Unlock the Therapeutic Power of Writing

with Monica's Expert Guidance

  • Join us on a transformative journey into the world of therapeutic writing and enhance your professional practice, opening imaginative ways of working with your clients.

  • Guided by Monica, a seasoned expert in the field, this journey will be an adventure that will take you into the powerful world of writing, sharing deep connections with your clients. You'll both gain profound insights into different perspectives of emotional and psychological well-being. This will make a significant difference to the impact of your therapeutic work.

  • If you're wondering how to seamlessly integrate this transformational process into your practice, Monica is here to support you. Her expert guidance will provide access to proven methods and techniques for working with creative writing. These skills will help you provide more comprehensive and impactful therapy and also lead to a profound shift in how you engage with your clients.

  • Are you ready to unlock new dimensions of self-expression and healing in your practice?

By the End of This Programme, You'll Have Acquired:

  • Enhanced Therapeutic Writing Skills

    This course equips you with therapeutic writing skills, allowing you to unlock the transformative potential of writing and elevate your professional practice. You will provide more impactful therapy, thereby facilitating a deeper level of self-expression and emotional healing in your clients.

  • Deeper Client Connections

    Guided by Monica, a seasoned expert, you will embark on an extraordinary journey into the realm of therapeutic writing. You'll establish profound connections with your clients, gaining deeper insights into their emotional and psychological well-being, and making a significant impact on their lives.

  • Innovative Engagement Strategies

    The course offers innovative methods to engage with your clients. This empowers you to adapt your approach to their individual needs, thereby expanding the dimensions of your therapeutic practice. Furthermore, you'll explore how therapeutic writing has evolved to include creative writing and how creative writing can address a range of issues in therapeutic practice.

  • Emotional Insights

    A core component of the training involves deepening your understanding of emotional insights. You'll gain the ability to effectively guide your clients through their emotional journeys using writing. This process-oriented approach is crucial in unlocking the creative flow of writing and revealing insights into emotions.

  • Literary Strategies for Therapy

    The training introduces you to the main literary strategies used in creative therapeutic writing. These strategies will significantly enhance your therapeutic work by facilitating self-expression and healing. You'll also trace the historical evolution of therapeutic writing, including its roots in Freud's flow of free association.

  • Transformation and Self-Support

    The course emphasizes that using therapeutic writing is powerful and transformative. However, it's vital for practitioners to be comfortable with their own writing practice and to have adequate support for themselves before introducing writing into their practice with clients. This approach ensures both you and your clients benefit from this unique and effective therapeutic process.

Above All Else...

By acquiring these comprehensive benefits, you will provide more meaningful therapy, leading to a profound transformation in how you engage with your clients. Additionally, you'll be encouraged to maintain a work journal, promoting personal growth, enhancing clarity of thought and intentions, and building confidence in the therapeutic writing process. Ultimately, you will be prepared to unlock new dimensions of self-expression and healing in your professional practice.

The Foundation Certificate in creative writing for therapeutic practice will Transform Your Therapeutic Approach.

Enrollment will open soon.

A 25 hour live training over 18 weeks

Each Session will include an introduction to the theme, suggested reading material (a book chapter, a short text given beforehand), writing, sharing, working in pairs / small groups, discussion and Q&A.

The Seven Sessions

There will be specific texts recommended for each session; these will be given in good time to allow for reading and reflection.

Session 1

The theoretical framework of strategies and process.

This presentation will refer to the literature on reflective writing and writing for wellbeing. We’ll explore how the many areas of the human condition, which are dealt with in therapy, can benefit from a variety of writing techniques. Connections will be made between writing and the body, how to develop exploratory writing, the issues around privacy, pen and paper, risks and boundaries, an approach to fear and blocks and how to engage your own feelings. We will address the role of trust and the Socratic use of questions. And talk about the importance of reading off the page and how this leads to personal empowerment. Our learning will be underpinned with an experiential approach as well as selected texts.

Session 2

Belief System: what underpins your work

This session will address what you bring to your practice through exploring the early imprint of beliefs from childhood, alongside your current values. We will also look at how the unknown plays a key role both in exploratory writing and in therapeutic work.

Session 3

Authority of the Self: Skills, Trust & Your Truth

Knowing the limit of your skills and trusting what you know, as well as your intuition, will be the ground we explore in this session. We will look at where authority rests in your belief system and how you hold to what you trust.

