Creative Bridges 2025
Writing for Wellbeing and Activism: Building Cultural Bridges
An International Two-Day Conference
Writing has the power to uncover, heal, and transform. As we write, we shape our world and ourselves.
Inspired by this belief, Lapidus International invites you to participate in a two-day conference that explores the intersections of writing, wellbeing, and activism. This conference is an opportunity for academics, practitioners, writers, and activists from around the world to share knowledge and engage in dialogue on the role of writing in personal healing and social transformation.
This gathering aims to bring together participants from various disciplines to investigate how writing for wellbeing can also serve as a vehicle for activism. We welcome diverse perspectives that examine writing as a method of supporting mental health, fostering resilience, and creating social change.
The conference is proudly sponsored by Balens, a specialist insurance broker for health and wellbeing professionals and organisations, celebrating 75 years of service in 2025! Visit their website balens.co.uk to find out more.
Creative Bridges Brochure
Take a look at our 2025 Creative Bridges PDF Brochure here.
Day One
Room 1
11:45
Waiting room opens
12:00
Welcome to Creative Bridges 2025
From
Lucy Windridge-Floris
Listening Between the Lines
Poetry as Pathways for Healing, Empathy, and Social Change
In an increasingly fragmented world, the intersection of writing, wellbeing, and activism offers a transformative approach to building cultural bridges. Elizabeth Torres, known artistically as Madam Neverstop, will explore how creative expression—particularly poetry—can serve as a powerful tool for promoting empathy, resilience, and cross-cultural dialogue. Through her work as a poet, multimedia artist, and translator, Torres delves into themes of identity, migration, and collective resilience, using poetry as both a personal and political act.
Drawing on her experience as a Listener Poet for the Good Listening Project and through her Poetic Consultations, Torres will highlight the essential role of deep listening—a compassionate, attentive practice that creates genuine connection and understanding. She will discuss how poetry, when paired with deep listening, can humanize healthcare, foster meaningful dialogue, and build solidarity across diverse communities. By listening with intention, both as an artist and a facilitator, Torres demonstrates how writing can become a powerful tool for collective healing, activism, and social change, ultimately bridging cultural divides and empowering voices often left unheard.
Delivered by
Elizabeth Torres
Elizabeth Torres, known artistically as Madam Neverstop, is a Colombian-American poet, multimedia artist, and translator born in Bogotá in 1987. With a body of work spanning over twenty poetry collections in multiple languages—including Spanish, English, Danish, Swedish, and German—Torres' writing traverses the intersections of culture, identity, and migration. Her 2023 book, Lotería: Sorteo Nocturno / Nocturnal Sweepstakes, received the prestigious Ambroggio Prize from the Academy of American Poets. Torres’ recent releases include Expediciones a la región furtiva (Valparaíso Ediciones, Spain, 2023) and MISERABILIA (Ellerströms Tekst och Musik, Sweden, 2024). Her creative work blends multimedia poetry, visual art, film, and soundscapes to explore themes of resilience, migration, and the human experience. Torres holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Thomas Edison State University, a degree in Media & Film and Fine Arts from Kean University, NJ, and an MFA in Writing for Performing Arts from the National School of Performing Arts in Denmark. She is a Listener Poet for the Good Listening Project, where she fosters compassionate dialogue in healthcare through poetry. As the founder and director of Red Door Magazine and Gallery, Torres supports international artists and cultivates creative networks between the U.S. and the Nordic region. She is also the host of Red Transmissions Podcast and the founder of the Poetic Phonotheque, an international multimedia poetry archive. Her work has appeared in numerous literary anthologies and journals globally and has been translated into multiple languages. www.madamneverstop.com
12:45
Intermission
Room 1
Room 2
Room 3
13:00
Room 2
As You Are
A session looking at ways for Neurodivergent creatives to explore their creative voice whilst feeling safe, happy, heard and welcome. This session aims to use that knowledge to embed a pedagogy of inclusivity and acceptance, through guided writing exercises, visual and written prompts and follow up resources. The session will be an open space to ‘write’ with words, images, sketches, doodles, chat box – whatever your preference. Acknowledging the potential benefits of being ‘As You Are’ when creating.
Aim: Neurodivergent creatives to explore their creative voice whilst feeling safe, happy, heard and welcome (10 minutes)
Introduction/Aim (3 mins)
Guided Writing (5 minutes)
Reflective Summary (2 mins)
Led by
Juile Devon
Julie is a Neurodivergent advocate, artist and writer. She has self-published creative zines over a 30 year period, had poems published by North East Press (1990’s), contributed to research within the areas of creativity and long-term conditions (2020) and autism and nature (2024). Having delivered and taken part in multiple writing workshops online, Julie uses her life experience, neurodiversity and keen interests in nature to guide her writing, aiming to write fiction in the future, inspired by her rekindled love of reading. Julie lives in County Durham, has several pets and is a gentle gardener.
Room 3
Meet your poets-in-residence, Nazaret and Karrish.
13:20
Room 1
Writing for Wellbeing
Helping Design Better Psychosocial Interventions
My presentation is on Writing for well-being sessions with children and adolescents in rural Maharashtra. These sessions constituted a part of applied performance practice research. I will be elaborating on the differences between the sessions conducted in rural and urban areas of coastal Maharashtra. This applied performance practice research became an important part of an ethnographic study to understand the psycho-social situation of children and adolescents. This ethnographic study is meant to design various psychosocial systems of support and interventions for orphaned and vulnerable participants. In the city of Mumbai, these sessions were held at remand homes and shelters. However, the complete lack of literacy of inmates of the remand home meant using other creative art interventions. On the other hand, the response in the rural area was paradoxical to that in the city wherein all the participants engaged in the activities in immersive ways. To help overcome their association of writing with the fear of academics, several activities were carried out. The writing for well-being sessions further led to a plethora of creative writing and performance works by these children. The presentation will discuss the key issues that emerged from these sessions leading to designing better interventions for them.
Presented by
Anvi Sawant
I am passionate about taking essential things such as education and mental health care to parts of society that cannot access them. I have previously worked with the University of Sussex on their post-covid rehabilitation project in Mumbai. Currently, I am working with the University of Brighton for their project on creative Art interventions in Mumbai. I have created my own NGO called Sahsanvedan Foundation working in the area of education, culture, well-being and environment in Mumbai and coastal Maharashtra.
