The act of writing has been proven to reduce stress and help with feelings of depression and anxiety. Writing helps us to explore our emotions, both good and bad, and gain a better understanding of our own feelings. Reflective writing in particular can be incredibly effective in helping to mitigate stressful events or difficult situations in our lives. It is the perfect place to express yourself, your thoughts, feelings and ideas.
The knowledge services team ran two pilot courses entitled ‘Writing for Wellbeing’ back in January with 16 participants in total. The sessions covered the theory of how writing can help wellbeing and some practical writing tasks to give the participants experience of writing and some prompts to look back on afterwards.
Writing can feel daunting but it does not have to be. The first thing to remember is anything you write can be kept private. You do not need to share it with anyone until you are comfortable doing so, which may be never.
Getting started can also feel daunting but there are many resources available to help you get started and to give you prompts.
Building the habit
Like anything else, writing takes time and practice. It can be difficult to find the time to fit this in or to feel motivated, but there are some things you can do to include writing around your daily life:
- Journal;
- Start an online blog;
- Write letters/ emails to friends and family;
- Write reviews of books/ films/ food;
- Leave a notebook by your bed/sofa/kettle… anywhere you will have a spare minute.
Rose Clark, knowledge services librarian, NHS Lanarkshire, said: “I find writing useful in helping me to relax and to let go of stressors and anxieties. It can also be useful in pinpointing exactly what is causing these emotions and being able to work through them or just by coming to terms with them in my own time. Writing is also a great space to be creative and let your thoughts and ideas flow out and have fun! It has been wonderful to share this with colleagues and the response has been overwhelmingly positive which has been fantastic.”
Hear from some participants from the course too:
“Great combinations of different ideas get the brain thinking and the concept of writing again to the forefront. From photo prompts to connotations and newly discovered Haikus – all producing varying results from the individuals involved. Definitely had a great impact and continuing to jot down ideas/thoughts for the book writing and music world.” – Will Lamond
“The Writing For Wellbeing sessions were extremely beneficial in helping me to realise an outlet for my thoughts and feelings during what has been an extremely unsettling and anxious time, it helped me to rediscover writing which I enjoyed when I was younger. It was also good to have some dedicated time to share with colleagues discussing matters unrelated to work. I would highly recommend this and I would love to participate in something like this again.” – Joanne Gilchrist
Watch out for future sessions on writing being run by the knowledge services team.
Activities and resources to help you get started. Inspiration can be found anywhere but these are some useful websites and ideas to help get you started:
- 50 Word Fiction Scottish Book Trust
- Prompt websites/books (lots to choose from just Google ‘writing prompts’ and several websites and blogs will come up)
- Your local public library
- NanoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month (November) website has loads of useful prompts
- Join a writing group (online/in-person) (Scottish Association of Writers/Scottish Book Trust List)
- Scottish Poetry Library
- Oxford Poetry Library
- Scottish Book Trust – Resources for Writers
- National Centre for Writing – Free Resources
- Creative Future – Resources for Writers (more professional tips)