Session 4

The Healing Power of Writing: mental health & traumatic memories

This session will look at the beneficial ways of writing to avoid re-stimulating traumatic memories and reference the facilitator Monica Suswin’s own writing on recovery from episodic and time-limited clinical depressions. The integration of the Ill Self and the Well Self will be addressed, which is covered in Monica’s book A Fox Crossed My Path. This will be essential reading for this session.

Session 5

Fears & Frustrations: addressing blocks & anxiety creatively

In this session we will take time to stay with the emotions as they express themselves in the body. Metaphors will come into their own as we write and describe these feelings and sensations. Part of the process will be monitoring how the writing may be transformative.

Session 6

Extending The Metaphor: Insights & Surprises

Following the previous session we will now explore other writing strategies which may stem from metaphorical descriptions underpinned with the inner emotional life. The use of Voice in writing enables us to name truths, which may otherwise be elusive. We will give direct expression to the many facets of Voice which arise from our use of metaphor. And learn how to follow where the writing takes us.

Session 7

The Unsent Letter: an incredibly powerful way of writing directly to another

We will explore how to develop the unsent letter into an extended and imaginative correspondence. As well as addressing a living person, the power of the letter form can be written to anyone either in the deep time of history, or to those we know who have died.

Final Sessions 8

Students will present readings, insights, reflections on the course and how their own writing has benefitted. This will be a conclusion to the course, going over any material which feels necessary, answering questions.

  • In this course, you will gain an introduction into using creative writing for therapeutic practice. Learn the main literary strategies used in creative therapeutic writing and an understanding of how writing reveals insights into emotions

  • Learning will be mainly experiential backed by reflections and discussions; writing is an excellent way of assessing what you know and what you think and can then act as the impetus for further learning

  • Using this kind of writing is powerful and transformative and requires practitioners are comfortable with their own writing practice and have support for themselves before introducing writing into their practice with their clients/patients.

  • This foundation certificate will broaden your work with clients supporting you to assess and work with a range of complex client presentations, working safely and effectively.

  • Teaching various writing styles will serve as an introductory gateway to deeper explorations within the therapeutic client relationship.

  • The initial seven sessions will be spaced mostly two weeks apart, offering you ample time to fully absorb the training content and seamlessly integrate it into your therapeutic practice. Throughout this journey, you'll also have opportunities to engage in readings, share valuable insights, and reflect on how your own writing has enriched your therapeutic approach. As the course reaches its conclusion, we will address any remaining topics and provide answers to any questions or concerns you may have, ensuring you are well-prepared for the next phase of your professional development.

  • Furthermore, you will be encouraged to maintain a personal work journal as a private tool for self-improvement. This practice will significantly enhance the clarity of your thoughts and intentions. Through consistent writing, you'll not only build confidence in your therapeutic writing skills but also gain experience which will help guide your own clients.

  • Supervision time will be integrated during the training.

  • Any special requests? Please contact us at [email protected]

Course Fees

You can choose to pay the course fees in one single payment or choose our instalment plan. Get full course access as soon as you pay the first instalment. Contact us to apply to the pay what you can option

Who can apply to the training ?

Qualified carers or trainees in year 2

The prerequisite for this course is that all participants must be qualified therapists, coaches, or experienced caregivers. Additionally, participants who are in their second year of training are also eligible to enroll.
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#Temenos online training on therapeutic writing

Application process

  • Please follow the link to apply on the Temenos website and to pay your deposit. This is to secure your place on the course.

  • You will be invited to an hour and a half induction meeting for course orientation for course orientation and to ask any questions. It will also be an opportunity to get to know your peers.

  • Once you've registered for the course, you should get in touch with us. Please send us your qualifications, express your motivations for enrolling in the training, outline your expectations, and provide information about your prior writing experience. This information will help us tailor the course to better meet your needs and goals.

Resources

  • Powerpoint slides will be used during the training.

  • An initial reading list will be provided upon acceptance onto the course.

  • All the session will be recorded and accessible after the course

  • You will have access to all the videos from the self learning videos of the Foundation certificate

  • As a student, you will have the opportunity to take part in either two 20-minute one-on-one sessions with Monica or a single 40-minute session as part of the course. Additionally, you will be able to engage in peer group discussions and participate in forum interactions.

Additional information

  • It’s important that the learning environment is safe for you and your group. Should the material of the course impact you to the point where your learning & that of the group is impacted then your tutor will arrange a tutorial with you. In exceptional circumstances, for your safety, you may be withdrawn from the course.

  • An assessment will take place for the final presentation at the conclusion of the programme. To be eligible for certification, a minimum attendance rate of 80% during the live training sessions is also a requirement.

25 Hour Training Course

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