Therapeutic and Reflective Writing: A Skills Based Course for Social/Health and Educational Settings incorporating theory and practice

Module aims

To provide students with an overview of the research and theoretical background to the field of Therapeutic and Reflective Writing.

To develop the skills of students to apply a wide range of methods which would enable them to facilitate Therapeutic Writing in group and individual work with clients in allied health, social care and educational contexts.

To enable students to use Reflective Writing as a way of examining their own professional practice as well as for use in supervision.

Module objectives / learning outcomes

To outline and critically assess the theoretical approaches to Therapeutic and Reflective Writing;

To introduce students to the wide range of methods and techniques of Therapeutic Writing through a skills based approach.

To develop student skills in facilitation of Therapeutic Writing Groups.

To outline the use of writing as a way of reflecting on own practice.

To explore the issues involved in the application of Therapeutic Writing in specific social care, health and educational  settings.

Subjects

The Context of Therapeutic Writing

An introduction to the field of Arts and Healthcare with specific reference to the valuable contribution of Therapeutic Writing and a comparative analysis of the development of the field within an international and Irish context

Methods of Therapeutic and Reflective Writing

An introduction to the wide variety of methods used in Therapeutic and Reflective Writing including free writing, objects, metaphor, imagery, bibliotherapy, alphapoems and others.

The Application of Therapeutic and Reflective Writing

An introduction to the use of Therapeutic Writing in work with children, adults, the elderly and in settings such as schools, hospitals, clinics, hospices and working with individuals and groups. Also incorporating an introduction to the use of Therapeutic Writing online. An introduction to the use of Reflective Writing in own professional practice and supervision with reference to its use in social and health care and educational settings.

Skills: practice and mastery of a range of skills

The emphasis of the course will be on acquiring the skills to become competent in using therapeutic writing as means of working with client groups and individuals and reflective writing as a means of reflecting on own practice. This will involve practice and feedback on all areas of practice including group facilitation, choice of methods, introduction of core exercises, provision of feedback to clients, selection of further exercises, course planning, working with a mentor. It will also include use of reflective writing throughout the course as a means of reflecting on day to day practice issues.   As in other modules, students are encouraged to reflect on their own development and share their experiences in an appropriate peer learning manner, respecting both their own personal and professional boundaries and those of their fellow students.

Module Assessment

The module will be assessed on the basis of a Portfolio of Assignments containing three elements:

1. A learning journal based on a series of three reflective writing exercises written on areas of practice throughout the course. (800-1,000 words per exercise).^[i]

2. A competency assessment of a live practice facilitating Therapeutic Writing exercises to include provision of session plan and introduction of the session in a live setting. * / and write up of session evaluation.  (800-1,000 words).

3. A reflective account with appropriate academic references of how the participant will incorporate the learning outcomes from the module into their practice / work role. (1,000 words)

Further queries

Dr. Rosaleen McElvaney
Tel 01 4024229;
email: rosaleen.mcelvaney@dit.ie

* The live session to take place within the group itself with two observers scoring a range of competencies to include presentation skills/ communication skills/ feedback skills/establishment of empathy and rapport on a five point scale. As with other skills based training, students are taught the importance of drawing on non-threatening and appropriate personal material for use in personal development training sessions