"You don't write because you want to say something you have to say something, you write because you have something to say" (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

An introductory workshop on bibliotherapy for writers who intend to offer their skills in health and social care settings: we will look at how reading informs writing and how poems and stories can be a source of solace, empowerment, and inspiration. 

The workshop will encourage you to find the tools you need to facilitate reading and writing groups and to deepen your understanding of bibliotherapy and the ways it can be used both therapeutically and creatively.

Before coming on this course, you may find it helpful to browse our website - a bibliotherapy toolkit for facilitators.

Helen Lamb is a poet and fiction writer.  She teaches a range of creative writing courses for Edinburgh University’s Open Learning programme.  She is also a group facilitator for Open Secret, a counselling service of adult survivors of childhood abuse, where reading has always been an integral part of the creative writing workshops.  Helen has also facilitated workshops for Maggie’s Cancer Care, Forth Valley NHS, and Falkirk Association for Mental Health.   Winner of the Scotland on Sunday/Women 2000 short story prize, Helen has published a short story collection, Superior Bedsits, and a poetry collection, Strange Fish, (with Magi Gibson).  Many of her stories have been broadcast on radio 4 and appeared in translation.  Her poems Spell of the Bridge and The Gardener were reproduced as National Poetry Day postcards.

For more information and to book your place