Be Me. Write Free
Writing for Wellbeing as a Strategy for Supporting Young People in School
Being an English teacher, I witnessed the benefits of creative writing when opening a space for young people’s voices. This led to my interest in writing for wellbeing as a form of in-school support, that can then lead to young people’s engagement with it, beyond the classroom, as self-care. I’ve long championed schools providing opportunities for young people to step away from the pressures of this grade-focused environment. Learning in schools is not limited to academia: it extends to personal growth with regards supporting a better understanding the ‘self’, essential considering the youth mental health crisis in the UK, with a 50% increase in mental health referrals between 2020/21 and 2022/23 (The Health Foundation, 2025). Emerging conversations around teen neurobiology and neurochemistry highlight what’s beyond a young person’s control, and offer further reasons for schools to embed autonomous wellbeing practices. My workshop programme has been designed with consideration of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s ‘Flow Theory’ and ideas surrounding autotelic learning. I also aim to demystify what creativity is, or should look like, to show the benefits of ‘play’ for all. Responses from young people, and staff, have been encouraging, and fuel my confidence in the value of embedding wellbeing practices in schools.
Presented by
Isabel Caddy
Isabel Caddy is passionate about encouraging young people to find their voice through writing, and delivers writing for wellbeing for Secondary schools. Isabel taught English for 17 years, and is now completing an MA in Creative and Critical Writing; she will begin a PhD later this year, jointly supervised by the Education and Creative Writing departments. This is her opportunity to complete her teaching memoir, to continue to research and deliver writing for wellbeing, and to explore the interconnectivity of staff and student wellbeing in schools.
Room 2
Are Fictions Fit to Represent Marginalised Experience?
Chaos, restitution and quest narratives are identified in Arthur Frank’s The Wounded Storyteller (2005). My doctoral thesis explores grief through the lens of these narratives and asks: 1) Is retelling chaos a quest for voice, recognition of the chaotic experience, and a ‘re-quest’ for connection with a socially unrecognised or marginalised experience, where life is lived in overwhelming suffering? and 2) Are fictions versatile enough to hold a quest, incorporating elements of memoir, manifesto and automythology? Inquiries are also raised by Frank about aspects of fiction which may support grief narratives, such as: shape and direction, distance from the immediacy of events, containment of emotions, employment of personal agency and responsibility, words acting as a vehicle for witnessing the suffering of others, and whether fictions can help to understand the mystery of our bodies.
Presented by
Claire Williamson
Dr Claire Williamson has published four volumes of poetry. She was Director of Studies of MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes with Metanoia Institute for ten years and has written extensively for performance with Welsh National Opera and composer Mark Lawrence. She currently works at Southmead Hospital with people who have had a cancer diagnosis; as a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at University of the West of England; and offers 1-1 mentoring and supervision sessions for therapeutic writing.
Working With Human Rights Defenders
Short-Term Protective Fellowship Schemes in the UK
Human rights work can be highly stressful - there is growing concern about the wellbeing of activists, both for themselves and for the sustainability of the work. This paper reflects on well-being workshops offered to human rights defenders (HRDs) on short-term protective fellowships in a UK university. The author co-facilitated 13 sessions between 2021 and 2024, with a total of 15 HRDs participating. Participants came from countries including India, Nicaragua, Myanmar, the Philippines, Bahrein, Egypt and the Sudan. The sessions incorporated body-mind-spirit practices from the popular education approach to well-being developed by Capacitar, and offered poems and prompts for writing. The intention was to support participants' own well-being, offer space to process some of their experiences and introduce practices they could share with their communities back home. The paper will reflect on working in a university setting in an individualist culture with a group drawn from collectivist cultures with many differences of context, history, focus and faith, and a shared commitment to human rights. It aims to share the learning - the themes we worked with, how working with the challenges unfolded and the value of poetry and writing in this setting.
Presented by
Carol-Ann Hooper
I'm a former social policy academic who retrained since retiring in various approaches to healing and wellness, including person-centred counselling, focusing, interfaith ministry, writing for well-being and with the international organisation Capacitar.
Room 3
Beyond Burnout
What Neuroinclusive Practice Can Teach Us About Energy, Connection, and Creative Depth
This interactive paper presentation explores how we hold space for difference, build strong communities, and sustain ourselves as practitioners. Drawing on lived experience of neurodivergence, community work, and reflective writing practice, I will invite participants to consider how neuroinclusive approaches deepen creativity, support wellbeing, and enhance engagement for all.
We will explore how designing for varied attention spans, energy rhythms, and processing styles strengthens connection, fosters safety, and sparks creativity. We will also reflect on balancing meaningful work, profitability, and personal sustainability, ensuring long-term engagement.
The session will combine reflective input with creative activities and shared discussion. Rather than offering fixed solutions, we will explore adaptable practices — including Compassion Journalling, a reflective approach I developed through my MSc research and personal experience, to nurture self-compassion, build resilience, and sustain creative practice. Rooted in creative self-expression and self-kindness, Compassion Journalling helps us hold space for ourselves while we offer that same depth and care to others.
Participants will leave with practical tools for reflecting on how we show up for others, hold space for ourselves, and use inclusive practices to fuel, rather than drain, our creative work.
Presented by
Kate Poll
Kate Poll is a writer, facilitator, and co-editor of the Lapidus Magazine and Lapidus Board member, with a particular interest in reflective writing for wellbeing and inclusive creative practice. She draws on lived experience of neurodivergence, creative work, and carer experience, alongside involvement in stroke recovery projects, carers’ wellbeing groups, and independent living charities. Kate’s approach is shaped by community insights, health and care settings, and nonprofit work, with a focus on compassionate, relational ways of supporting self-expression and connection. Her work encourages honest reflection, practical tools, and small, sustainable adjustments that help creative and caring work stay both meaningful and doable.
The Pen as a Vessel
Writing My Way Out of the Closet of Silence and into the Well of Wellbeing
This proposed paper presentation explores the transformative power of writing over twelve years, envisioning the pen as a vital vessel for navigating inner landscapes, fostering well-being, and creating agency. It builds upon the PhD thesis: ‘Finding voice; a critical autoethnographic inquiry into the process of becoming silenced and the road to finding voice again.’. It highlights how the lived experience of ‘othering’ and marginalization, specifically as a queer person in a heteronormative context, led to living a life in a ‘closet of silence’.It demonstrates writing's therapeutic potential. The act of writing, critical autoethnography and a variety of creative writing forms like poetry, journaling and freefall writing, gently dismantled internalized shame and fear. It allowed, story by story and poem by poem, previously silenced and sometimes forgotten stories to emerge, fostering resilience, and a greater capacity for connection with others.Furthermore, consistently writing into this personal 'well of well-being' built profound agency and control over my narrative. This empowered me to navigate societal challenges with inner strength and harness personal narratives to join other voices, contributing to shifts in dominant oppressive narratives. Finally, I became able to offer creative writing exercises to others, to explore their own narrative.I will also present how creative writing and sharing narratives can create chains of recognition, a matter of joining voices and thus creating peaceful forces striving for justice.
