Full Description
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
Contents
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
