We spoke to poet, multi-disciplinary artist and activist, Erin James, ahead of their Creative Wellbeing Toolkit workshop on the connection between wellbeing and creativity. The workshop is part of our Wellbeing for Writers programme, with events to nourish your body, mind and creativity throughout July.
What has your own creative practice taught you about the relationship between wellbeing and creativity, and why is it important to bring them together?
Creativity for me is a resource and coping tool for difficult mental health times. My writing was born out of the need to process my inner and outer world, and is probably the simplest but most effective creative mental health resource I’ve ever discovered. When mental health services become increasingly hard to access, utilising what we have around us and within us can be life-saving.
Your workshop is called Creative Wellbeing Toolkit. What practical tools or approaches will participants leave with, and how might they continue using them long after the session ends?
I will offer participants the chance to start crafting their own personalised creative toolkit, which can be as simple as writing creative poetic mantras for them to stick on their mirror, and extend to the bigger questions I will prompt people to think about – like what is a comforting truth they can creatively express and reflect on for the rest of their lives. I hope people will leave with the start of a multi-faceted creative resource they can reflect, grow and meditate on.
The Wellbeing for Writers programme brings together workshops on rest, movement, nature, difficult emotions and creative resilience. What excites you about being part of a programme like this, and why do you think writers need spaces like these right now?
Things like rest, access to nature and movement should be a universal given and right, but are increasingly becoming inaccessible for many folks, particularly disabled folks like myself. By offering workshops and programmes that normalise access to this and give people real skills to manage turbulent emotions within our turbulent world, we are acknowledging the wider struggle we often all feel, and offering tangible resources, spaces and creative tools to address this.
Join Erin James to make your own Creative Wellbeing Toolkit on 7 July or check out the rest of the New Writing South Wellbeing for Writers programme.
