Trauma often resides in unknown territory inside us, something we can’t see. Writing and sharing in a nonjudgmental space can help us get a bit closer to seeing that “it happened.”
In this seminar we will help you unlock your writing through prompts concerning: contact, response, nourishment and completion.
Why these four? They are the core activities of an organism. They capture the cycle and rhythm of life. They are eternal parts of us, each with countless associations.The payoff for you? the sense of pleasure in writing without knowing where you are going, and the opportunity to represent yourself, to say something real and true, avoiding the need to control what you write, to protect or please anybody else.
This four-hour workshop, led by a therapist/poet and a poet, offers you:
• Writing prompts specifically designed to elicit un-dealt with experience
• Knowledge to better understand how trauma affects you and your writing
• A respectful, safe space to begin working with the material that you may most want to write about, but are having difficulty expressing.
Kenneth Robinson is a poet and musician, and a psychotherapist in private practice for more than 30 years. His practice brings together art, psychology, and spirituality as a means to facilitate emotional integration and guide others beyond the shattering consequences of trauma to a sense of wholeness and connection. Kenneth received a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 1977, and a Master’s in Theological Studies from the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University in 2007. He is a founding member of a musical group that leads kirtan, a form of meditation and worship that allows participants to move to open-hearted awareness and self-expression through sound. He has performed his poetry (individually, and in collaboration with Ana Maria Hernando) in Denver, Kansas City, Vancouver, and in his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. His book of poetry, The Year of Lovemaking and Crying, was released in 1999.
Joseph Hardy, a reformed human resource consultant, lives with his wife Judi and dog Charley Girl, in Nashville, Tennessee. Since retiring, his poetry has been published in more than sixty journals, including: Appalachian Review, Cold Mountain Review, Inlandia, Plainsongs, and Poet Lore. He is the author of two books of poetry, “The Only Light Coming In” and “Becoming Sky,” through Bambaz Press Los Angeles, and a picture book, “At the Reading of the Will—And a Boy’s Life Thereafter,” at IngramSpark.
"Kenneth and Joe were wonderful coaches and instructors. I felt like they truly crafted a safe space for each of us to access the stories living within us. This was hands-down my favorite class I've taken at The Porch and would love to work with them again."
"The safe space Kenneth and Joe created was such a wonderful way to connect with a group of diverse individuals that were all there to learn and grow. I felt the prompts and guidance they offered in the Trauma writing class helped me to identify new feelings and perspective that I hadn’t discovered yet. This class was 10/10 one of the best self care investments I’ve made. I would highly recommend the class to anyone I know."
"Joe and Kenneth were friendly, knowledgeable, and clearly passionate about leveraging writing as a way to process trauma. This class really helped me come out of my writers block and use writing as a tool to process complex feelings."
