Can writing about traumas break the abuse pattern?

My name is Ivy Derrick. I am a middle aged black female involved in the Clinical Psychology Doctorate course at the University of Manchester. There I have input from a community perspective into teaching, research, consultancy... [ view full abstract ]

My name is Ivy Derrick. I am a middle aged black female involved in the Clinical Psychology Doctorate course at the University of Manchester. There I have input from a community perspective into teaching, research, consultancy and assessing the interview skills of the trainees. I have been involved with mental health services since I was 25 years old.

 
Over the years I have received a number of diagnoses of mental ill health, but "lack insight" which, when loosely interpreted means that I continue to disagree with the various labels imparted to me. Invalidation of life traumas within my family when growing up, racial discrimination within the community and the added trauma of having a mental health stigma has in the past led to detention on psychiatric inpatient wards, which I view as wrongful imprisonment.
 
The "treatment" that I received as an in-patient compounded my traumas.
 
Compassionate care began when I learned to care for myself.
 
I found a way to express my feelings through the medium of the written word, in particular poetry. By my writing I can express my feelings of pain, happiness, dissatisfaction and also celebrate my resiliance.
 
It is my hope that my creative writing may be a teaching tool that can help others - professionals, service users and carers - such as poems on suicidality, which can be a preventitive measure.
 
 By doing a workshop with my friend and former colleague Jen Kilyon I hope to bring cause for thought, open and free dialogue and begin to facillitate alternate training strategies with participation for all with a willingness to listen with an open attitude. There will be an opportunity to hear some of my poetry, discuss in groups and ask more about how the written word enabled me to overcome these traumas and move on.