Weekend Away

I have been at the NAWE Conference in York this weekend meeting a host of wonderful people. I was there to give a presentation on how I believe creative/expressive writing has a vital role in supporting and developing professionals in health and social care.
The best part of the weekend was meeting fellow travellers on this road of discovery and the discussion around the need to network and collaborate. Writers working in health can see a real need to support staff as well as patients and carers. They are wondering why the professions and their mangers are not seeing how vulnerable their staff are becoming to stress. The question was not why do we need writing workshops for health care professionals BUT why are they not available and how do we get that message across to senior people and decision makers.
Only 2 people turned up for my presentation so it was more a joyful conversation than an academic polemic BUT that was great. I am beginning to think I may have more in common with writers willing to work in health than I have with my nursing colleagues.
I read somewhere recently that if you have noticed that there is a book you really want to read on a topic and it isn't already written maybe it is the book you should write. Meeting folk this weekend suggests to me that there is a real interest in supporting staff in health care with creative writing - it is time we gave it a wider audience and see how it can contribute to proper supervision in practice and professional and practice development - ultimately leading to a better experience for both sides in health care delivery.

It wasn't!!!