Lapidus News

Hello Lapidus Members,

I hope that you are getting chances, spaces and time to write and gain a sense of wellbeing and enjoyment from the process of writing or expressing yourself in other helpful ways. The changing seasons is often a great stimulus for me, offering the potential of a new start, a new page. I have also found attending my local writing for wellbeing group supportive and a good confidence boost.  

Your group of eager and mostly new international board of directors have been looking ahead to possibilities for Lapidus’ future. We hope you’ll want to get involved and dig in.

 Lapidus International is seeking a voluntary candidate to help guide the organisation and support it with financial matters. We are seeking a confident individual who is passionate about promoting the values of Lapidus and supporting the company onward into the future. 

Lapidus International is an expressive arts company that believes in the power of words, both spoken and written, to provide benefits to wellbeing and professional development. The company supports its members internationally by giving them opportunities to connect, develop and share in the Lapidus community.

Hello,

My name is Rob Young and I am delighted to be the new Community Support Administrator at Lapidus. It is a wonderful organisation and I will do all I can to promote it.

As Dr. Kim Etherington and Dr. Jeannie Wright step down from their tenure as co-chairs of Lapidus International, I just want to say thank you for the work they have done. It has been a busy few months and Kim and Jeannie have been a driving force to keep Lapidus going and growing in this period. They have juggled responsibilities with LIRIC and the Lapidus board, they have furthered the exploration of how Lapidus can be more inclusive and diverse, they have helped the board grow bigger and they have never lost enthusiasm. A big thank you to them and I look forward to working with them more as they step back into their previous roles on the board as Director of Research and Secretary. 

Lapidus celebrates our quarter century this year, as a leading organisation in the world of writing for wellbeing. We are very proud of what has been and is being achieved by the many writing for wellbeing practitioners working around the world in diverse settings and we want to find out more about ways you are working during these challenging times. Our zoom get-together on 22nd May was a chance to share knowledge and develop ourselves as practitioners as well as being an opportunity for Lapidus International to learn from its members about your needs and skills.

We know Lapidus is important because you’re telling us so: we want to collect your memories, your wisdom and your photos of writing for wellbeing events to celebrate our first 25 years. Please send them in to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (making sure to gain written permission from those photographed first.) Here’s a selection of recent comments and photos our valued members to get the ball rolling!

Saturday May 22nd 2021 – 10am until 12pm.

Free Workshop – Donations welcome

To start our 25th Birthday celebrations, we are pleased to offer a Saturday morning networking event on the 22nd May 2021.

We are offering Lapidus members an opportunity to share their experiences of writing for well-being/ personal development/therapeutic purposes.   

Lapidus International is a leading organization in supporting this work and we would like to discover more about the diverse and distinct ways practitioners are working during these challenging times.

As you know, Lapidus is run by a small band of volunteers who give many hundreds of hours of our time because we believe in writing for wellbeing. We want to bring people and communities together, to bring hope, challenge and enjoyment and to offer opportunities for self-development and healing through writing and words.

Professor Tony Wall reports on a lockdown study of 100 therapeutic writers carried out by Lapidus International.

A new national study by the University of Chester and Lapidus examines how creative writing for therapeutic purposes provision changed under the first lockdown of 2020. The study focused on the top 1% most health deprived areas in England (clustered into 16 areas) and combines web analyses, virtual focus groups and interviews, to find out how provision changed, how these changes impacted people, who had been excluded, and what is needed at the local level.