Writing Well: Creative Writing and Mental Health

Deborah Philips is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Arts at Brunel University and runs a creative writing group at an acute adult day hospital. Liz Linington trained at Brunel University in Occupational Therapy and has worked in a range of psychiatric hospitals.She now specialises in psychiatric rehabilitation. Debra Penman read her degree in English and American Studies at Hull University and subsequently trained as an occupational therapist at St Loyes College, Exeter.She currently works in a centre for people with HIV/AIDS.

• Foreword. 1. Introduction. 2. Warm-Up Exercises. 3. Beginnings. 4. Introductory Work. 5. Memories. 6. Empathy. 7. Changes and Endings. 8. Imagined Worlds. 9. Opening Up. 10. General Themes. 11. Exploring Literary Form. Appendix 1. Guidelines for Developing and Adapting your own Exercises. Appendix 2. Creative Writing Books (or Why This Book is Necessary). Appendix 3. Useful Organisations. The Authors. References.

...a valuable resource for those wanting to use creative writing in groupwork. Every chapter provides a wealth of different exercises. Each exercise lists the materials needed and gives a recommended warm-up exercise as well as possible prompt questions to ease discussion following the period of writing. The book therefore provides a clear framework for running creative writing groups. The exercises provide a useful primer and can be adapted to suit a wide range of needs. The appendices are equally useful with one on how to devise your own exercises, another providing a list and outline of useful books, and a third giving a comprehensive list of useful organisations. The book offers a practical resource and many of the exercises contained in this slim, well-organised volume appear to be original and are likely to prompt many creative activities.