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The complete volume 2, Issue 2 of the Lapidus International Research and Innovation Community (LIRIC) research journal. Click to download, or you can read the online version here.

Volume 1, Issue 1 of the LIRIC Journal - the first issue launched in December 2020.

Hello and welcome to LIRIC Journal!
The papers on offer this issue speak to the range of interpretations of practice as research, moving between creative and therapeutic spaces but always demonstrating the ability to bring these together in work which seeks and celebrates connection, strength, and healing through creative practice.

This issue marks our third volume, and the diversity and quality of work included shows how we continue to attract high-quality writing and scholarship, and how the field of writing for wellbeing and CWTP (creative writing for therapeutic purposes) is growing.

Authors: Dr. Jeannie Wright and Dr. Poonam Madar

Born Gloria Jean Watkins in 1952, she took as a pen name her maternal great grandmother’s name bell hooks and refused to capitalize it...

Author: Emma Decent

Abstract
In this study, I selected a sample of my own historic diary entries (ages 14–43) and wrote into them reflectively and creatively. This culminated in a script-in-hand performance shared with a closed audience in the landscape. My curiosity was how this process might be therapeutic to me and possibly others. I found therapeutic value in re-storying, becoming more reconciled to life events, improved self-image, confidence, and integration of parts of self. There were impacts on the audience, and findings relate to how sharing life story enables two-way connection, being heard, and seeing oneself in others. There are implications for ongoing work creatively and therapeutically engaging with diaries, especially regarding life review and end of life.

Author: Melanie Perry MSc

Abstract:

A regenring of a research project dissertation that explores the experience of women survivors of domestic abuse who had practised creative writing for therapeutic purposes—reading their written work at a spoken word poetry event and asking, What can we do as writing practitioners to support them? A case study using a phenomenological methodology.

Author: Janet L. Kuhnke

Abstract

This qualitative inquiry is the account of one academic who used poetry and art as reflective mediums while applying for tenure and promotion in a university environment. The autobiographical framework guiding this work adds a rich layer of understanding to the lived experience of applying for tenure as an academic in a tenure-track role. This paper suggests that using arts-based mediums as reflective tools can ease the journey to tenure. Through thematic analysis of the poetry and art created, three findings emerged: first, the importance of considering the creation of poetry and art as mediums to express and explore the reflective practitioner’s role in the academy; second, the importance of creating writing spaces and protecting time needed to engage and critically analyze our works; finally, for each of us as practitioners to engage in self-care activities while inquiring into tensions within our work practices.

Author: Fiona Hamilton

Abstract:

This essay looks at medical students’ poetry on a curated website and design of a course for medical undergraduates called Poetry of Medicine. A close reading of poetry and commentaries on the website outofourheads.net informed aims and design of the course, which had three strands: 1) study of poetics and analysis of poems; 2) practical exploration of applications of poetry within medicine; 3) writing poems and reflecting on them, and reading work by a range of poets. This essay focuses on the third of these. Recurring themes in students’ writing and reflections suggested that writing poetry can offer an outlet for expression and a way of processing personal and professional experiences that may be helpful as a supportive resource for students.

Authors: Lucy Windridge-Floris and Shaamil Windridge-Floris

Abstract

This duo-autoethnography explores responses to a recurring hiatus in conversations when I, a white English woman, state that I am married to a man with an Arabic name. Together, my husband and I have used practices of creative writing for therapeutic purposes to examine our personal encounters with Islamophobia in the UK. This article evidences the power of co-inquiry, demonstrates the necessity of flexible responses to written expressions of trauma; and reveals outrage and silence as distinctive ways of coping with discrimination. It shows an incongruence in the binary which presupposes white non-Muslim men to be superior in their ability to respect women and highlights the need to dismantle white supremacy in trustworthy environments to avoid unhelpful fight-or-flight responses. Personal responses have been written, acknowledging structures of wider political, social, and historical contexts shaping social conditions.