the International Federation for Biblio-Poetry Therapy, and is a member of the editorial board of The Journal of Poetry Therapy. She is an expert in the field of cultural and creative industries at the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation and the Ukrainian Book Institute. She is the founder of the Folklore Studio “Vytoky” (“Roots”) for kids, teenagers and adults and a facilitator of the research project at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. She volunteers with military personnel, veterans, and their families. 

How can we evaluate the impact of creative writing? Dominique will share her PhD research – evaluating community creative writing groups’ impact on wellbeing – and outline the wide variety of evaluation/research methods she is using. The workshop includes: an opportunity to practice creative writing as a research method, discussion, and Q&A. Of interest to anyone running creative writing groups, researchers, and those who have to produce funders’ evaluation reports. All are welcome.

About Dominique

Dominique De-Light is an author, PhD researcher, arts and health consultant and creativity and wellbeing coach. Co-founder of Creative Future, an arts charity supporting underrepresented artists and writers, she established the Creative Future Writers’ Awards. She has over twenty years’ experience of working creatively with people with complex needs. Along with training arts and health professionals, coaching creatives to CEOs, she is a recipient of Anglia Ruskin University’s VC’s PhD Scholarship, studying the therapeutic impact of community creative writing programmes, with a focus on underrepresented groups and effective evaluation for writing for wellbeing programmes.

She gained her MA in Creative Writing from UEA, has previously been a professional mentor for Lapidus, and has articles published in Writing Works, 2006 , and Writing Routes, 2011, both edited by Gillie Bolton, Victoria Field and Kate Thompson. She is the facilitator for the Brighton and Hove Arts and Health Network and is an Associate member of the Centre for Arts and Wellbeing, University of Brighton and the Cambridge Writing Centre.

How effective is embedding the Morning Pages writing habit in boosting writing output, stimulating imagination, promoting writing growth, and influencing overall writing development?

My commitment involved writing three pages of stream-of-consciousness thoughts every morning for six months.

During this process, I aimed to answer the following questions and explore other writers who have used this model:

1. What sets morning pages apart from other expressive writing methods & how does incorporating morning pages contribute to a writer’s growth?
2. Does our approach to habits affect the consistency and, thus, the guidelines for Morning Pages, ultimately impacting success?
3. Is it plausible that numerous writers opt for journalling and incorporate morning pages to enhance their creative writing expression?

I would love to share my journey & findings from this now never-ending habit.

On this occasion we offer you an opportunity to come along and bring your curiosities, questions, ideas and lovely selves to a gathering of LLRC members.

We invite practitioners, students, potential, new and experienced researchers to join in a conversation that will engage all of us who share an interest in writing for wellbeing and related topics, including how to get your research published.

Our panel consists of people experienced in research teaching and supervision: Jeannie Wright, Kate Thompson, Kim Etherington, and Tim Buescher.

There will be an open forum for people to share their knowledge and experiences.

“Wanderings and Wonderings: some thoughts about what curiosity with our writing practices might be ‘doing’ or ‘becoming’” with Sue Spencer

For many years I have been grappling with an unease with the oft expressed dichotomy between research and practice – I see no reason why learning from my practice should not be valued knowledge. Recent stumbles into the world of research-creation have started illuminating a clearer direction of inquiry formed in relation to how I articulate what I am trying to do in my writing and art practice.

In this session I will share my excursions into posthuman feminism and my commitment to making connections that will enhance our capabilities to respond well to participants, be sensitive to the context of our work and our capacities to “think through” what we are doing and why.

This session is designed to be interactive, generative and conversational. I will offer short writing exercises that respond to some question setting from a range of scholars.

Please bring along poems/literature that inspire you and sheets of paper to write on. It is anticipated that this might be the start of mapping your insights and articulating core values. It is some further thoughts following my previous offering in October 2023 – come along to share thoughts or ask questions.