Presented by
Ineke Duit
I love language. The beauty and expressive power of sentences can move me to tears or make me happy. I enjoy writing short stories and capturing thoughts, experiences, and feelings in various poetic forms. These often reflect my love for nature and my adventures with my household with animals. I recently finished writing my PhD, a rich journey of connecting with the self and others, both on paper and in person. Alongside the PhD, I pursued the Middlesex/Metanoia MSc Creative Writing of Therapeutic Purposes. Together, these were life-changing experiences.
14:20
Intermission
14:30
Room 1
Meet your poets-in-residence, Nazaret and Karrish.
Room 3
Poetry Pitstop
In this session we will read and respond to 2 poems and explore how they might help us by restoring our capacity to engage with the world around us. Having offered poetry sessions in a library space in the past I know how beneficial it can be to just take a few minutes out of the hurly burly and take stock by slowing down with a poem. I see this session as opening us up to the possibilities of what poetry can do for us.
Led by
Sue Spencer
Sue Spencer is a former nurse and recovering academic. Now retired from institutional employment Sue chooses to offer spaces for socially engaged creative practitioners to process their experiences. The conversations and discussions facilitate help seeking actions that help and support them to maintain their own practice whilst helping others or calling society to action.
This rich learning from practice has paralleled her own healing from failure in her professional career and she is passionate about sharing her learning with those who share her commitment to social justice and righting wrongs/addressing harms.
14:50
Room 1
Scrapbooking Hope
This workshop will support participants build a resilient, inclusive and grounded concept of hope, through collaborative writing, photography and scrapbooking. Through prompts and conversation, participants will be invited to explore the concept of hope: going beyond tired cliches, to unpack a personal meaning of hope which can exist alongside trauma, discrimination and the climate crisis. Participants will be invited to create their own hope scrapbooks during the workshop (online or on paper). This project builds on an existing collaborative writing project: https://notesfromcatriona.substack.com/p/hope-a-scrapbook
Led by
Catriona Knapman
Catriona Knapman is a writer, facilitator and international development practitioner who grew up in Scotland and has lived and worked across ten countries. She has designed and facilitated events and workshops for women farmers in Myanmar and world leaders at COP 28. She brings expertise as a researcher on gender/climate as well as 20 years working in the field of international development, which she writes about on Notes from Saving the World: https://notesfromcatriona.substack.com
Room 2
Reinventing Travel Writing for the Anthropocene
Building on the findings of my PhD thesis “Between Cultures: Travel Writing, Identity and the Global Novel” (2023); the paper "Between Cultures: Grief and Recovery in Women’s Autobiographical Narratives of Travel", which I delivered at the New Perspectives on Travel Writing, Migration and Tourism Conference in 2023; and on a Travel Writing Masterclass I ran in Cardiff, Wales in 2024 with travel journalists, children authors and film directors, I would like to invite participants to take part in a creative writing workshop to experiment with the genre of travel writing, pushing the boundaries of what we consider to be ‘travel writing’ and who we perceive as ‘travel writer’. The workshop will centre around one question: What does travel writing look like in the Anthropocene? Using writing prompts and guided discussions, the workshop will invite participants to consider what stories of travel are most relevant today (e.g. yours/migrant/animal/vegetal/fungal); who gets to write about travel when we move away from the traditional perspective of the privileged, white, wealthy, European man; and what hybrid form(s) travel writing could utilise to sensitise readers to the state of the planet. A workshop designed as collective exploration.
Led by
Sophie Buchaillard
Dr Sophie Buchaillard is a novelist, practice-based educator and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy who believes in the power of writing to heal and bring communities together. Sophie has collaborated with a broad spectrum of partners to deliver inclusive creative writing workshops. A trained counsellor, she uses hybrid media to encourage community building, foster well-being and support environmental activism. Her thesis “Between Cultures: Travel, Identity and the Global Novel” explored the decolonisation of travel writing as a genre and its reinvention as a tool for community and environmental activism; to foster a greater sense of belonging.
Room 3
Poetry & Grief
This workshop will offer criteria for the selection of poetry to use with the bereaved and the reasoning behind that. We will look at creating a safe container for the bereaved, and then go on to explore one or two poems in depth, experientially, so people get a taster first hand of how to explore a poem around bereavement in a way which provides a safe holding space for the participants to express their own words and discover their own insights into their grieving/healing journeys.
Led by
Bethany Rivers
Bethany Rivers has worked with poetry therapy for the bereaved for a number of years. She received an Arts Council England grant to run two courses for the bereaved (each lasting six weeks), which culminated in an anthology called 'Connecting Hearts'. From 2008 till 2021, Bethany has run monthly day long retreats, on the healing power of poems. She has an MA from Cardiff University in Creative Writing. Published poetry chapbooks: 'Off the wall', Indigo Dreams; 'the sea refuses no river', Fly on the Wall Press. She is author of 'Fountain of Creativity: Ways to nourish your writing', Victorina Press.
15:50
Intermission
16:05
Room 1
A 10 Minute Reset
Breathe, Reflect, Reconnect
In the midst of a full day of learning, learning, and stimulation, this 10-minute wellbeing session offers a gentle invitation to turn inward. Designed as a reset for the mind, body, and nervous system, the session blends breathwork, somatic awareness, and reflective coaching prompts to help participants ground themselves, regulate their energy, and return to presence.
We’ll begin by arriving in the body through guided breath and stillness, allowing the nervous system to settle. From there, you’ll be invited into a short, accessible breathing practice and a moment of quiet reflection, guided by a simple coaching question to spark inner connection. This session is suitable for everyone—no prior experience with breathwork or mindfulness is needed.
You’ll leave with a greater sense of calm and clarity, and take away a few simple tools to weave into your own wellbeing routine, whether in the workplace or at home. It’s a reminder that even in just ten minutes, we can come home to ourselves.
Led by
Francesca De Luca
I am a professionally trained, soul-centered coach and breathwork facilitator, specialising in somatic and reflective wellbeing practices. My approach integrates evidence-informed tools to support nervous system regulation, emotional resilience, and self-awareness. Drawing on techniques such as conscious breathwork and somatic inquiry, I guide individuals and groups through practices that promote balance, clarity, and inner connection. With experience delivering sessions in studios, corporate settings, and retreats, I am committed to creating safe, inclusive environments where participants can pause, reflect, and engage in meaningful self-care. My work is rooted in the belief that sustainable wellbeing begins with a return to the self.
Room 2
Meet your poets-in-residence, Nazaret and Karrish.
