Writing has always been about wellbeing for me. It’s about understanding who I am. What I think. My teenage journals were about unpacking what I felt, believed, understood. All my life, my creativity has had this need to know and understand through writing at its core. My goal in my workshops is to open up this space for others.

My writing for wellbeing workshops create space for participants to explore and dig into emotions and experiences through writing exercises that are geared towards the past, the present and the future. Drawing on the ‘transformation through writing’ model, which is about writing your story to find its life giving aspects, I couple this with writing that focuses on the now and the future. Based on the idea of the brain’s plasticity called ‘neuroplasticity’, these writing exercises can help you develop new, healthier habits, ideas and ways of thinking.

Writing is powerful. Writing can unlock deep, hidden emotions. This is good! But it can also be difficult. My workshops are trauma informed in that I work to create a space where participants feel grounded, and can practice grounding themselves in the now and staying within what is called the ‘window of tolerance’. The WOT isn’t about not feeling emotion or only exploring positive emotions. It’s about the nervous system not being triggered into a state of fight, flight or shutdown. It’s about developing awareness of when this is happening and working to self-regulate. To this end, I use objects, material, paper, card, and arts materials to both foster creativity and help ground participants. This creates a sense of play, but is also grounding.

One key difference between a WFW workshop and a traditional creative writing workshop is the difference between product and process. In a CW workshop, the aim is to create a product – a poem or story. Feedback is given to develop writing towards this. In A WFW workshop, the focus is on process, on the act of writing and what is discovered through the process. Feedback, if there is any at all, is meant to encourage, guide and support rather than critically engage with the work to improve it in terms of craft. This doesn’t mean that WFW won’t produce some beautiful writing. It does. Mostly because focusing on process liberates writers from fears and anxieties of producing ‘good’ writing.

I offer workshops for groups from different backgrounds and demographics. Recently, I’ve run workshops with The Birchall Trust for survivors of sexual trauma, as well as carer’s groups and groups of people who have experienced religious trauma.

Writing for Wellbeing for Survivors of Religious Trauma

In November 2024, I ran the first online course in WFW specially tailored to survivors of religious trauma in the UK. Partnered with Claire Alison Hams, a registered BCAP therapist, my three week online pilot created a space for ten survivors to explore writing for wellbeing. Drawing on the transformational model of writing, present and future-orientated writing, as well as trauma informed grounding techniques, my workshops created a space where survivors can grow and develop through writing.

I drew on the trauma I experienced leaving the Jehovah’s Witnesses, which I’m currently writing about in my memoir in progress and my solo show. I am not a trained mental health professional. Claire is a specialist in recovery from religious and cultic trauma and also a survivor. Co-facilitating the workshops meant we could create a safe space to support participants. Claire included snippets of psycho-education and tips on self-care, which supported the writing prompts and the group as a whole.

Currently, we have plans to develop this course into a five week course. I have applied for funding to do this, which will keep the workshops financially accessible. So watch this space!

I also run one-off WFW workshops. I annually run an in person workshop at the International Cultic Studies Association Annual Conference. Working them with participants from many backgrounds, faiths, religious groups and experiences.

If you are interested in any of these workshops, then contact me through this website or through z.lambert@lancaster.ac.uk.