- Event Date: 30/09/2026
Fire Your Wild Imagination: 5 day Portugal depth writing retreat, Sept 30th – Oct 4th
Event Details
- 14:00
- Monte da Japonica, Alentejo, Portugal
- From £150
Event Description
We are all born with a wild imagination. It is through this unlimited resource that we can access the unconscious, connect with our intuition, develop a greater degree of self-awareness and expand our sense of possibility. Fire Your Wild Imagination will be a chance to explore this vast inner superpower through the Jungian-inspired process of depth writing – a transformational practice aimed at nurturing depth of connection with self and world via the depths of the creative psyche. It will take place the beautiful cork woods of Portugal’s Alentejo region under the gentle guidance of Dr Rachel Newsome.
Who is Fire Your Wild Imagination for?
The focus of Fire Your Wild Imagination is on process, rather than outcome, and on what comes up in the writing, rather than craft. This retreat is for writers, creative & therapeutic practitioners and those on a journey of self-discovery who are curious about how writing & imagination can be used to support transformative growth and who are comfortable with diving deeper.
What will we be doing?
There will be two daily writing workshops on each of the three full days of the retreat. The morning workshops will be a chance to fire your wild imagination through attuning to your curious inner child, your sage inner guide and the wisdom of nature. In the afternoon you’ll have plenty free time to explore the cork woods or relax by the infinity pool. The day will finish with a reflective workshop focused on exploring your experiences of the morning session and any insights arising from it more deeply. Both sessions will include guided writing prompts as well as sharing and discussion.
A note about care
Throughout the retreat you’ll be invited to take responsibility for your experience by taking from the material what you need and working with it at a level that feels right for you. You’ll also be invited to practice CARE – confidentiality, attention, respect & empathy – with others. For those who have a writing or other creative practice, depth-writing can be used as an adjacent activity to support, deepen and expand your projects. Wherever you are at, this retreat is a chance to fire the creative, healing superpower of the wild imagination which courses through all of us.
Cost (includes accommodation, vegetarian meals & writing workshops)
Luxury room single use: 1,000 Euros
Luxury room sharing: 850 Euros pp
Budget room single use: 650 Euros
Budget room sharing: 550 Euros pp
Deposit: 150 Euros
*The deposit is refundable up to May 1st 2026. Outstanding payments are due by July 31st 2026.
Getting there by plane: The nearest airport to Monte da Japonica is Lisbon. A pick can be arranged from the airport direct to Monte da Japonica for 50 Euros per person. Alternatively, you can get the bus to the nearest town of Redondo or a train to the nearest city of Evora. There is a small charge for a pick up from Evora. Pick up from Redondo is free.
About Dr Rachel Newsome
I’m a writer, speaker & creative guide with Jungian arts-based PhD in writing-as-inner-work. I have a background in both the media and academia and now run a programme of depth writing courses and workshops throughout the year aimed at nurturing depth of connection with our deep creative self. I’m a Seed Talks expert speaker, serve on the Editorial Team of the London Arts-Based Research Centre and am co-Editor of forthcoming Routledge publication The Creative Psyche: Between Self & Spirit. I write about my travels between worlds on my Substack, Dreaming Awake. And, as you can probably tell, I love to dive deep.
https://rachelnewsome.co.uk/
https://drrachelnewsome.substack.com/
Get Tickets
- Event Date: 30/09/2026
Please Note:
Other events you may like
Metaphors are not merely figures of speech. They also shape our conceptual frameworks and exert a significant influence on the ways we experience our lives and circumstances.
This is a 90-minute reflective writing workshop conducted once a month, in which we explore how metaphor-guided expressive writing can help us look inwards and process emotional experiences. The participants will engage in metaphor-guided writing exercises and explore ways to shape inner narratives. Grounded in principles of cognitive metaphor theory, the session will include a balance of theoretical knowledge and writing exercises, so that participants leave with practical reflective tools for introspection, emotional processing, and personal growth. The sessions are not recorded to ensure psychological safety and enable the participants to share their reflections in a gentle and empathetic co-created space. No prior writing experience required.
About Facilitator:
Dr. Ananya Mahapatra is a psychiatrist with over 14 years of experience in clinical and research work, currently engaged in person-centered clinical practice in New Delhi, India. A published writer and 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.