16:25
Room 1
The Poetry Therapy Group Process and Its Development in the Breast Cancer Survivors Writing Group
The aim of the study was to found out how with help of therapeutic writing can explore breast cancer related experiences, and what meanings were given for participating in poetry therapy group and its process. Model of bibliotherapeutic process by McCarty Hynes and Hynes-Berry (1989) were used when illustrated how an interactive poetry therapy group process helped to create personal meanings. The RES-model developed by Mazza (2007) was utilized to elucidate the manner in which the meetings of the writing group facilitated the practice of reflective writing and meta-reflective actions. Furthermore, a trauma-informed approach was employed when illustrating the instructor’s work in planning and guiding the group’s meetings.
The data consisted participants’ writings produced during a total of 18 writing group meetings. In addition, the data set includes interview transcripts which were gathered using the semi-structure interview method. Poetry therapy group process were formed as conclusion of the study. The implementation of writing exercises, reflective writing, and the sharing of experiences was found to be conducive to the establishment of a sense of community, the facilitation of peer support, and the process of creating meaning process from experiences related to breast cancer.
Presented by
Johanna Holopainen
I graduated with PhD from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, Department of Music, Art, and Culture Studies in June 2024. My orientation was Creative writing. I’m also registered nurse, and poetry therapy instructor. My target is to advance the researcher's career and lead my own research group in the future. I’m interested in development tasks where it is possible to create new practices and support people's wellbeing, and to study wellbeing in different angles e.g. how communication between the members support wellbeing and social inclusion. In my post doc project I will explore the corporeality of cancer experiences in written narratives.
Digital Intangible / Romantic Semantic
A 15 minute film-poem explores how a writer-activist attempts to engage honestly with 'nature', the more-than-human world, today. Can she shrug off the heritage of romanticism to find fresh forms? Can she sing in the face of threats to species, geology, climate, populations? Can she dance with the digital world while critiquing its colonising of narratives? This spoken prose-poem with striking visual images expands ideas of writing to include song and meditation, offering provocations for thinking about how we might create meaning differently in the messy contemporary world. If answers are easily available through AI, what spaces can a writer occupy that are tangible, imperfect, unfolding, and humanly-infused? Can writing be a song or a breath between thoughts? Activism through song as well as song lyrics is one possible mode. An invitation to ponder and question, to feel into questions of our precarious world and the place of writing in activism striving for change.
Presented by
Fiona Hamilton
Fiona Hamilton was in the core team that founded the Climate Choir Movement. She recently co-translated a memoir and is interested in translation across languages, cultures, and belief systems. Her writing includes a play about the power of dance, a collaborative art and poetry project entitled Fractures about land and weather, a chapter in Cornerstones (Little Toller Press, 2018), poems in Project Boast (Triarchy Press, 2018), a story in verse Bite Sized (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2014) and articles in many journals. Fiona is Head of Programme, MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes at Metanoia Institute/Middlesex University.
Room 2
Speaking Out About Gender Exploration Through Writing
If you don't speak it out one day it will just up and punch you in the mouth from the inside*: Gender, Class, Race, Age and other troubles. *Lorde. A (1984) Sister outsider. p. 42. This workshop, with nods and bows to Judith Butler, raises questions about gender in your culture, time and place. Audre Lorde, bell hooks and other foundational feminists write and speak about injustices in ways that inspire action. They and other Black feminists also pointed out decades ago how some words have political effects that can exclude some from the collective action that feminisms have always represented (Ahmed, 2004). How do you define yourself as woman/man or something else? Have you written about it, or not? Feminism is more complex now than it was when we started back in the last century. Intersectional, informed by trans and queer theories and practices, feminism(s) can, as Adichie in 'We Should All Be Feminists' (2014) playfully points out, be a 'white, killjoy men-hating idea'. Other questions this workshop will invite you to write/speak about include: How do you relate to the sex or gender you were assigned at birth? How do you understand being female, or male, or neither/both? Feminism? Me?
Led by
Richard Axtell
(They/he) is a writer, counsellor-in-training, and community death educator. They have been involved in the arts and wellbeing space for ten years, as an administrator and researcher. More recently, their work has turned to exploring bereavement, grief, and identity. You can find out what they are up to on their website: www.richardaxtell.co.uk
Led by
Barbara Bloomfield
(She/her) has been a relationship and family counsellor and counselling supervisor for the last 30 years and taught creative writing at Bath Spa University. Questions of sex and gender continue to absorb her as she tries to remain active and engaged in international movements for progressive change.
Led by
Jeannie Wright
(She/her) has taught and researched in several universities and practised writing for wellbeing in community agencies (mostly Women’s Centres) in the UK, Aotearoa/ New Zealand, Fiji and other places. One of the things this nomadic life has taught her is that there is no one right way in counselling and psychotherapy (the day job) in writing for therapeutic purposes (and survival) and in feminist practices. She has been a member of Lapidus International since the 1990s.
Room 3
Words as Medicine
Exploring the Power of Creative Expression Through 'The Write Trail'
Research supporting the therapeutic benefits of writing are well documented, yet it remains an underrated and underutilized tool within mainstream health and wellbeing practices. This session presents a case study of "The Write Trail", a month-long writing festival that was held in the London Borough of Ealing, only made possible thanks to public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Presented by
Poonam Madar
Providing a Shared Language
Literature Choices and Importance in the Creative Writing Workshop
Some of the best creative writing workshops use examples of literature to model and inspire. Choosing which examples can be a daunting task. This presentation aims to demystify the choosing process by looking at literature through a prism of topics, such as language, content, audience type, and author experiences. This decolonial and inclusive approach uses research and theory from The Reader to explore how providing literature that is both engaging and representative can provide a shared language to form community resistance and build networks in the creative writing workshop. This talk will use the case study of Beyond the Spectrum to examine how choosing poetry and prose, written by autistic authors, inspires, motivates, and empowers workshop attendees to share their lived experiences through creative means. Part of this talk will frame issues in my forthcoming title 'Creative Writing for All' (Bloomsbury, 2026)
Presented by
Dr Sabrina Mei-Li Smith
Sabrina is a writer and lecturer from Leicester. She is currently under contract with Bloomsbury with her title 'Creative Writing for All: Delivering Inclusive Workshops for Marginlised Groups'. Her article 'Creating Spaces for Creative Voices' appeared in issue 91 of Writers in Education (Jan 2024). She has delivered creative writing workshops with ex-sex offenders, prisoners, autistic writers, Irish travelers and dementia patients. She lectures at De Montfort University.
17:25
Intermission
Room 2
18:15
Plumb Lines Launch
Join Plumb Lines editor-in-chief Regina Beach to celebrate Flight: A Plumb Lines Anthology, and the launch of Lapidus Publishing which elevates writing from underrepresented communities.
