Please note: The following is not meant to be professional advice to guide your mental health or treatment. These are my thoughts on some topics I’m passionate about and interested in and are based on my experiences. While I refer to some research, I didn’t provide a list of references because this is meant to be fairly informal. However, if you are interested in these topics and would like to know where I got my information from, I can certainly share some of my sources with you.

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Writing. Now this is a topic that I could go on about for a while, but I'll try to keep it to the point. 

Therapeutic Writing is a tool that I use with many of my clients - pretty much any client who will let me. Why you ask? There are two reasons:

1. Writing for therapeutic purposes has been being researched for several decades and the results of the research are very consistent and quite amazing. Across numerous presenting problems, therapeutic writing has repeatedly demonstrated its power to rewire our brains for the better, garner insight, and help provide relief for emotional distress. The best part? You don't even have to write every day to get that. Writing just 3 - 4 times a week for even 15 minutes can bring about immense benefits.

2. A good therapist will work themselves out of a job. Writing is an incredibly powerful tool that takes few resources and that clients can learn to use on their own without needing to be dependent upon seeing me every time an intense emotion surfaces or they are working through something difficult. Although I'd love to support you in working through each problem in your life, being dependent upon someone else for that all of the time isn't very convenient or healthy.

"Ugh! But it's so much work!" you might say, or "I've tried journaling before and I never know what to write!" Well, that's what I'm here for. To address the first concern, any time we want to improve upon ourselves or our life it's going to be work. To read more about why doing the work is important, head over to this page if you're not convinced. To address the second concern, you're right! Writing can be difficult, especially knowing what to write or where to start. For some people, writing seems to come naturally and for others it does not. And for both groups, working with a concept called "the journal ladder" can be greatly beneficial. The journal ladder is a concept developed by Kathleen Adams, a pioneer of the therapeutic writing world. Just like a regular ladder, the "low rung" writing strategies are quick and easy to use/ step onto, the "middle rungs" take a bit more energy and effort, and the "upper rungs" are the most challenging. At the low rungs, you can expect a lot of structure and the writes to be shorter and easier. They will help you organize your thoughts with a dash of insight thrown in. At the upper rungs, the writes are long and unstructured. They can be challenging, but are very deep with a high pay off in insight. The middle rungs are just that - a middle ground between the other two.

Although writing can be a lot of work, aside from it being an independent tool that you can use, there are a lot of benefits: 

• It can act as a container for our thoughts and emotions so that we don't have to carry them around with us. 

• It can help us regulate our emotions by supporting us in naming and making meaning out of our emotions.

• It can decrease the amount that we overthink or ruminate about a topic. 

• It can help us problem-solve, make a decision, or find actionable next steps. 

• It can organize our thinking and give us insight on what's going on beneath the surface. 

• It can help us notice patterns or themes in our life, relationships, thoughts, and feelings.

• It can support us in working through trauma and grief.

• It can help us sort out what we want to say prior to having a difficult conversation. 

• It helps to alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety. 

• It supports overall physical and mental health.

Now if I've convinced you to give it a try, there are 2 ways you can do so: 

1. Contact me for an appointment and we can get started working with some writing strategies tailored to your specific needs, concerns, available time, and abilities. 

2. Check out the resources at the bottom of this page. I have attached my writing guidelines and some of my favourite writing tools for you to try out. You can also check out the other websites, books, and resources I have listed at the bottom of the page to get varying perspectives and tools to find the right fit for you.

Still not convinced? Perhaps you've had miserable experiences in the past where a grade school teacher ridiculed you in front of the class for some writing errors or a parent or peer criticized your writing harshly. Perhaps it's just something you find difficult and challenging. While I would encourage you to work through those things and give it a shot, writing, like any tool/interest/activity, is not for everyone and that's okay. The only reason I encourage it heavily is because of how powerful, effective, efficient, and easy it can be at making a noticeable difference in your wellbeing. But just because writing doesn't work for you, doesn't mean there aren't several other options that may! If this is you, you may have your own tools that you use effectively and regularly already, you can contact me and we can work with your specific needs/interests, or you might be interested in some of my other musings, such as those on the benefits of exercise, being in nature, connection, and vulnerability.

Interested in further reading/information on the subject? 

Kathleen Adams is a pioneer in the field of therapeutic writing. Her organization, the Center for Journal Therapy, has many resources for those interested in therapeutic writing. She also has many publications, such as Journal to the Self. She is also involved in the Expressive Writing Series, which is an excellent series that has many titles to choose from depending on your areas of interest.

James W. Pennebaker is also a pioneer in the field and has many publications including Writing to Heal.

Christina Baldwin has a different style from Kathleen Adams and published Life's Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Practice among others.

Ronna Jevne is local to Edmonton and specializes in therapeutic writing. Her website, which includes resources and writing retreats, is here.