Her personal experiences with postpartum anxiety and working with clients during the COVID-19 pandemic inspired her to create The Life Sublime (www.thelifesublime.org). Through The Life Sublime, she hopes to reclaim storytelling as a quiet act of healing and utilize the therapeutic potential of words to restore a sense of self, voice, and connection in a fragmented world.
A lifelong reader, she believes in the transformative power of stories to heal, connect, and inspire. Her short fiction has been shortlisted and published in prestigious anthologies by Readomania Publishers (Twilight’s Children), The Best Asian Short Stories 2018 (Kitaab Publishers, Singapore), Bristol Short Story Prize 2022, Deodar Literary Prize, & The Hemlock Journal.
A Summer School Poetry Therapy Workshop for Caring Professionals
When your work centres around supporting others, it can be easy to lose sight of yourself.
You spend your days listening, containing, encouraging, reassuring and caring. This gentle online workshop offers a rare opportunity to reverse the flow, creating space to pause, reflect and reconnect with the person behind the professional role.
Together we’ll explore the experience of caring for the caregiver through carefully chosen poetry, reflective writing, gentle experiential exercises and supportive conversation. Drawing on ideas from relational Gestalt psychotherapy and poetry therapy, we’ll gently consider what you offer so freely to others and what you, too, may be needing.
This is not a workshop about becoming a “better therapist” or “better carer”. It is an invitation to replenish yourself, nurture your own wellbeing and return, however briefly, to yourself.
Whether you’re a therapist, counsellor, social worker, teacher, nurse, coach, support worker or anyone in a caring role, you’ll be warmly welcomed.
During the workshop we’ll explore:
• Restorative poetry and shared reflection
• Creative journalling and expressive writing exercises
• The Gestalt concept of proflection and caring for the self through awareness
• Gentle mindfulness and guided reflection
• Practical ways to take your own needs seriously without guilt
No previous experience of poetry or creative writing is needed. This is not about writing “good” poems. It is simply about noticing, reflecting and giving yourself permission to be cared for, too.
Workshop details
Date: Sunday 30 August
Time: 2.30pm to 5.00pm (including a short break)
Location: Online via Zoom
Cost: £35
Before we begin
To help create a nurturing space, you’re invited to bring:
• Coloured pens and paper or a journal
• A favourite drink
• A candle (optional)
• Something comforting, perhaps a blanket, pet, cuddly toy or fidget item
Come exactly as you are. Just a gentle afternoon of poetry, reflection and returning to yourself.
Celebrate National Poetry Day (1 Oct 2026), with this interactive CPD workshop for therapists, counsellors, social workers and educators.
Curious about how poetry can deepen therapeutic work?
This engaging two-hour online workshop offers an introduction to the growing field of poetry therapy and therapeutic writing. Whether you’re completely new to the approach or already use journalling or creative exercises with clients, you’ll discover practical, relational ways of incorporating poetry into your work.
Together we’ll explore how carefully chosen poems, reflective writing and guided discussion can foster awareness, insight, self-compassion and meaningful therapeutic dialogue. You’ll also gain an overview of the different approaches to writing for wellbeing, including expressive writing, journalling, bibliotherapy and poetry therapy, and consider when and how these methods may be appropriate within clinical practice.
During the workshop you’ll:
Discover what poetry therapy is and how it differs from expressive writing and bibliotherapy.
Learn the core principles behind therapeutic writing and poetry therapy.
Explore the benefits of using poems in therapeutic settings.
Understand how to select poems with therapeutic value.
Experience a range of reflective writing exercises for yourself.
Consider how poetry might be integrated ethically and sensitively into one-to-one or group work.
Leave with practical ideas, recommended resources and renewed inspiration for your own practice.
This workshop is experiential rather than literary. No previous experience of reading or writing poetry is required, and you won’t be expected to share anything you’ve written unless you choose to. The emphasis is on curiosity, reflection and discovering another creative doorway into therapeutic practice.
Who is it for?
Counsellors
Psychotherapists
Social workers
Mental health professionals
Coaches
Educators
Students and trainees interested in creative therapeutic approaches
Facilitated by Leah Larwood MA, UKCP, CPT
Leah is a Relational Gestalt Psychotherapist, Certified Poetry Therapist and published poet. She specialises in integrating poetry, creativity and relational psychotherapy to support emotional growth, self-awareness and healing.