Presented by
Regina Beach
19:15
Finish
Day Two
Room 3
09:45
Waiting room opens
10:00
Welcome to Creative Bridges 2025
From
Lucy Windridge-Floris
Invisible Mending
Uncertainty, Anxiety, and Creativity
In this powerful and thought-provoking talk, Dawn Garisch, medical doctor, author, and educator, explores how uncertainty, anxiety and creativity have intimate connections. Drawing from her clinical work, teaching, and personal experience, she reveals how both life writing and embodied imagination can help us live less anxiously and more creatively.
Dawn will discuss three ways in which we understand experience: scientific analysis, personal narrative, and unconscious imagery. Whilst science offers measurable evidence in our pursuit of health, it often fails to engage the irrational, emotional layers of our inner lives where many of our impulses towards harm or healing originate. Creativity, she suggests, provides a vital bridge; it allows us to tolerate or even seek uncertainty, to loosen fixed narratives, and to foster insight and change through curiosity and play.
Drawing on neuroscience and poetry, this talk presents creativity as a birthright – an evolutionary development essential to learning, transformation, and healing. Regular creative practice can help us rethink the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, others, and the natural world, reshaping our assumptions and our responses to the unknown.
Delivered by
Dawn Garisch
Sue Spencer is a former nurse and recovering academic. Now retired from institutional employment Sue chooses to offer spaces for socially engaged creative practitioners to process their experiences. The conversations and discussions facilitate help seeking actions that help and support them to maintain their own practice whilst helping others or calling society to action. This rich learning from practice has paralleled her own healing from failure in her professional career and she is passionate about sharing her learning with those who share her commitment to social justice and righting wrongs/addressing harms.
10:45
Intermission
Room 1
Room 2
Room 3
11:00
Room 1
Express, Reflect, and Re-imagine Life's Difficulties Through Expressive Arts
Exploring the Power of Poetry to Help Traverse Troubling Times
Integrating trauma into the ongoing narrative of the present life is essential for healing, following trauma (Van der Kolk 2014). Conceptual metaphor theory suggests that how we think, and act is fundamentally metaphorical (Lakoff and Johnson 1980). My PhD draws on research in metaphor; art and trauma therapy; expressive and story writing, to better understand lived experience trauma, using three expressive arts activities.
The first activity involves drawing to access nonverbal, emotionally charged, sensory memories of trauma (Malchiodi 2020). The second activity involves Expressive Writing, as writing about a traumatic experience has psychological and physiological benefits. (Pennebaker and Beall 1986). The third activity involves story writing, using the story completion method; writing in the third person about a hypothetical character, to re-imagine the trauma (Clarke et al. 2019).
The participants made symbolic connections and associations from completing the activities. The themes of love, loss and identity run throughout all three activities - losing chunks of self, seeing self as whole. I would like to run a 10-minute wellbeing session using the same format of activities, for the conference participants to explore a difficulty in their lives.
Led by
Christina Christou
I am in my final year of completing a PhD at the University of Birmingham. My PhD explores the metaphors people use in lived experienced trauma narratives, when using expressive arts: drawing, expressive writing and using story writing. I am a expressive arts counsellor and work predominantly with women who are suffering from trauma, related to child abuse and domestic abuse. I would like to run a 10-minute wellbeing session using the format of activities I have used in my PhD, to help the conference participants explore a difficulty in their lives.
Room 3
Meet your poets-in-residence, Nazaret and Karrish.
11:20
Room 1
Breaking New Ground
How Writing Fiction Can Make Life Better
We tend to think of therapeutic writing within the context of traditional forms of counselling and psychotherapy, as an extra tool for exploring our personal, often difficult, past experiences. But writing does not have to be personal to be therapeutic. Every form of writing is what Positive Psychology identifies as ‘flow experiences’, things we do that make us lose all sense of time and place because we are completely absorbed in them. They are a ‘B’ in CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy).
Writing fiction can be particularly beneficial because it lifts our focus away from our own problems and instead of facing backwards points us forward into new adventures where anything is possible. It allows us to enter into someone else’s story for a while.
And this will always be the right story, because the stories we make in imagination are related to our everyday life right now in the same way as dreams. They ride the same currents of emotion. Just like reading on prescription, writing fiction offers comfort and respite, whilst also helping us to think more creatively about whatever is worrying us or preoccupying our minds. This taster session is suitable for all levels of fiction-writing experience and none.
Led by
Jenny Alexander
I’ve written scores of fiction and non-fiction books for children and adults, and many articles for publications including Mslexia, The Author and Writing Magazine, where I have a monthly column. I spent most of my twenties in therapy after the catastrophic breakdown of my family and my sister’s suicide, but in the end, I found my healing in writing fiction, and that is what brought me to Lapidus two decades ago, as a writer interested in the wellbeing benefits of every different kind of creative writing.
Room 2
Navigating the Void
Exploring the Power of Poetry to Help Traverse Troubling Times
On June 1st 2015 I found myself unexpectedly unbusy and it was a huge disjuncture/car crash in my career. At the time I knew that poetry would be a life raft and a buffer. What I hadn’t anticipated was that writing, reading and sharing poetry would provide insights and learning that I could share with others and that this would help repair and restore relationships and connections. Drawing on a wide range of theory I would like to offer poetry which sheds light on how we can heal from harms by crafting poems. I offer an opportunity to explore how this has been a process that has required patience and a capacity to “stay with the trouble”. Hazards and risks are unavoidable in our current world but I have found that focussing on an ongoingly curious approach to writing poetry has equipped me with the wherewithal that I thought was lost – a becoming and connectivity I thought vanished. It has provided me with the capacities needed to begin to share this learning with a wider audience and explore the possibilities and potential for what we mean when we talk about writing for well-being.
Presented by
Sue Spencer
Sue Spencer is a former nurse and recovering academic. Now retired from institutional employment Sue chooses to offer spaces for socially engaged creative practitioners to process their experiences. The conversations and discussions facilitate help seeking actions that help and support them to maintain their own practice whilst helping others or calling society to action. This rich learning from practice has paralleled her own healing from failure in her professional career and she is passionate about sharing her learning with those who share her commitment to social justice and righting wrongs/addressing harms.
