Expressive Writing

Counseling and Healthcare

By (author) Kate Thompson, Kathleen Adams Foreword by Christina Baldwin

Publication date:

20 August 2015

Length of book:

252 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781475807721

Expressive writing is life-based writing that focuses on authentic expression of lived experience, with resultant insight, growth, and skill-building. Therapists, coaches, healthcare professionals, and educators have known for decades that expressive writing is a powerful tool for better living, learning, and healing. But until now, few have had access to practical applications that have proven successful.
In this groundbreaking collection, you’ll discover:

how expressive writing can call us into healing community
exciting new discoveries about how writing can support neuroplasticity and actually help change our brains—and thus our thinking and behavior
new research on the role of expressive writing for prevention of compassion fatigue in RNs
how transformative writing can create art from the ashes of trauma
the role of journal writing for emotional balance
sensible ideas about the synergy of expressive writing and play therapy for children, teens, and adults
interventions and strategies for the use of expressive writing in acute psychiatric care
how interactive expressive writing helps deaf teens communicate inarticulate feelings and thoughts
how cancer survivors can use expressive writing to reclaim identity and strength post-treatment
the role of expressive writing in developing the roots of resilience for practitioners

Foreword
Preface	Kathleen Adams
Section 1: Theory
In This Together: Writing in Health and Social Care	Graham Hartill and Victoria Field
Your Brain on Ink: Expressive Writing and Neuroplasticity	Deborah Ross
Expressive Writing for Caregiver Resilience: A Research Perspective	John Evans, Meredith Mealer, Karen Jooste, and Marc Moss
Writing the Darkness: A Transformative Writing Model	Sherry Reiter
Emotional Balance, the Therapy Session, and the Journal	Beth Jacobs
Section 2: Practice
WOWSA! Play-Based Journal Therapy	Cherie Spehar
Therapeutic Writing in Psychiatric Care	Carol Ross
Now That I See: Journal Writing with Deaf Teens	Donna Houston
Roots of Resilience: Writing for Practitioner Self-Care	Susan Smith Pierce
Creating a New Story after Brain Injury	Barbara Stahura
After the Deep Dive: Reflections on Writing beyond Cancer	Jean Rowe
Epilogue
Honoring Silence	Jeannie Wright and Kate Thompson
About the Editors and Contributors
Acknowledgments

Expressive Writing: Counseling and Healthcare provides a bridge in the much-needed world of psychological healing. It reminds us that creative approaches can provide breakthrough methods for clients to find their way to health. Spanning the diverse fields of poetry, journal therapy, spirituality, brain science, theories of self and much more, this book gives proof that expressive writing addresses a full spectrum of mental health challenges.