Guided Autobiography

Our lives are stories that we continually revise, edit, plot and reshape in response to events that are often beyond our control. Experiences of living with mental health conditions, whether directly or as a caregiver, or both, often interrupt the life stories that we have told ourselves, and leave us searching for new ways of knowing. Guided Autobiography is a form of writing practice with therapeutic effects originally developed by psychiatrist Jim Birren at the University of Southern California, and which is now practiced worldwide. It draws upon tacit narrative knowledge we all possess in order to unsettle the stories we have become part of, to begin to confront unfinished business, and to rediscover strengths and values that come from our earlier experiences that can guide us in the future. This programme will cover six sessions in a supportive and sharing environment. Each week, there will be a warm up with writing activities and sharing experiences of writing for the first hour. Each group member will write a short autobiographical fragment in response to a theme, and share what they have written by reading aloud during the second half of the session. Each group member makes a commitment to write regularly and attend each session. Details Time: 10am - 12.30pm (2.5 hours) Venue: The Collective, L1, The Foundry 11 Prinsep Link Week 1: Sat, 15 August - Introductions Week 2: Sat, 22 August - Branching Points Finding out the branching points in our lives, and the events and circumstances that caused them. Week 3: Sat, 29 August - Family Exploring who we consider as family and their influence on us. Week 4: Sat, 5 September - Beginnings Focusing on mental health, writing about beginnings of challenges we’ve faced, and how they may result in changes in life. Week 5: Sat, 12 September - Living Through Progressing to the “middles”, writing about vulnerabilities and also strengths, about supports and absences. Week 6: Sat, 19 September - Living On Closing with writing about the future, exploring hopes and aspirations. To ensure an intimate experience with maximum individual attention, this programme is limited to just 5 participants. We therefore ask for a commitment to all six sessions so you can get the full benefit of the writing process The Facilitator Philip Holden taught literary and narrative studies at NUS over a twenty-year period. In addition to an ongoing commitment to historical research and creative writing, Philip is now a Registered Clinical Counsellor in British Columbia, Canada, and serves as editor for The Tapestry Project, working in a space in which writing and mental health meet. This Guided Autobiography group is an expression of his ongoing interest in the therapeutic power of storytelling.