Poems on My Mind: a toolkit for poetry writing by people living with neurological illness

The Poems on my Mind toolkit derives from the Poetry and Multiple Sclerosis study, a doctoral project undertaken by Georgi Gill in the Centre for Creative-Relational Inquiry at the University of Edinburgh. That research explored the potential of poetry to offer new forms of creative occupation and communication of health experiences by people living with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Over 100,000 people in Scotland live with a disabling neurological condition. These individuals can experience greater levels of isolation than the general population and may benefit from targeted social interventions. Accordingly, the scope of this toolkit has been expanded from the original focus of MS to include people living with Parkinson’s Disease, motor neurone disease and also stroke survivors.

The Poems on my Mind toolkit comprises: an introduction to the project; advice for running poetry groups; tips for using the resources for solo writing; and four themed session plans for workshops which explore different elements of lived experience of neurological illness. The toolkits will be distributed to organisations supporting people with neurological conditions, enabling these organisations to establish their own online or face-to-face poetry writing groups with the aim of improving service users’ wellbeing and ability to express their illness experience. The toolkit has also been designed to be adaptable for individual use.