More Chilli Chocolate than Lemon Drizzle
This is a sharing about sharing. Two people moving and morphing through time and spaces, exploring a terrain of mutual inquiry and inspiration, creating collaborations both therapeutic and artistic. We offer this reflection on our practice to inspirate others, and to share how sustaining friendships embody and employ curiosity and creativity. How does dialogic practice add the chilli spice, the depth, to writing and becoming? For three years, we’ve been riffing off each others’ ideas, language, shoes, and poetry. Since we first met online through CB2021, we’ve both experienced change, challenge, and growth. Writing, talking, sharing, and particularly creating/performing, in shifting contexts - in hot compost piles (Harraway, 2016) help us to help each other go on – to hold our own (Frank, 2010). Now we’re bringing something home to CB25. Learning from them, through sharing research and poetry, we also learn from each others’ family repositories of stories, sparking new ideas and initiatives for lines of inquiry/lines of flight (Deleuze and Guatarri, 1987) and in our own investigations. From here, we have at times tentatively edged forward together and at others danced with each other, always with words, imagery, rhythm wrapped in curiosity as learning, making, and healing merge.
Presented by
Tim Buescher
Tim is a recovering academic (with at least one toe still in the water), in the process of establishing his own independent writing and research practice after completing his MA in 2024. Currently, he is external examiner for the University of Abertay BSc mental health nursing course, a PhD examiner and supervisor for hire, a BA/Leverhulme grant holder, and an assistant research practitioner for Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust. Tim is editor of the Lapidus International Research and Innovation Community (LIRIC) journal.
Presented by
Mel Perry
Mel is a poet, spoken word performer and therapeutic writing facilitator from Wales. She is also Co-chair of Lapidus and a Worship Leader in the Church in Wales. In her facilitation work Mel is Co-director of write4word CIC based in Carmarthenshire, which aims to develop writers and performers, and use writing and performing to develop people. Mel’s third poetry collection, Mineral Wealth, exploring the life and influence of her maternal grandmother will be published by Broken Sleep Books in 2026.
Room 3
Coming Home to Your Bones
Writing, Moving and Sensing for Resilience
In a world marked by uncertainty and despair, it is easy to feel disconnected from ourselves and others – to lose our sense of self. This workshop will explore ways of addressing this loss of connection, and promoting resilience by developing kinaesthetic and bodily awareness through gentle, guided movement sequences, followed by expressive writing in response. According to psychiatrist and researcher Bessel van der Kolk, author of the Body Keeps the Score, agency starts with ‘interoception’: our awareness of our subtle, sensory, body-based feelings. The greater the awareness, the greater our potential to control our lives. (2014) Movement, sensing and writing provides an opportunity to encourage this awareness and promote a feeling of grounded-ness and resilience. Speaking from experience, it can also inspire a sense of freedom and creativity and allow fresh metaphors and perspectives to emerge. Drawing on the principles of the Feldenkrais Method of somatic learning, the workshop will involve a body mapping exercise and some exploratory movement sequences. Participants will be directed to sense their skeleton and find novel ways of moving, while freewriting in direct response to this experience and other prompts. Please wear comfortable clothes and have space to lie down on the floor on a mat or carpet.
Led by
Anne Taylor
Anne Taylor is a poet, teacher and writing group facilitator, with experience of using therapeutic writing in a range of settings, most recently with carers and people with mental health challenges. She has a special interest in the medical humanities and writing in medicine and healthcare. As a qualified Feldenkrais Practitioner, Anne has pioneered a series of workshops, combining somatic learning with writing to inspire creativity and for personal development. She is co-director, with bibliotherapist Victoria Field, of two internationally renowned online courses hosted by the Professional Writing Academy: Therapeutic and Reflective Writing and Running Writing Workshops.
12:20
Intermission
13:00
Room 1
Rebellious Joy
Writing What Refuses to Be Erased
There is joy that insists on being felt—even in struggle. This workshop invites participants to explore how creative writing can help surface those moments of rebellious joy: the kind that emerges not despite difficulty, but alongside it.
Drawing on research from Greater Good Science Centre’s BIG JOY Project, we will examine how simple, intentional acts—'micro-acts of joy’—can foster resilience and creative expression. We’ll use writing prompts to trace where joy shows up uninvited, unexpected, and unyielding. We’ll reflect on how creativity helps us resist disconnection, discovering where joy quietly persists and how it can be recognized, celebrated, and written into being.
No writing background is needed—just openness to the subtle, the surprising, and whatever joy might look like for you right now.
Led by
Alison Cable
Alison Cable (BA, MA English Literature; MSc Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes) is co-editor of Lapidus Magazine, a biannual publication shaped by and for the writing for wellbeing community. She serves on the Board of Lapidus International and has worn many word-loving hats: university lecturer, school librarian, reader, writer, and facilitator. Now based in London, she leads shared reading and creative writing groups with The Reader Organisation and the London Literary Salon. A lifelong reader with a restless pen, Alison is drawn to the spaces where words invite connection, reflection, and the occasional surprise.
Room 2
Regaining our Souls
How does an engagement with the idea of soul relate to therapeutic and reflective writing? This presentation will look at how notions of the soul can inform and expand our relationships with ourselves, each other and the world around us. Many individuals experience both a distancing from established religious practices and terminology, and simultaneously, a yearning for a metaphysical framework to make sense of their lives. In her research on pilgrimage, Victoria Field noted how this hinterland could be negotiated in different ways. In this interactive paper, she will argue that poetry and therapeutic writing can offer a permissive way to explore the bigger questions of how we live and want to live and that the idea of the soul can be a useful frame for this work.
Presented by
Dr Victoria Field
Dr Victoria Field has published poetry, a memoir, translations, and edited books on therapeutic writing. Her co-translation with Natalia Bukia-Peters of Georgian poet Lia Sturua’s On The Contrary won the 2024 Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation. She teaches at Canterbury Christ Church University. She collaborates with Eduard Heyning on music and poetry performances often inspired by sacred spaces. She mentors for the International Federation for Biblio/Poetry Therapy on the use of poetry and expressive writing in the community, and has particular expertise in working in public libraries and dementia settings.
Returning to the Sound Within
Exploring the Role of Music in Emotional Access and Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes
What happens when a piece of music becomes more than background noise — when it becomes the doorway to memory, emotion, and story? This presentation explores the intersection of music and Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes (CWTP), investigating how sound can deepen emotional access and enhance reflective writing practices. Drawing from personal and professional experience as both a CWTP practitioner and trained musician, I examine how music, sound — including tempo, tone, and culturally rooted systems like Indian Ragas — can evoke sensory and emotional resonance, offering fertile ground for therapeutic exploration. Ragas — the melodic structures in Indian classical music — are designed to evoke specific emotional "Rasas" (essences) tied to time, mood, and season. I present insights from a classroom-based CWTP session where participants responded to a carefully chosen musical piece. Their writing revealed how sound can bypass cognitive barriers and unlock memory, grief, and metaphor otherwise inaccessible through words alone. Supported by findings in neuroscience (e.g. music-evoked autobiographical memory), CWTP research, and the Indian Music tradition, I also address the ethical and cultural considerations of using sound in group writing settings. This talk is for anyone curious about going beyond the page, and using multi-sensory approaches to writing for wellbeing, reflection, and healing.
