Lapidus News

Below are three opportunties for funding from the Centre of Arts and Wellbeing at the University of Brighton. Have you been thinking about looking for funding for a project or event? Now might be your chance.

And don't forget, if you want to pitch your idea and get feedback from your Lapidus peers before you submit, you can always attend a Creativity Cafe event, run by Dr Jess Moriarty.

Find out more about the funding opportunities here:

 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.

Lapidus International is seeking an organised and self-driven candidate for our Community Support Administrator role. We are looking for an enthusiastic individual with previous experience in a community support role, preferably with social media and website content management experience. In this role, the candidate would be responsible for communicating with the writing for wellbeing community, and helping to develop and share engaging content and resources which are relevant to our members.

Have you had a chance to read the first issue of the fab new Lapidus Magazine? It’s full of stories, pictures and articles by and for Lapidus members.

We are looking for the next issue to feature YOUR writing for wellbeing challenges: issues you’ve had with running groups or issues with confidentiality or offending other people with your autobiographical writing.  Please send us your dilemmas and we will ask the community for answers so we can all learn something. In addition, we would love to have your articles or ideas for features, reviews, letters and helpful advice or tips about writing for wellbeing.

In case you missed it, we launched our second Lapidus International Research and Innovation Community (LIRIC) journal last month (and you can read it here).

This issue is jam-packed full of research articles about writing for wellbeing, including pieces such as:

- Poetry Therapy: A Doorway to Understanding and Alleviating Loneliness  by Geri Chavis,

- Creating Space to Write and Grow Spiritually: A Qualitative Inquiry  by Janet Kuhnke

- The Autism Sonnets: Explaining Myself to Myself  by Sean Erin Moores

... and many more!

We have no plans to stop at a second issue. That is why we are happy to announce that the submission window for articles is now open for anyone who wants to be a part of the third LIRIC journal.

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. 

Barbara Bloomfield, ex-Chair of Lapidus International, considers the changing landscape of creative practices.

The musician and artist, Laurie Anderson, suggests that all creatives should describe themselves as ‘multimedia artists’ because no-one knows what the hell it means.  She wrote: “It’s so vague. No one can say, ‘Hey, how come you’re a jazz person, and you’re making a pop opera?

“Genres are for bins. ‘What bin should we put you in, so we that we can sell what you do?’ Ignore the bins.”

On May 22nd 2021, Lapidus ran a networking event which allowed attendees to meet up and talk about their experiences, both as a Lapidus member and as a member of the writing for wellbeing community. Out of this event came a lot of interesting points of discussion – for example, how can Lapidus support the move of writing for wellbeing so it is more mainstream, or how can Lapidus help its members move into this new ‘hybrid’ world of offline and online events?

These are just some of the points that the board will be thinking about as we move into the future (how will they shape the next 25 years of Lapidus International?).

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!

Sue Spencer & Kate Mattacks are currently writing new ethics guidance to be approved by the Board soon.  We aim to create a more welcoming space for new and experienced practitioners to find guidance on a range of ethical issues relating to how to prepare for practice, working in settings, links to further advice and CPD training, issues arising from COVID-19 pandemic work and a FAQ section. Having worked in a variety of settings, from hospitals, prisons, universities, and other communities we’ve gained insight into the ethical queries and questions we might face as writing for wellbeing facilitators but would like to ask for members’ collective help. 

Since the Black Lives Matter movement drew us closer to the reality of racism in the world today, the term ‘BAME’, meaning ‘Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic’ has been bandied about everywhere.

I don’t do ‘BAME’. I don’t like the term that is. I am BAME, according to someone who made up the acronym. But do I want to be? Why should I? Do you like being called ‘White’? Black? Asian? And having that pointed out on forms, in funding calls and in research?

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.