I'm a writing & wellbeing mentor, working with doctoral researchers to support their thesis-writing process and working with individuals to promote journal-writing for healing, self-development and transformation.
About me:
Writing my PhD in Utopian Poetics showed me what it means to be a writer. I wrote four books of poetry and a 50,000 word thesis, and I started journaling as a way to ground and heal myself.
While I was studying, I also wrote and maintained the Contemporary Small Press website, writing regular reviews of new fiction and poetry published by small presses. I was on the judging panel for the 2018 Republic of Consciousness Prize for literary fiction from the small presses. So I was reading a lot of great writing too. And I co-developed and taught a series of workshops called WELLBEING WHILE WRITING for doctoral researchers at the University of Westminster.
WELLBEING WHILE WRITING used practical techniques from Creative Writing pedagogy to support PhD students of all disciplines with the work of WRITING their thesis. I also used my knowledge and experience of yoga and meditation to provide MOVING & BREATHING FOR WELLBEING workshops to graduate students at the University.
I’ve been teaching English since 2004 and I’ve been teaching Creative Writing at the University of Westminster since 2017.
If you’ve got a writing project that could do with a boost, or you want to transform your life through journaling, you’re ready to start WRITING & THRIVING.
Website: www.writingthriving.com
Conferences & Professional Associations:
Wellbeing When Writing: An Interventions Programme for Tackling Mental Health and Wellbeing Issues Arising from the Doctoral Writing Process - Presentation at the UKGCE First International Conference on the Mental Health & Wellbeing of Postgraduate Researchers, Brighton, May 2019.
Wellbeing When Writing - Presentation at the UKGCE Supporting Mental Health & Wellbeing During the Doctoral Writing Process Conference, University of Westminster, February 2020.
Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Member of the National Association of Writers in Education
Member of Lapidus International: Where Words & Wellness Meet