My guest today is Andrew Kauffmann.

Andrew is a coach, a writer and a teacher of creative writing.   He believes that writing be a transformational aid for healing, in coaching, and in all contexts.

Trained and accredited by The Professional Writing Academy in the use of expressive and therapeutic writing, he uses stories, metaphor and narrative tools to help his coaching clients cope with life transitions, and to derive meaning from challenging life events. 

Open about his own experiences of living with OCD, experiencing depression, and being a kidney donor, he is the UK Centre for Mental Health Writer-In-Residence from May 2023. He leads London Lit Lab´s Queer Storytelling course, facilitates Out on the Page´s workshops for LGBTQ writers on exploring their personal stories and runs workshops with The Write Salon on writing challenging material. 

He was shortlisted in 2022 for The Literary Consultancy's Pen Factor award. He was also a winner of the 2021 Spread the Word and Scribe UK competition for works of narrative non-fiction. And as a freelance journalist, his articles on lifestyle, health and culture have been published by HuffPost UK.

Andrew and I met almost two years ago and I’m so honored to have him on the podcast today.  When I met him it was in a group setting and while I met lots of people, it was his introduction of himself stayed with me, as he shared very briefly about being a kidney donor.  In our conversation today, we only begin to scratch the surface of Andrew’s stories and life experiences – there’s so much more!

Andrew shares his stories and reflections today on coming out as gay around age 18-19, and also being a kidney donor to his father.  Throughout our conversation, Andrew shares with profound authenticity, vulnerability, and thoughtfulness. 

Andrew, thank you.  For your willingness to show up in this space (and many other spaces), bringing your whole self… sharing vulnerably and with great intention.  You are an inspiration as you model the challenging work that you also facilitate and invite others to do as well, for the sake of healing and making the world a better place – for the sake of making life less difficult.

Please check out the links to Andrews work, his workshops, and to connect directly with him:

• Writing what's tough, The Write Salon
• Tender and fierce: writing with self-care and determination: with Out on the Page
• HuffPost UK article
• UK Centre for Mental Health: Writer in Residence (The Strangest Times: Are we increasingly out of step with this weird world that we live in? published May 18, 2023)

Find Andrew on Twitter: @JKaye82

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