“Discovering inner strengths”: a co-facilitative poetry therapy curriculum for groups

ABSTRACT

The authors of this paper review the efficacy of poetry therapy and introduce a curriculum to be used in the provision of a co-facilitative poetry therapy group process which involves a professional poet and a therapist. Drawing upon best practices of poetry therapy, the paper demonstrates that this innovative approach not only contributes to the field but is transferable among a variety of client populations. The authors present a curriculum, writing exercises, samples of poems, and include a plan for efficacy assessment in the context of a domestic violence survival group.

KEYWORDS:

• Bibliotherapy
• collaboration
• co-facilitation
• interdisciplinary
• poetry therapy
• trauma

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Applied interdisciplinary research approach is described as one generally used to “examine policies and programs that respond to the changing needs of vulnerable populations” (Hills & Richards, 2014, p. 5).

2. Sample questions (measured on a 5 point Likert Scale)

“I can never tell how I feel”

“I pay a lot of attention to how I feel”

“No matter how badly I feel, I try to think about pleasant things.”