Report on the 2nd European Biblio/Poetry Therapy Conference

Mel Perry, Lapidus Co-Chair, reports on a recent visit to the 2nd European Biblio/Poetry Therapy Conference, which took place 4th – 5th October 2025, Jyväskylä, Finland.

Inspired in unity

The throb of European voices all drawn to the invisible moment of silent unity

The epigraph is the final line of a collaborative poem created by workshop group facilitated by Geraldine Campbell and David Madden at the 1st European Biblio/Poetry Therapy Conference in Budapest in 2024. At this year’s 2nd European conference voices from across Europe and beyond continued to be drawn through a revelrous and respectful clamour to explore and be inspired in unity by the potential of biblio/poetry therapy.

I am familiar with Sweden and Finland was a new and exciting country to visit, especially to see some of the landscape from the immaculate, comfortable and punctual train as we sped around lakes and through forest, forest and lake, lake and forest from the capital Helsinki to Jyväskylä, the largest city in the central and lakeland region of the country. Finland respects and celebrates biblio/poetry therapy from university research to collaborative practice, so it was fitting that the conference was hosted by the University of Jyväskylä, with sessions taking place in three campus venues, reflecting different phases of Finnish architecture.

Exploring New Dimensions of Biblio/Poetry Therapy

Keynote presentations were delivered by Päivi Kosonen, Senior Researcher from the University of Turku, Finland speaking on Narratives in Biblio/Poetry Therapy: Exploring the Self and the World in the Shelter of Stories and Judit Béres, Associate Professor at the University of Pécs, Hungary on Smiling Apollo: Giving Voice and Inspiring Hope

Citing the work of colleagues Silja Mäki and Carolina Maanmieli, Päivi shared developments in the Narrative Agency Reading Group (NARG) model, with particular reference to participants with breast cancer. Through the work of Hungarian and other European poets, Judit reminded us that we can find kindness and warmth in dark times and that working together will strengthen us.

My own presentation, Loud, Louder, Loudest on spoken word with women survivors of domestic abuse was well received and drew interesting observations from participants on ethical issues and the balance between specialist and non-specialist facilitation of biblio/poetry therapy and words and writing for wellbeing.

I was also able to attend workshops and presentations on biblio/poetry therapy:

• with young people and through AI
• through folk songs
• with survivors of breast cancer
• in palliative care
• in dementia care
• on myths of parenthood
• to explore motherhood
• in community development

I have identified some potential presenters at LLRC sessions in 2026 so look out for those next year.

Looking ahead

Congratulations to Carolina Maanmieli and the Finnish hosting team for their welcome, for arranging a busy, yet still spacious, two and a half days of conference, and for showcasing some of their country’s edible delicacies. Smoked reindeer mousse and cloudberry with sea-buckthorn berry pannacotta were my highlights.

At the end of proceedings the baton to arrange the 3rd European Biblio/Poetry Therapy Conference was passed to Victoria Field who will lead a team to host the conference in Canterbury, October 2026. I am honoured to be asked to represent Lapidus International on the planning group alongside Mariana Casale, Jon Sayers and Anne Taylor. I hope that you will be able to attend and enjoy creative, therapeutic and unifying connections with our friends in Europe.