Presented by
Harshit Bhatia
Harshit Bhatia is a writer, therapeutic writing facilitator, and MSc student of Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes at the Metanoia Institute, London. Trained in Indian classical music and introduction to counselling (University of Oxford), he explores the intersections of sound, memory, and self-expression in emotional healing. Through his wellness initiative Namoham Retreats, Harshit facilitates reflective writing workshops across academic and community settings in India and the UK. His current research investigates how culturally rooted soundscapes — including Indian Ragas — can deepen access to memory, metaphor, and meaning in CWTP. Raised in India and trained in the UK, Harshit blends the richness of Eastern traditions — including classical literature, music, and philosophy — with Western approaches to psychology and therapeutic writing.
Room 3
Cultural Mapping
Belly Laughs of Memory Hold You Upright
This workshop will explore a hands-on technique of cultural mapping, using a digital world map as a springboard for making personal links and creating connections to places within our lived experiences. Cultural mapping, in this context, is a process of identifying and visually representing the tangible and intangible cultural resources and stories of a place, as understood and experienced by individuals.
This workshop provides an opportunity to open conversations (spoken and written), recount and reflect on memories, especially those which have brought us joy, providing a positive backdrop which can balance out the sadness of challenging times as we navigate global and community spaces. We will use guided questions and creative prompts to consider the importance of our connection to specific locations.
Creative writing, as a therapeutic tool, can help build resilience and sustain us emotionally through our collective stories, which shape us as individuals. This session is for everyone—whether you’ve been writing for years or you are just starting to navigate the strength of putting pen to paper. You are welcome to tap into your own creativity and venture as far as you would like to.
Led by
Georgiana Blake-Hall
Poetry is my passion; however, I love all genres of writing, creative, fiction and nonfiction. I am an avid reader and enjoy the outdoors, especially being near woodland and the sound rivers and streams. I have spent my working life being a creative and innovative educator. My wellbeing is vitally important to me which I support through writing poetry. Currently I am working on several writing projects. I also enjoy visiting art galleries, museums and the Theatre. I am a mother, grandmother to a lively eight-year-old and a great-aunt.
14:00
Intermission
14:15
Room 2
Time to Breathe
Starting with some basic meditative breathing exercises, and then put up on screen an image (preferably a piece of art) that reflects well-being, and ask attendees to free write for five minutes on the image, and if people want to share what they have written there should be a couple of minutes at the end for this.
Led by
Laurie Donaldson
Laurie Donaldson (he/him) is on the management committee of Lapidus Scotland, the board of trustees of the Federation of Writers (Scotland) and is currently President of Greenock Writers’ Club. He has had poems published in numerous journals, magazines, anthologies and zines. Laurie also runs creative writing workshops, both in person and online, and appears at open mics, and reviews new poetry. He recently helped launch and co-hosts a monthly creative open mic, and is part of a collective exploring starting a new local magazine for the arts.
Room 3
Meet your poets-in-residence, Nazaret and Karrish.
14:35
Room 1
Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes
An Exploration in a Female Enabling Environment, in a Female Prison Estate
Within a female prison estate psychologically informed environment, it may be recognised women experience well-being issues in relation to both former and current living experiences, related to their offending and trauma and mental health histories. To enable self-care and reflection creative writing may be seen to be a well-being strategy used with this population. The workshop will provide an overview of the creative writing for well-being sessions offered with women within Rivendell Service, HMP Newhall which provides a creative writing wellbeing-focused purposeful activity intervention within the service. The women residents attend voluntarily and are engaged in the wider therapeutic programme. The workshop will provide the participants with an overview of the collaborative venture, discussing the benefits and limitations of the use of creative writing for therapeutic purposes, the scheme of work offered within the creative writing sessions, and an opportunity to engage in interactive creative writing exercises.
Led by
Caroline Burnley
Caroline is a Senior Lecturer in Psychological Therapies and Mental Health, at Leeds Beckett University, an accredited Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes Practitioner, and a Registered Mental Health Nurse, Fellow of Advanced HE, and Professional Doctorate in Education student. They have their own company for 'Creative Hearts & Minds', for creative writing & well-being in criminal justice, wider community mental health settings, and online writing retreats.
Led by
Emily Billington
Emily Billington is a Forensic Psychologist in training, currently working with the Rivendell Service at HMP New Hall—a specialized personality disorder treatment service for women at high or very high risk of violence. With over 15 years of experience in personality disorder services, including a role at Rampton High Secure Hospital, Emily has developed a deep understanding of the complexities surrounding forensic mental health care. Dedicated to making a tangible difference in the lives of offenders, Emily employs evidence-based therapeutic models to foster rehabilitation and long-term behavioural change. She has training in EMDR, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), and Schema Therapy, using these modalities to address trauma, emotional regulation, and personality pathology. Her work contributes to reducing reoffending risks and improving the psychological well-being of individuals under her care. Beyond direct therapeutic intervention, Emily is actively engaged in research assessing the effectiveness of psychological treatments for offenders with personality disorders.
Room 2
Decolonising Tea Time
A simple mug of tea holds a colonial story that shaped Britain, India and China. Explore how Poetry Vs Colonialism, the London Archive and Keats House collaborated with Global Majority poets to run poetry workshops for students that unraveled this complex and harrowing history through archive materials, bottles of tea leaves, and the student's home knowledge leading to a collection of poems and films. Teachers and heritage sites are keen to explore this history, but are often unsure how. Laila Sumpton from Poetry Vs Colonialism will share her learnings from over four years of decolonising workshops and training sessions.
Presented by
Laila Sumpton
Laila Sumpton is a poet, performer and educator who works with schools, hospitals, museums and charities on poetry projects. She co-founded the reparative education organisation Poetry Vs Colonialism and is an associate artist with intergenerational charity Magic Me. She runs writing workshops for Keats House, the Ministry of Stories and First Story.
Inside Out of Bounds
Reflections on Creative Writing for Wellbeing with ex-boarders
Out of Bounds is a six-week online Creative Writing for Wellbeing course for ex-boarders. Out of Bounds first launched in Autumn 2023, followed in Spring 2025 by Out of Bounds 2, an extension course open to previous participants. Our presentation will deliver practice-based insights from the Out of Bounds courses run over the past eighteen months. We will talk about the pathway towards conceiving and developing Out of Bounds, and how the courses have evolved. The insights will include:
- holding space for ex-boarders as an ex-boarder/non-ex-boarder married couple
- the role of the group, the potential challenge to individuals of a group of ex-boarders, and ultimately the positive power of the group.
