No place for indifference: poetry therapy and empowerment in clinical, educational, and community practice^*

* This article is based on my keynote address at the 38th Annual Conference of the National Association for Poetry Therapy held April 26–29, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

ABSTRACT

The place of poetry therapy in advancing social justice is the primary focus of this article. Mazza's R.E.S. model of poetry therapy is used as the foundation to speak to the power of language, symbol, and story in promoting human rights. The link between social justice, spirituality, and health is also examined.

KEYWORDS:

• Clinical
• community
• education
• empowerment
• human rights
• poetry therapy
• social justice
• and spirituality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

* This article is based on my keynote address at the 38th Annual Conference of the National Association for Poetry Therapy held April 26–29, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.