Writing for Wellbeing with Sian Prior
About the workshops
Writing can be a powerful tool for coping with and understanding life’s challenges, including stress, anxiety, depression and personal crises. It allows us to gain perspective and distance from difficult experiences, helping to shape narrative from what can often feel like chaos. From journaling to poetry, all forms of writing can support reflection, clarity and emotional expression—and can even help us reconnect with our sense of creativity and play.
In these two Writing for Wellbeing workshops, author Dr Sian Prior (Shy: A Memoir and Childless: A Story of Freedom and Longing) will guide participants through a series of therapeutic writing exercises designed to explore what methods might work best for each individual.
Each session includes a mix of thinking, writing, reading, talking and brainstorming. No prior writing experience is necessary, and grammar, spelling and technical ability are not important. All activities are designed to be accessible, supportive and reflective.
Participants will be invited to engage in class exercises, however all writing remains private unless individuals choose to share.
Workshop 1
The first workshop offers a gentle introduction to key concepts in writing for wellbeing, including catharsis, self-awareness, self-acceptance and self-transformation.
Participants will explore the distinction between the “situations” we find ourselves in and the “stories” we tell about our lives. Through simple writing techniques, the workshop also introduces the idea of the “dialogical self”—our internal conversations—and how these can be used to better understand and navigate personal challenges.
These workshops are designed so you can participate in one or both. Tickets must be purchased separately for each workshop.
Dr Sian Prior has been running Writing for Wellbeing workshops for over ten years. Her practice encourages participants to develop regular life-writing habits as a way of coping with emotional and physical challenges.
As part of her Doctorate in Creative Writing, Sian wrote Shy: A Memoir (2014), exploring her experience of chronic social anxiety and the grief associated with the end of a long-term relationship. She later wrote Childless: A Story of Freedom and Longing (shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year 2022), continuing her exploration of writing as a tool for emotional understanding and healing.