Creative writing and therapy
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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…
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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…
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Letting it all spill out: the benefits of venting for creative writing teachers and students.
Specific therapeutic pedagogies that help people ‘vent’ their traumas and issues, with lots of practical suggestions and a rationale for ‘letting it all spill out’ in educational settings.
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Affective digital presence: how to free online writing and drawing?
How freewriting and drawing can have a therapeutic effect when working online. It draws upon the experience of my students and my colleague, Dr Miranda Matthews. It also suggests a methodology for this approach.
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Why teach creative writing? Examining the challenges of its pedagogies
One of the purposes of teaching creative writing is ‘to heal’, in other words, creative writing is taught as a form of therapy, maybe more than is openly stated. Many teachers set therapeutic tasks so the author can learn and grow from the experience of writing about it.
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Aesthetic literacy and autobiography
How I became ‘aesthetically literate’, and used other artistic work to educate and heal myself. ‘Aesthetic literacy’ may even be more important than other forms of literacy because of its therapeutic dimensions.
Related: Posts that mention ‘therapy’
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Five Key Things I Learned About Mental Health First Aid
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Seven Things Creative Writing Teachers Should Know About Safeguarding
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5 Ways Creative Writing Can Fuel Creativity
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Four ways ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is therapeutic — and two ways it is not!
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Angela Kreeger: Subject of the miracle of modern medicine and psychoanalysis
Related: Posts on Creative Writing teaching
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The Mindful Creative Writing Teacher
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7 Transformative Lessons from First Story’s Creative Writing Approach – A Goldsmiths Reflection
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Seven Things Creative Writing Teachers Should Know About Safeguarding
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6 Ways to Design Effective Creative Writing Lessons
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📎 CUT + COPY + TEACH: 5 Ways Uncreative Writing Will Turbocharge Your Teaching