(At this time, participants must be 18 or older to join a group.)

You will likely have and contribute toward a positive group experience if:

...you are open-minded and curious.

…you value hearing different opinions and views.

…you can agree to follow the structure and basic guidelines for the group.

...you are willing to read aloud what you write.

...you value confidentiality & privacy.

...you are okay with not getting any feedback on your writing.

...you can arrive to group on time.

…you are not in need of urgent or emergent mental health care. 

…you have adequate coping skills and supportive resources outside of group should writing stir up intense emotions.

...you have used writing as a way of expressing yourself and/or you have ideas, thoughts and feelings that you want to write down but don’t.

…you would like help getting into a routine of writing and/or getting your creative juices flowing.

*If you are interested but still unsure, I encourage you to fill out an interest form and share any concerns there.

No.

Even though I am a therapist, WriteItOutGroups are not therapy groups. Members are not my patients and I am not their doctor. Maintaining this understanding as well as certain boundaries helps he group container to feel balanced and sturdy.

Strong emotions may arise - that is okay. We are not trying to “fix” each other. We laugh, cry, take deep breaths, and keep going.

While WriteItOutGroups are not therapy groups, they can lead to healing experiences and an improved sense of wellbeing.

Therapy groups may be offered separately in the future. If so, they will be explicitly labeled and described as such. If this is something you are also interested in, you can communicate this on the interest form.

We each write whatever comes to the surface of our awareness, as is done in different writing methods (freewriting, stream af consciousness writing, free association writing, etc.).

WriteItOutGroups draw specifically from a freewriting practice called Wild Writing, taught to me by friend and mentor Laurie Wagner.

Laurie describes it as a listening practice rather than a writing practice. We are simply making the space to hear what comes up and transcribe it onto paper.

Start writing whatever is true for you in that moment and see where it takes you, using truth as your compass.

If you’re thinking about what to eat for lunch, write that. If you’re remembering how you felt when your 3rd grade teacher cried in class that one time, write that. If you’re cursing yourself for signing up for this group, write that. It doesn’t have to make sense or flow or be grammatically correct.

We’re digging, shedding layers through our writing of what might seem trivial and repetitive in order to see what' lies beneath..an idea, a nugget of wisdom, a moment of clarity, a memory surfacing for the first time…

We write fast so that there isn’t enough time for our brains to catch up and react. This way, the inner critical editor gets bypassed.

“The reason you keep your hand moving is because there’s often a conflict between the editor and the creator. The editor is always on our shoulder saying, “Oh, you shouldn’t write that. It’s no good.” But when you have to keep the hand moving, it’s an opportunity for the creator to have a say. All the other rules of writing practice support that primary rule of keeping your hand moving. The goal is to allow the written word to connect with your original mind, to write down the first thought you flash on, before the second and third thoughts come in….Because that’s where the energy is. That’s where the alive, fresh vision is, before society, which we’ve internalized, takes over and teaches us to be polite and censor ourselves. Another way of putting it is that you need to trust what intuitively comes through you, rather than what you think you should be writing. What comes through you arises from a much larger place than that of the editor, the critic, or society.” (Natalie Goldberg, Keep the Hand Moving)

No. We are writing for ourselves, no one else.

But “good writing is true writing.” (Ernest Hemingway)

“If something inside of you is real, we will probably find it interesting, and it will probably be universal.” (Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird)

Yes. Sharing our writing with the same people, week after week, deepens self-discovery, self-expression and connection.

There will be times you like what you wrote and other times you don’t. Regardless, there is benefit to reading aloud because it allows participants to:

• experience being heard by others without judgment.

• connect to our own stories in unexpected ways as we hear our voices narrate them.

• listen deeply and with compassion, as we recognize pieces of ourselves in the stories of others.

Privacy and confidentiality are highly valued. It is stressed that members are not to discuss the contents of another member’s writing with anyone outside of the group or within the group.

No sessions will be recorded.

No writing will be turned in. You are writing for yourself.

The cost of groups can vary and are subject to change.

Information regarding cost can be found in the Group section. Current groups listed include 6 sessions for a total of $125 (which averages to just over $20 per session).

The intention is that WriteItOutGroups will be both accessible and considered to be an investment in oneself.

If you are currently experiencing financial hardship and unable to join a group due to the cost, please indicate this on the interest form.

Each group is small and intimate, with no more than 9 writers.

Each group meets once a week on a set day and time. Groups can last anywhere from 4 to 12 consecutive weeks.

Each group session will start on time and end on time.

Current offerings can be found here.

The group benefits when we have steady attendance and timeliness from all participants.

However, life happens and members occasionally have to miss, arrive late, or leave early. In these cases, just do your best to notify me before the session.

Just like with exercise, you may not always feel like attending group. In my experience, this feeling often leads to meaningful writing. “Negative” emotions are welcomed. Feelings such as frustration, regret, worry, sadness, insecurity, guilt, shame, resentment, fatigue, grief, anger, fear, rage, panic, boredom, irritability, and impatience can all lead to rich writing experiences.

Yes. At this time, all groups will be held online over Zoom. In-person groups may be offered at a future point.

Yes. I will read a short narrative poem and offer a few jump-off lines to help get us into the flow of writing; something like “Here’s what I wish…” or “Today I’m forgiving myself for…” You can write a list, repeating a phrase like this over and over; you can choose to start with the line and go in any direction it takes you. The options are endless. You can always come up with your own jump--off line too.

You don't need to read, write, or even like poetry. We won't discuss or analyze the poems.

If you and others in your community feel you would benefit from writing together in this way, please indicate that on the interest form.