People talk about creativity being fun and playful, where we can express our childlike selves, like with this poem,  but putting our creativity out into the world can be vulnerable and leave us filled with self doubt. Will people like it? Will people get it? Will I appear silly? Does it even matter in a world that seems to be hell bent on making money - whatever the cost elsewhere?

Someone I have been following for a while is Caro Gomez. Caro seems to emanate creativity from every pore and is a real advocate for creating, but her story has been one of things not turning out as planned, which, in truth,  is part of anyone’s creative journey. It’s just that not many people seem to talk about it.  

She uses her roots from El Salvador to inspire her creative work and now creates powerful vulva adorned clothes. I can’t possibly encapsulate everything that she is, so listen in!

Show notes:

You can find out more about Caro Gomez at www.carogomez.com and her Facebook group can be found here

Support the show

Click here to go to my Substack page.

Click here to buy my book

Click here to buy my a coffee and show your support

Listener support: I love making The Therapeutic Poet podcast, but it does cost time and money. If you have enjoyed it, been informed by it or found it helpful then I would greatly appreciate your financial support. You can do this by:

Taking a paid subscription on my Substack - a weekly newsletter helping people have 'Permission to feel'. You'll receive tips on how to navigate our human tricky things, recorded poems and other goodies.

Buying my book ‘Stop the world I want to get off’

Or buy me a coffee 🤗.

Joining me on The Therapeutic Poet podcast today is Jenny Alexander.

Jenny is a prolific author and some of the books that she has written about

tackle the subject of bullying. Some of these are for children, like her

book '70 ways to bully proof yourself’, and others for adults, such as

‘When you child is bullied: an essential guide for parents’.

Jenny explains why she wrote a book about bullying, the impacts of

psychological (as well as physical) bullying and what can be done to build

resilience, even when bullying is going on.

You can find out more about Jenny at www.jennyalexander.com. Jenny is a

member of Lapidus, the writing for wellbeing community.

The 'Ditch the Label' Annual Survey into bullying in 2020 reported that bullying had increased by 25% year on year.

Many factors are said to contribute to this from the way in which our politicians behave towards one another to the prevalence of social media.

Whilst we are more connected than ever in practical terms, levels of loneliness have gone through the roof.

30% of children bullied at school are bullied at least once a week.

Bullying has lasting impact on anyone, well into adulthood.

People feel anxious, depressed and can have suicidal thoughts or self harm as a result of bullying.

Joining me on The Therapeutic Poet podcast today is Jenny Alexander.

Jenny is a prolific author and some of the books that she has written about tackle the subject of bullying. Some of these are for children, like her book '70 ways to bully proof yourself’, and others for adults, such as ‘When you child is bullied: an essential guide for parents’.

Jenny explains why she wrote a book about bullying, the impacts of psychological (as well as physical) bullying and what can be done to build resilience, even when bullying is going on.

You can find out more about Jenny at www.jennyalexander.com. Jenny is a member of Lapidus, the writing for wellbeing community.

Support the show

Click here to go to my Substack page.

Click here to buy my book

Click here to buy my a coffee and show your support

Listener support: I love making The Therapeutic Poet podcast, but it does cost time and money. If you have enjoyed it, been informed by it or found it helpful then I would greatly appreciate your financial support. You can do this by:

Taking a paid subscription on my Substack - a weekly newsletter helping people have 'Permission to feel'. You'll receive tips on how to navigate our human tricky things, recorded poems and other goodies.

Buying my book ‘Stop the world I want to get off’

Or buy me a coffee 🤗.

Today on The Therapeutic Poet podcast I am joined by neuroscientist,

science communicator and storyteller Dr. Paula Croxson. Paula is also an

open water swimmer regularly swimming marathons, a flautist with the band

Marlowe Grey, senior producer of the science based storytelling platform

Storycollider and, she is also my cousin!

We started with my poem ‘As I stood on the shore of my memories.’ We spoke

about how memory are changes that happen in our brains based on our

experiences. Paula explained how memory can be explicit and implicit,

supported by different parts of the brain, but all parts of the brain are

interconnected.

Today on The Therapeutic Poet podcast I am joined by neuroscientist, science communicator and storyteller Dr. Paula Croxson. Paula is also an open water swimmer regularly swimming marathons, a flautist with the band Marlowe Grey, senior producer of the science based storytelling platform Storycollider and, she is also my cousin!

We started with my poem ‘As I stood on the shore of my memories.’ We spoke about how memory are changes that happen in our brains based on our experiences. Paula explained how memory can be explicit and implicit, supported by different parts of the brain, but all parts of the brain are interconnected. 

Memories go through a complex process to be formed and reformed. I think it’s a fascinating area to understand as it clearly influences our daily behaviour, whether we are aware of it or not. Paula also shared how memory is malleable and can be changed through storytelling. You can find out more about Paula at www.paulacroxson or at www.storycollider.org

Support the show

Click here to go to my Substack page.

Click here to buy my book

Click here to buy my a coffee and show your support

Listener support: I love making The Therapeutic Poet podcast, but it does cost time and money. If you have enjoyed it, been informed by it or found it helpful then I would greatly appreciate your financial support. You can do this by:

Taking a paid subscription on my Substack - a weekly newsletter helping people have 'Permission to feel'. You'll receive tips on how to navigate our human tricky things, recorded poems and other goodies.

Buying my book ‘Stop the world I want to get off’

Or buy me a coffee 🤗.

Something that none of us want to experience, and yet we all do, is

suffering. In our western mostly secular society it is easy to see why we

see suffering as an affront to our human rights. We all want to live tidy,

prosperous, fulfilled lives and can see why we would regard suffering as a

threat to that and that it needs to be controlled and managed away as

quickly as possible. Some may say, "how can there be a God that allows so

much pain?". But suffering is everywhere and every life will have tragic

episodes, so how can we deal with our suffering?

In this episode I speak to therapist Susan McGrath about skilfully

suffering.

In this episode I am joined by For Women Who Roar founder Megan Febuary.

She describes how writing a poem to reconcile the silence of her rage and

grief lead to the creation of a movement to help other women tell their

stories.

We spoke of the importance of the healing process through writing, rather

than focussing on the finished piece. How we can let our writing write us,

shedding our defences to get to the truth, a complicated disorganised

process.

How are you with boundaries? Do you know how to set them and how do you

deal with the consequences when your boundaries are pushed or crossed? Are

they something you shy away from or embrace with gusto?

Whatever your experience with boundaries so far you are in for a treat

today because I am joined by Kari Kwinn, author of the book Better

Boundaries: You don’t have to be broken to be better.

We start with my poem ‘Positively negative’.

Joining me today is professional declutterer Belinda Knox Spinks. On her

website Home of Hidden Treasures Belinda says ‘I help people find the

hidden treasures of space, time and happiness.

We start with my poem ‘All at Sea’