Therapists

  • Five Things We Can Learn About Fathers and Sons from Fiction

    What can fiction teach us about the complicated relationships between fathers and sons? After reading Benjamin Wood’s haunting novel A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better, I found myself reflecting on how these bonds are portrayed in literature—and how they shape us. Wood’s book, with its 1990s road trip setting, disturbed and moved me in equal measure. It made me think of other works—Turgenev, Gosse, Hornby, Roth—that reveal the pain, longing, and inherited wounds so often passed from father to son. In my latest blog, I explore five key lessons we can take from such fiction: the transmission of trauma, the hunger for approval, the myth of paternal infallibility, the performance of masculinity, and the search for identity. These themes feel especially resonant in today’s world, where ideas of fatherhood and manhood are constantly evolving.

  • The Mindful Creative Writing Teacher

    This blog introduces The Mindful Creative Writing Teacher—my book for anyone teaching or facilitating creative writing, whether in schools, universities, prisons, or community spaces. Drawing on decades of experience, I offer a fresh, practical, and compassionate approach to teaching writing that blends mindfulness, creativity, and social justice. In the blog, I explain why I wrote the book: to move beyond rigid workshop models and embrace a more humane, dynamic, and inclusive pedagogy. The book is filled with real-life case studies, poems, hands-on activities, and reflective prompts designed to help you cultivate creativity, wellbeing, and critical thinking in your classroom. It’s for English teachers, creative writing tutors, and writers alike—especially those looking to empower diverse voices, support reluctant or neurodiverse learners, and find joy in their own writing again. You’ll find strategies for teaching storytelling, feedback, decolonisation, and multimodal writing, as well as guidance on developing your own mindful teaching identity. This blog offers a glimpse into the book’s ethos: writing not just as a craft to be perfected, but as a transformative act of attention, empathy, and expression. If you’re looking to teach writing in a way that’s more authentic, creative, and connected, this book—and blog—are for you.

  • Seven Things Creative Writing Teachers Should Know About Safeguarding

    I’m Francis Gilbert, and I’ve just published a vital blog post: Seven Things Creative Writing Teachers Should Know About Safeguarding. Drawing on a powerful masterclass led by Danja Sanovic at Goldsmiths, I reflect on how safeguarding isn’t just a legal box-tick but a deeply creative, relational act. Whether you’re teaching in schools, leading workshops in the community, or working with adults, this post offers clear, compassionate guidance. It’s essential reading for anyone using writing to reach vulnerable groups. Creativity thrives when everyone feels safe. Read the post and rethink how you hold your writing spaces.

  • 5 Ways Creative Writing Can Fuel Creativity

    I’ve long believed that creative writing isn’t just for the English classroom—it’s a radical, transformative practice that can fuel creativity across the curriculum. In my new chapter for The Oxford Handbook of Creativity and Education, I explore how freewriting, diagrarting, critical literacy, and compassionate feedback can empower learners of all ages. Drawing on decades of teaching experience and recent research, I show how creative writing can heal, liberate, and inspire. This piece is for educators, writers, and anyone interested in reimagining how we learn and grow through words.

  • Towards a methodology for creative writing educators to use publishing to develop their writing and teaching

    An article which discusses how creative writing educators might develop their own methodologies so that they can become fruitful creative writers who use publishing to develop the literary and pedagogical practices that work for them.

  • Four lessons I learnt from the late Canon Christopher Smith

    A short article on the lessons I learnt from my late godfather, Christopher Smith.

  • Entering Viola’s Room: four key lessons I’ve learnt from Punchdrunk’s Immersive Theatre

    An article which explores 4 key things I’ve learnt from experiencing Punchdrunk’s Immersive Theatre events.

  • Four ways ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is therapeutic — and two ways it is not!

    This blog post explores the therapeutic effects of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, and its non-therapeutic effects as well.