Open the Door Gently - Writing into Trauma

Writing is a powerful tool for addressing personal trauma and PTSD. Although the history of this work is relatively short, there is an increasing body of evidence that writing is a way of making the implicit explicit, bringing to light the half-remembered sense and finding a way to healing. People can sometimes write before they can speak it.

This workshop format will consist of Kate Thompson commencing with a talk in which she will compare different models of writing into trauma from psychology, psychotherapy and narrative practice. She will also discuss caveats and the need for safety and containment when using these techniques to avoid re-traumatising the writer.

Participants will have the opportunity to experience writing techniques that can be used with clients or in a self-directed way to deepen understanding of this process. This workshop is primarily aimed at practitioners and researchers whose work supports others.

There will be refreshments available from 5pm and an opportunity to meet Kate before the workshop commences at 5:30pm.

About the speaker

Kate Thompson MA MA CJT BACP (Sen Reg) is an existential and writing therapist based in Boulder, Colorado. She has 30 years’ experience of working with clients in NHS, University and Private settings. She teaches courses in Existential Psychotherapy at NSPC, provides research supervision for NSPC and Metanoia’s MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes. Her publications include Therapeutic Journal Writing: An introduction for Professionals and most recently - Transformative and therapeutic benefits of digital storytelling: a phenomenological lifeworlds study of Patient Voices participant experiences (L. Mazzoli Smith, P. Hardy, K. Thompson & L. Westwood).

This event is hosted by Durham University's Institute for Medical Humanities and the Narrative Practices Lab of the Discovery Research Platform, led by Laura Mazzoli-Smith and Veronica Heney.