- the importance of safety and managing vulnerability
- nurturing creative and emotional risk-taking where there is trauma
- how containment and boundaries support the process
- evidence for the course supporting individual mental health and fostering personal resilience
- successes in connecting individuals and signposting
We will also talk about how Out of Bounds is part of a bigger Boarding School Survivors community and movement. The course has relevance to this ever-more vocal grouping who are writing books and articles, making films, and producing broadcasts and podcasts. As such, Out of Bounds is part of and provides an access point for activism and social change around the topic of boarding schools in relation to child development and adverse childhood experiences.
Presented by
Rachel Godfrey
Rachel is an educational author and poet. She is a qualified and experienced Creative Writing for Wellbeing facilitator, offering a variety of courses, workshops, and one-to-one mentoring.
Presented by
John Shirley
John is a digital marketing agency founder and entrepreneur. An ex-boarder, he attended the Boarding School Survivors Workshops in 2019, and in 2022 completed a training course run by Nick Duffell in group facilitation.
Room 3
Landscapes of Your Life in Stepping Stones
Staying Above Water in Difficult Times
Staying above the water in difficult time and how writing about place can help. Progoff’s Stepping Stones writing technique for reviewing your life can be applied to the landscapes you have known,to find a rootedness and a stronger relationship with your story. Re-visiting place can build resilience and thicken the story This can help you re-possess your past and ground yourself in the present. Using language of the imagination and sensory memory in a guided exercise you will find yourself in the world again. Re-visiting places we have known can build resilience and thicken the story, leading to greater efforts to exist in the present story we find ourselves in. This technique can then be applied at different times to find a solidity of the self.
‘If we opened people up we would find landscapes’ – Agnes Varda
Led by
Kate Thompson
I am an existential counsellor and a journal therapist. My affiliations include: core faculty at the Therapeutic Writing Institute, tutor, supervisor (academic and research) at the New School of Counselling and Psychotherapy . Member of LIRIC editorial board. I am a former vice-chair of Lapidus. My first degree was English Literature at the University of Cambridge. Later I trained as a counsellor. Integrating expressive writing and existential therapy is the core of my practice with individuals, couples and groups. I have written extensively on expressive writing, therapy, landscapes and grief. I now live in the inspiring Rocky Mountains above Boulder, Colorado and belong to a poetry group that helps me connect to myself, especially in difficult times.
15:35
Intermission
Room 3
15:50
Lucy Windridge-Floris
Plenary
Awards, Creative Sharing by the Poets in Residence, Thanks and Farewells
17:30
Finish.
Poets-In-Residence
We are thrilled to introduce our 2025 Poets-In-Residence
Nazaret Ranea
Nazaret Ranea is a poet born in Málaga, Spain, and living in Edinburgh since 2017. Named one of Scotland’s Next Generation Young Makars, her writing often touches on themes of nostalgia, memory, and the idea of home, blending personal and universal experiences. Her debut poetry collection, Nettles, is forthcoming with Drunk Muse Press.
Nazaret’s work has found homes in more than fifty publications around the world, appearing in both English and Spanish. She is also the creator of the zines My Men and My Women, and the editor of For Those Who Tend the Soil, an anthology produced in collaboration with the Scottish Poetry Library. She has been fortunate to share her work on BBC Radio Scotland and at events like the Edinburgh Fringe, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and was the 2025 Poet in Residence at the StAnza Poetry Festival for the Translation Award. You can find out more about her work at www.nazaretranea.com.
Karrish Devan
Karrish Devan is a fiction writer based in East London. His work explores hidden histories and the stories that lie within. He has been published by the Brick Lane Bookshop and Muswell Hill Press. When not writing, he works as a junior doctor in the NHS, specialising in mental health.
He is represented by Abi Fellows of DHH. Follow him on his Substack: www.substack.com/@kdevanwrites
Tickets
We’re excited to announce that tickets for the Creative Bridges 2025 conference are now available to purchase through our website. We really appreciate your support and can’t wait to see you at the event!
Member
£75.00
Student/Low-Income
£60.00
Pay It Forward
£45.00
Membership Package
Non-Member
*Please note that Creative Bridges 2025 takes place entirely online. Only the keynote speeches will be recorded and available to view after the event.
Awards
We’re delighted to open nominations for this year’s Lapidus Awards, celebrating outstanding contributions to the field of creative writing for wellbeing. These awards honour individuals and projects whose work inspires, empowers, and uplifts through the written and spoken word.
Explore the award categories and nominate someone who’s making a difference:
Impactful Creative Voice Award
This award recognises an individual whose creative writing resonates deeply with audiences in the context of wellbeing, healing, or social change/activism. This may be poetry or prose (written, spoken, digital or in a hybrid form). The work will have made a powerful emotional, social, or cultural impact. The winner of this award will be someone who demonstrates courage, authenticity, and the ability to move and/or inspire others.
Outstanding Therapeutic Writing Research Award
This award honours exceptional research that contributes to the field of creative writing for wellbeing and/or creative writing for therapeutic purposes. It can be awarded to academic or practice-based research that provides new insights into the efficacy, methodologies, or theoretical frameworks of writing for wellbeing. The research should demonstrate originality, rigour, and practical relevance to those working in health, education, counselling, or community settings.
Diversity and Inclusion in Writing Award
This award acknowledges a person or project that champions diversity, equity, and inclusion through creative writing. It recognises efforts to amplify marginalised voices, challenge systemic inequalities, and create inclusive spaces for expression and storytelling. This could include work with underrepresented groups, those who have been discounted, prohibited, displaced and/or under-served. This may be multilingual or cross-cultural writing, or inclusive practices in creative writing workshops, publishing, or education.
Make A Nomination
Nominations for the Lapidus Awards to be presented at Creative Bridges 2025 are now open!
If you know someone whose work uplifts, empowers, or transforms through the written or spoken word, we invite you to celebrate their contribution. Whether they’ve inspired change, deepened understanding, or helped others to heal, now is the time to shine a light on their impact.
Nominate an individual or project today using the form below and help us honour excellence in creative writing for wellbeing.
Also presented at the conference…
The Lapidus Lifetime Achievement Award
This prestigious award is presented to an individual who has made a sustained and outstanding contribution to the field of creative writing for wellbeing over many years. It celebrates a lifetime of dedication—through practice, advocacy, research, or leadership. Someone who has advanced the mission of Lapidus and inspired others in the field. The recipient should exemplify integrity, vision, and a deep commitment to the healing power of words.
Contact Information
For general enquiries about the conference, please contact the conference organisers at creativebridges@lapidus.org.uk. Further details regarding the conference programme will be provided closer to the event.
Join us as we gather to explore and celebrate the personal, collective, and political power of words.