Lapidus London is a regional group of Lapidus International, the words for wellbeing association that provides networks and information for people interested in writing and creativity for personal development and in working with others.

As part of Creativity and Wellbeing Week, Lapidus London is pleased to be offering a day of workshops at Conway Hall on Saturday, 9th June 2018. The day will offer ways to experience words for wellbeing from different facilitators and will provide an opportunity for the initiated and the curious alike to express themselves through the spoken and written word.

Wondering what words for wellbeing involves?

Following an initial activity, such as small group discussion of a piece of writing, you are encouraged to write, possibly using a line you have chosen from the reading or from an image or object. Timed "free writing" (aiming to write continuously for a short period) in a group will encourage you to find words to express yourself, recover old memories and to find your way through writing choices quickly and fluidly.

There is then the option to read the writing to the group. Hearing yourself read your writing to others in a supportive setting can bring fresh insight to old ways of thinking or being. Participants enjoy the opportunity to write and learn from their own writing and that of others.

Writing is optionally shared with the group and participants are encouraged to respond from their own experience of hearing it as opposed to offering a critique. This is the main difference between writing for self-development and writing for literary development. Writing and voicing writing in this way can be therapeutic but these workshops are not group therapy and participants need to be aware of this when choosing what to write or share.

The shape of the day

There will be four one hour workshops spread throughout the day with breaks and time to chat to new and familiar faces. Also there will be a book swap (so please bring a book for this) and a raffle with a twist - you will be provided with a ticket on entrance.

The workshops

Play with words: Words matter but it’s important to also have fun. This workshop involves a series of short exercises to help us to be playful with words. By the end of the session participants will have written some little and light sentences and have smiled lots. Francesca Baker is a writer and offers words for wellbeing workshops in prisons, universities and the community. She is Outreach Officer and Words for Wellbeing Specialist for Lapidus International. Her work focuses on creativity, curiosity and connection.

A patchwork of memories: This workshop will explore the ideas of containment and release through a breathing exercise, reading and discussing a poem, then writing personal memory fragments on coloured paper to co-create a shared patchwork of containers for different experiences. Narayani L Guibarra offers writing for wellbeing workshops at a community centre in SE London. She is on the Metanoia CWTP Msc and has many years of experience with groups through offering yoga, meditation and voice-work classes and workshops. She is motivated to help participants access their creative voice for self-discovery.

A Fine Balance: This workshop will provide an opportunity to consider some of the contrasts in and competing calls on our lives, and how we might hold these in balance. We will be using description and dialogue to explore the interplay between apparent opposites. A relative newcomer to writing for wellbeing, Heather Shakespeare runs a journal writing programme in a women’s prison and facilitates writing workshops in a village community centre. She has also contributed to the programme for Epsom Mental Health Week and provided writing opportunities within her local church.

Childhood maps: A life writing workshop involving drawing our environment, activities and significant people when young, then sharing our experience. This will lead into writing about aspects of our younger lives in prose or poetry. Alison Clayburn offers workshops in Writing for Self Discovery and Writing for Pleasure in Rotherhithe, London SE16. She has an MA in creative writing and personal development, short fiction and poetry and has been a creative writing tutor for 30 years in diverse settings. Her main interest is the crossover between therapeutic writing and the production of powerful poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction.

If you have any questions or difficulties with tickets, then please email us at lapiduslondon.events@gmail.com

These workshops are suitable for adult participants only.

This event was made possible thanks to funding from Lapidus International.