In collaboration with The Royal Literary Fund, this writing for self-expression course is co-delivered by a professional writer and a lived experience tutor. It helps people think about their experiences and put their thoughts and feelings into words. 

These workshops will offer you an opportunity to reflect and write in a safe, friendly, and confidential space that fosters personal awareness and wellbeing.

It doesn't matter whether or not you're used to writing. You will have time to write about your life and experience through discussion and practical exercises. 

At each session, the professional writer-facilitator will read aloud a short piece of published writing (poetry or prose) and invite you to talk about how the words impact you. Short writing prompts and exercises will then be offered to help you write about your own experiences, thoughts, and feelings.

This session takes place in six hours over four sessions.

My experience of the expressive Writing Course in Collaboration with The Royal Literary Fund

By Tina - Student and lived experience tutor

I recently attended on-line, the Expressive Writing Course; which was co-delivered by a professional author and a student from our Student Development Programme.

I didn’t know what to expect having not experienced this type of course before. The course consisted of three ninety-minute sessions and was worth every second of my time.

The author introduced us to two different poems each week. We read them together and discussed what we thought the meaning was behind each one. We all had different ideas and opinions.

After reading each poem we were encouraged to ‘have a go’ at writing our own, which was to include chosen lines from the poem we had just read. This gave a starting point and was very helpful. We also had a time limit, for example, between two minutes and eight minutes. Once the time ‘was up’ we were encouraged to read them out to the group.

Everyone that shared their work was praised and encouraged by the author, lived experience tutors and fellow students.

After that first session, I just wanted to keep writing down my thoughts and feelings and I found doing so, cathartic. It was as if something inside me had been unlocked. I eagerly awaited session two and three.

Over the three sessions, myself and the other students became noticeably more confident. There were common themes being expressed throughout each person’s work. For example, Hope, Recovery, Loss, and Healing. Empathy was shown by fellow students, the author and lived experience tutors, from one and other.