- Event Date: 01/10/2026
Intro to Poetry Therapy (CPD) (National Poetry Day)
Event Details
- 16:00
- Zoom
- From £45
Event Description
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.
Please Note:
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Please note that this event has been postponed. We will notify members as soon as a new date has been confirmed. In the meantime, you can find out more and request an online quote via our members’ insurance page.
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Joining information:
Please note that this event has been postponed. We will notify members as soon as a new date has been confirmed. In the meantime, you can find out more and request an online quote via our members’ insurance page.
A pen for the past, the now and the future: How to navigate life’s losses – and gains – through writing with Lottie Williams
How can writing about the fragility of previous life experiences connect with who we are today, and how we can write in the current? What power does this hold in being able to express ourselves with more confidence and clarity in the future?
In this session, I shall reflect on how I first came to writing as a tool for my mental health, allowing me to name and understand traumatic past experiences and feel my way through the climate and ecological emergency. Consequently, I shall discuss how the arts have positively challenged and supported changes I have made in my life.
Though short writing prompts and discussion, I shall also invite participants to consider these connections for themselves.
About Lottie Williams
Lottie Williams is an award winning writer and writing practitioner based in West Wales. She won the Nigel Jenkins Literary Award and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her debut book, ‘The Edge of Everything’, was published by the H’mm Foundation in 2025.
As a facilitator, Lottie trained with Sgwennu Well, a year long writing for wellbeing programme delivered by Literature Wales. She also draws on her background in teaching and as a regular participant of therapeutic writing sessions.
Lottie has provided writing well workshops for charities, social enterprises, schools and groups across South and West Wales.
Join the meeting:
Meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81124654743?pwd=lIhOUita3l7mwmVhDgvvlolwHh4IaW.1
Meeting ID: 811 2465 4743
Passcode: 786686
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 friendly, pressure-free, monthly expressive writing session aimed at deepening self-awareness, self-understanding and self-connection.
Maximum of 8 participants. No writing experience necessary.
Theme for October: “The Art of the Fall”
This ongoing monthly therapeutic/expressive writing group is for anyone who enjoys (or thinks they might enjoy) writing for pleasure or to develop self-awareness, self-understanding and self-connection. Using prose excerpts, poetry, images and other prompts, this group invites you to explore your inner and outer worlds through writing. Sharing your writing is always optional but the invitation is there to share and discuss your writing or discoveries with others if this is something you would like to do.