Spreading the Word on Writing and Health Project 2009

This project was organised by Lapidus and was funded by Arts Council England in Spring 2009.

All Lapidus members were invited to tender to run pilot projects. There were fifteen submissions and eight were funded. The results of these were evaluated and the findings will be used to develop the field further.

All the practitioners running these projects were Lapidus Professional Members, which means they meet the minimum standards for safe practice.

Click here to read an Evaluation of ‘Spreading the Word on Writing and Health’

Click on links below for reports on the eight projects

• WRITING FOR CHILDREN IN LONG-STAY HOSPITAL CARE - Moira Andrew working with children in long-term hospital care in partnership with Caroline Johnson, Head of Centre, Community and Hospital Education Service, RCH (Treliske) in Truro.
• WRITING FOR WOMEN WITH CHRONIC PELVIC PAIN - Lesley Glover and Kate Evans working with women with chronic pelvic pain in partnership with Dr Stella Morris, Consultant Psychiatrist of the Humber NHS Mental Health Teaching Trust in Humberside.
• CREATIVE WRITING WITH SELF-HARMING PRISONERS - Graham Hartill working with self-harming prisoners at Parc Prison and YOI in partnership with Laurence Bater, Head of Dept of Arts and Media at HMP &YOI Parc - in Wales.
• MAKING SOUP - Sandy Hutchinson Nunns working with trainee counsellors in partnership with Laura Chrysostomou at Lewes Library - in Sussex.
• HOOKED ON WORDS- Maggie Sawkins working with people with a drug or alcohol problem in partnership with Mark Poingdestre of Cranstoun-Portsmouth CDA - Hampshire.
• REFLECTING OURSELVES - Kate Thompson working with professional and voluntary counsellors at St Luke’s Hospice, Sheffield in partnership with Penny Merrett, Bereavement Service Co-ordinator at St Luke’s Hospice - in South Yorkshire.
• POSITIVE WORDS AND PICTURES - Julie Ward working with unemployed people with mental health problems in partnership with Jane Hartley, Chief Executive, the Pioneering Care Partnership - in County Durham.
• CREATIVITY FOR CONFIDENCE - Claire Williamson working with anxious, depressed or socially isolated and registered patients at Bedminster Family Practice in partnership with Dr Gillian Rice - in Bristol.

Lapidus in Poetry & Mental health project supported by the Wellcome Trust 2007

Lapidus collaborated in a project aimed at raising awareness of mental health and emotional intelligence issues amongst teenagers. The Poetry Society Education Department advised on best practice and the project was coordinated by Graham Henderson, Chief Executive, Poet in the City

A programme of 22 days of schools' placements was delivered by Lapidus, Samaritans and The Poetry Society in schools around the UK from January 2007

Cheryl Moskowitz, who delivered and evaluated the programme for Lapidus, produced sample teaching notes and stimulus poems as models for the poets/educators taking part in the programme.

The poetry placements form an integral part of the national programme of placements being run by the Samaritans' Developing Emotional Awareness and Learning (DEAL) programme Samaritans DEAL

As part of the project, a poetry event was organised by Poet in the City at the Royal College of Psychiatrists on 11 April 2006, at which Professor Femi Oyebode, senior psychiatrist and poet, gave a talk and there were readings by actors Ruth Rosen and Peter Forbes.

The event was recorded by the British Library Sound Archive and is available for study and use. Poet in the City produced audio downloads for use on its website: Sound Archive