As OTs we are used to having busy caseloads, working in pressurised environments in challenging situations. The need to look after our own wellbeing is well recognised, and this can take many forms, including using creativity to express and understand ourselves. Therapeutic writing is one form that we can use to get feelings and emotions out of our minds and into something tangible.
What is therapeutic writing?
Simply put, it is writing as therapy. It is writing that allows us to process thoughts and emotions and put them into words. In this post I am focusing on writing that is influenced by clinical experiences had as occupational therapists, but more broadly speaking it can include writing about absolutely anything, including fiction and real life events.
Is it the same as writing a reflection?
Although there are similarities, the purpose and process are different. When I think of a formal reflection, I associate this with using some sort of template to help structure my thoughts. Most importantly, I see formal reflections as a form of CPD, with the end goal being to articulate how the reflective process has made me a better clinician and how this will benefit service users. These forms of reflection are useful to improve our clinical practice and adhere to professional CPD requirements, but their purpose and format are somewhat constrained into predetermined clinical boxes.
With therapeutic writing, the purpose is writing for it’s own sake, for our own wellbeing and enjoyment. There is no clinical conclusion to make from it, and no justification to make of what we have learnt. The benefit is in the process itself, and the form can grow and transform into anything we like.
Why do it?
Writing as therapy can bring many benefits to our wellbeing and personal growth. It is an activity for our own selves, whether this helps with relaxation, stimulation, ideas generation, or healing. It can help to clarify things that are vague, murky and formless in our minds. Writing about difficult and traumatic workplace experiences can be a way to process difficult memories, to name the emotions dwelling inside of us, and perhaps to make some sense of them. It can also help us to appreciate our worth and celebrate meaningful and funny times. Reflecting on memories through a more personal and less clinical lens can help us to recognise how workplace events and interactions can change us as people. Our identities are more than being clinicians, and we can absorb and interpret our experiences in personal and creative ways.
What form does it take?
You can write in any way that comes naturally to you. This may be as a journal style entry, a poem, a short story, or a play for example. You may want to write in the first person, or from the perspective of someone else. It can be structured, or you can use a stream of consciousness approach to purge any words that want to escape from you. It can be a truthful account, fiction, or something combining the two. As the purpose is to benefit from the writing process, there is no end goal to work towards. The grammar and spelling don’t matter, and you don’t need to think about anyone else reading it.
How do I start?
With a paper and pen, or a laptop, and some time set aside.
You may like to be alone in the privacy and comfort of home, but it is also worth considering a group environment for motivation. Recently I began attending a writing group, where a group of diverse and creative individuals meet weekly in a café and sit and write together for an hour. I have found this a great environment to engage in therapeutic writing, and it gives me a structured, boundaried time outside of home to do this. I love that most of the people are writing stories, poems or novels- for me this is a more stimulating and creative environment than if I was in a clinical setting. It encourages me to grow my writing beyond a case study format and into something more personal and fluid.
If you like this post, you may also like:
Slow Art Day, Ekphrasis and The Occupations of Looking and Seeing
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