How it began​

 

Research shows that creative writing can significantly help our emotional and mental wellbeing.

The onset of Covid had a devastating impact on the freedom to fully use all our senses. Touch, for instance, became a potential threat, as did smell, which relies upon breathing in the world around us. And as more of our lives went online, our contact with others, and ourselves, became more sterile.

 

Creative writing is about engaging the senses. Our senses affect our perception of the world, which in turn affects our mood or anxiety levels. For instance, the sound of the wind (external noise), or the chatter of negative thoughts in our head (internal noise) can both impact our feeling, or actual experience, of safety and security. For those of us with a significant challenge to one or more of our senses, the loss of sensory information is exactly that. A loss.

​

But taking a sensory approach to creative writing does more than just create a pleasant stimulus. Our senses combine to create a synergy; a combined effect that is greater than the sum of its individual parts.

Available in large text, braille, and audio, each therapeutic pack contains cards with a range of guided creative writing exercises, which include the use of specially selected essential oils, visualisation exercises, or the use of touch, taste, or hearing.

​

Some packs focus on a particular mental health issue, such as mood, trauma, or loss. Other packs focus on creativity, or relaxation, or exploring and improving your wellbeing, alone, or with friends or family.

And the physical act of writing is not always necessary. We are, first and foremost, storytellers, and before writing as we know it was developed, there was a rich oral tradition. Voice recording can add another dimension to the sensory side of your creativity.

 

Developing the Writing Your Wellbeing self-help packs has been a wonderful way to share writing and mental health care/self-care with anyone who needs it. By incorporating the use of essential oils, the packs have become an enriching path to help deal with the range of the mental health challenges most, if not all, of us will experience at some point in our life.

 

However, it was fate that determined my next steps - the development of sensory creative writing wellbeing packs for people with - as well as without - visual impairment.

 

In May 2023, my husband, Steve, developed a rare neurological condition that caused his immune system to attack his central nervous system and irrevocably damage his optic nerves, causing him severe sight impairment. One year after this life changing event, I was diagnosed with dry macuIar degeneration, an incurable condition which nibbles away at the central vision.

 

It never rains, but it pours, eh!

 

Thankfully, the condition does not yet impact my vision, although the news was a shock. But maybe not so shocking when you consider that over 2 million people are living with sight loss in the UK. And this is estimated to more than double by 2050 (source: RNIB)

​

So, quality of wellbeing for people both with and without visual impairment became our focus. Hopefully you will enjoy the information on this page and go on to get a lot from the writing wellbeing products we offer, whether in text, audio, or braille.

​

Namaste

​​

Elaine and Steve

Writing Your Wellbeing (and ours!)

Elaine Ruth White is a writer and researcher with a clinical background in mental health. As well as developing the range of self-help sensory creative writing packs, she provides Writing Your Wellbeing courses and one-to-one Writing Your Wellbeing sessions.

​