Groups

Group Information

Can't find a group for you? Contact us about setting up your own and read our Regional Groups Policy here.

Groups

Scotland

Lapidus Scotland is a lively group of bibliotherapy practitioners who hold regular events and work in a variety of settings, including Maggie’s cancer centres, hospitals, schools, prisons and charities. There is a very comprehensive website containing dozens of practical articles about running a writing for wellbeing group or event.

You can find out more about Lapidus Scotland on their website here: https://www.lapidusscotland.co.uk/

Wales

Lapidus Wales/ Lapidus Cymru is a regional group for Lapidus International members who are residents of Wales. Embracing the Welsh cultural identity, we want to support and celebrate our members, giving a platform to share their events and to network with others in the area. We try to hold events all over Wales throughout the year and are currently trying to set up 'bases' across the country so all our members have access to a group. Find out mote information about this group on their website here: https://lapidus-wales.webnode.co.uk/

London

Contact: Mary Burns

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Our meeting takes place every two months, usually on the last Saturday of the month, from 1 pm to 3.30 pm. This may change if there is another event on this date which many of our regulars wish to attend . Members pay five pounds, non members ten pounds, the first meeting for non members is free.

Members enjoy catching up, exchanging news and information, sharing ideas and news of upcoming events .

We usually have a guest speaker. This can be an author / poet who has written a book which members are interested to hear more about ; someone who is willing to facilitate a workshop based on writing / well being or a member of the group who is willing to share their area of expertise. You can find out more about Lapidus London on their website here:

https://lapidus-london.webnode.com

South West

Contact: Katrina Plumb

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The Wordzels - the South West rural regional Lapidus group which serves the towns and villages outside of Bristol. Current members come from Ilminster, Salisbury, Newbury, Bath, Frome, Bradford-on-Avon, Melksham.

Contact: Kate Pawsey

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We meet on the first Sunday of every other month (Jan, March, May, July, Sept, Nov) from 11am, to 4pm.

This is a relatively new group grown from a need to serve Lapidus members living outside the city of Bristol. We meet to write and share and reflect and eat a delicious shared lunch. The group is developing successfully in to having a co-facilitated arrangement and, with our shared understanding of the W4W process, has a very safe, deep and potent quality already. Different members step forward to arrange the admin for each gathering. We hold the structure and space between using our known and beneficial format. Anyone can offer warm-ups or creative writing prompts or volunteer to hold the space and the structure on the day, by arrangement with that day's host. The afternoon has until now been used for a 'peer surgery' which benefits all who take part. We are looking into venues in Nunney and Malmsbury, alternated, to serve our catchment.

HOT, the Lapidus regional group that covers North Yorkshire up to the Borders

Contact: Sue Spencer

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Group meets 4 times a year at Friends House, Scarborough – March, June, September and November

Cornwall

Contact: Anne Taylor

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Lapidus Cornwall regularly meets on a Saturday morning on the third Saturday of every month in Truro or Falmouth and occasionally Penzance.

Kent and Sussex Writing and Wellbeing Network

Contact: Sarah Salway

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KSWWN is a network of people involved in writing for wellbeing across Sussex and Kent. We run workshops, talks and share information. Criteria for joining: you must live or work in Sussex or Kent, be involved, or want to become involved, in using words for wellbeing with others, and have a commitment to the development of professional good practice in words for wellbeing.

Lapidus Hoodlums (Sheffield/ North Derbyshire)

Contact: Sarah Walters

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or we can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LapidusHoodlums/

Although we are still finding our feet a little, it's our intention to organise 3-4 open meetings per year in the Sheffield/North Derbyshire area. These will be open to anyone to come along and take part in some writing therapy exercises and meet others who are interested in any aspect of words for wellbeing.

West Yorkshire Lapidus

Contact: Terry

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Isle of Man

Contact: Janet Lees

Lapidus Isle of Man is in the early stages of forming and we warmly invite anyone with an interest in writing for wellbeing to join us and help make it happen. Perhaps you’re a healthcare professional, a community centre coordinator, or simply someone who’d like to find out more about how writing for wellbeing can complement your work – get in touch with Janet Lees on 07624 470941 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Australia

Lapidus Australia has wings!

An inaugural meeting to gauge interest in Brisbane recently resulted in a commitment to form a group currently known as Lapidus Australia. It’s early days for us, with our next meeting to consolidate our plans to be held on 19 March.

What can be said so far is that all of us are inspired by our colleagues in the distant north - that would be you Lapidus International, with your spidery connectivity and peer support for practitioners of words for wellbeing in our myriad forms.

In Australia, writing for wellbeing practitioners have tended to be solo operators, with clusters forming friendship/support groups here and there. One such cluster is in Brisbane, the other in Perth. Bridging distances in our vast land will be a challenge for the group, so it is our intention to inspire more localised groups. One step at a time!

We look forward to engaging with our peers on the Lapidus Facebook group - stand by for a rush of antipodean interest.

Anyone interested in attending our next meeting is welcome to get in touch with Stephanie Dale from The Write Road - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Canada and The Netherlands

Dr. Reinekke Lengelle

Visiting graduate professor, Athabaskan University, The Hague University and University of Alberta. Contact via writingtheself.ca

Spain

Jose Maria Ribal This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Israel

Lapidot Israel is a support and networking group for writing group facilitators, founded in 2015 and inspired by Lapidus UK. The growing group consists at the moment of 15 members from all regions of Israel. We meet once every six weeks. Our meetings are divided in two. First an experiential part, where each one of us in turn facilitates a writing excercise, with afterwards a discussion about it's uses and ways to improve. The second part of the meeting deals with professional and organisational issues, like defining the core parts of our work and how to promote it in the service of wellbeing in it's widest sense. Our members come from various backgrounds: bibliotherapy, poetry therapy, clinical social work, clinical psychology and group workers, literature teachers and writers. This variety allows for a very wide scope, and for making the task of defining our identity quite challenging. We operate on a voluntary basis among ourselves, have no membership fees and are not registered in any way. We share our knowledge and experience through a private network of email and whatsapp and we recommend each other to people searching for writing support in their region. We have started to promote writing for wellbeing by organizing occasional community-writing events in our own neighbourhoods.

Contact: Channa Cune

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Lapidus Living Research Community Group

Are you interesting in research in the field of writing for wellbeing? The Lapidus Living Research Community meets monthly via Zoom to discuss all things research, with a focus on qualitative research theory and methods. Our Zoom meeting link through the link below - it is the same link for each session. Everyone welcome, regardless of research experience. One of our members Jacki McCartney offered this definition of 'living research': an active, ongoing curiosity and openness to learn.