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Poetry Therapy

A School Counseling Intervention

Lucy Hester

+Definitions

Poetry Therapy: A holistic approach that actively engages people to identify issues and express feelings, and empowers clients to transform life issues through the use of the language arts.

Bibliotherapy: The treatment of a patient through selected reading.

Historical Perspective: The use of healing through writing dates back before antiquity. Practiced in the US for 200 years, popularized in the 1960s.

+Populations

Bullying victims

Grieving children

Suicide grief

Depression and anxiety

Cancer patients and the terminally ill

Sexual abuse victims

Children of divorce

Children with poor communication skills

Children of alcoholics

Socially isolated adolescents

Cultural and ethnic minorities

MANY others—applications are endless

+Benefits Offer hope and renewed vitality

Improve self-esteem and self-concept

Decrease loneliness

Improve feelings about physical appearance

Improve interpersonal skills

Increase perception of popularity

Assist in adolescent identity formation

Empower ethnic identity

Increase ability for self-expression

Teach empathy

Release stress

Develop creativity and a sense of power

Increase self-control

Improve organizational Skills

Aid in group cooperation

Raise reported feelings of happiness

Provide a forum for expressing wishes

Have somatic benefits on heart rhythm

Promote awareness of various issues

Foster self-efficacy

Emphasize a student’s strengths

Decrease anxiety and depression

+Poetry Exercises

Receptive exercises—reading pre-selected poems

Expressive exercises—writing new poems

Collaborative group poetry

Fill in the blank exercises

+Small Groups

Divorce: Facilitate reading and discussion on stories where children

of divorce model courage and effective coping strategies Read and discuss poems that evoke feelings brought on by

divorce like loneliness, loss, confusion, and abandonment Guide students in writing their own poems or write a

collaborative group poem

Depression and Grief: Express overwhelming feelings in writing; read and discuss

poetry in order to decrease feelings of isolation and loneliness and to increase hope

+Classroom Guidance

Bullying/Teaching Empathy: Facilitate a class reading on a poem that puts the reader in

the shoes of the poet and resonates on an emotional issue. Students identify and discuss feelings aroused by the

poetry and then write about their feelings.

Anxiety/Stress Management: Teach self-soothing through creative writing; discuss

emotionally evocative poetry

+ One-On-One Time Limited Sessions

Grieving students: Encourage students to write on their own as a form of “auto-healing”

Non-communicative students: Try writing exercises like “The Squiggle Game” and “What Bothers Me” poems

Low self-esteem: Get students invested in a strength-oriented poem written by someone they can relate to (i.e.: someone struggling with a similar issue or from the same demographic or culture)

+Shannon

I'm nobody! Who are you?

Are you nobody, too?

Then there's a pair of us -- don't tell

They'd banish -- you know!

How dreary to be somebody!

How public like a frog

To tell one's name the livelong day

To an admiring bog!

Behind this door, I am somebody,

I am somebody who is scared

of the future

uncertain of my plans

bombarded by expectations.

Behind this door, I am creative,

I am funny and kind and even popular.

I don’t worry about my weight

or my skin

or colleges

when I am alone.

When I walk out this door, though,

I compare myself —

I know I am not you

and it is then

I feel like Nobody.

Emily Dickenson

Shannon

+More Information

National Association for Poetry Therapy (NAPT)

International Academy for Poetry Therapy

National Federation for Biblio/Poetry Therapy (NFBPT)

The Association for Creativity in Counseling (ACC)

Healing Story Alliance (HSA)

+Sources for Discovering Poetry

www.poetryfoundation.org

www.poemhunter.com

Loc.gov.poetry (Library of Congress)

http://hcl.harvard.edu/poetryroom/ (Woodberry Poetry Room)

Poets.org

+References

Eppler, Christie (2008). Exploring Themes of Resiliency in Children After the Death of a Parent. Professional School Counseling 11(3), 189-195.

Frostig, Karen & Essex, Michele (1998). Expressive Arts Therapies in Schools: A Supervision and Program Development Guide. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Ltd.

Furman, Rich (2003). Poetry therapy and existential practice. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 30, 195-200.

Goldstein, Marion (2012). Social implications of bullying. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 39, 206-208.

The Integrated Medicine Committee (2004). Integrative Medicine Packet, The National Association for Poetry Therapy. Retrieved from http://poetrytherapy.org .

Heimes, Silke (2011). State of poetry therapy research (review). The Arts in Psychotherapy, 38, 1-8.

Holman, Warren Dana (1996). The Power of Poetry: Validating Ethnic Identity Through a Bibliotherapeutic Intervention with a Puerto Rican Adolescent. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 13(5), 371-383.

Mohammadian, Youkhabeh, Shahidi, Shariar, Mahaki, Behzad, Mohammadi, Ali Zadeh, Baghban, Alireza Akbarzadeh, & Zayeri, Farid (2011). Evaluating the use of poetry to reduce signs of depression, anxiety and stress in Iranian female students. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 38, 59-63.

Pehrsson, Dale-Elizabeth, Allen, Virginia B., Folger, Wendy A., McMillen, Paula S., & Lowe, Imelda (2007). Bibliotherapy With Preadolescents Experiencing Divorce. The Family Journal, 15, 409-412.

Seiden, Henry M. ( 2007). Using Collaborative Poetry in Child Psychotherapy: the Tale of the Terrible Rabbit. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 4(2), 170-184.

Stepakoff, Shanee (2009). From destruction to creation, from silence to speech: Poetry therapy principles and practices for working with suicide grief. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 36, 105-113.