MAD Poetry 2022 - Lived Experience Online Workshop

Red Room Poetry create poetic arts projects and learning programs in collaboration with a spectrum of poets, schools, communities and partners for positive social impact. Our mission is to make poetic experiences accessible to all, especially those who face the greatest barriers to creative opportunities

Red Room Poetry

We are full of worlds that can't be contained by a pill. MAD Poetry is an initiative that focuses on creating a safe writing space for emerging voices with a lived/living experience of mental health issues to express how they see the world, where these poets can define themselves through their creativity not their diagnosis, and explore by pen and page their experience of illness, institutions, inner worlds, recovery,  self-care, and beyond. Our 4-part online workshop series returns in 2022 led by four facilitators who are both practising poets and have their own lived mental ill-health experience (as well as being some of our leading mental health peer workers, advocates, writers and editors in this space.)Participants are strongly encouraged to attend all 4 x workshops across October, and will also assisted in creating an individual piece/s for possible submission to Red Room Poetry's lived experience anthology call out.Note: this poetry workshop is designed for anyone who identifies as having lived experience mental health issues/illness and/or have been a mental health consumer. <h3></h3><h3>Details</h3><ul><li>Date: Tuesday 4, 11, 18, 25 October </li><li> Time: 630–7pm AEST weekly (duration 90 minutes)</li><li> Poets: Mohammad Awad, Ruby Hillsmith, Anna Jacobson, Tim Heffernan</li><li>Host: David Stavanger (Red Room Poetry)</li><li>Cost: suggested $10.00 donation (with funds supporting the MAD Poetry project via Red Room Poetry)</li><li>Bookings: Essential (limited to 50 places)</li><li>Anyone who identifies as having lived experience mental health issues/illness and/or have been a mental health consumer are very welcome to attend </li></ul><h3>How to access the workshop</h3>The workshop will be held live online via Zoom . You'll receive the workshop access link to your email inbox a few days prior to the event. <a href="https://zoom.us/download" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Download Zoom &gt;&gt;</a><h3>About our lead facilitators</h3>Tim Heffernan is a Deputy Commissioner with the NSW Mental Health Commission and has worked for over a decade as a Mental Health Peer Worker, as well as being a well published poet and co-editor, with Alise Blayney, of Verity La’s ‘Clozapine Clinic – The Frater Project.’ With Alise he also first established Mad Poetry as part of the 2016 Wollongong Writers Festival. Ruby Hillsmith is a writer, editor and poet based in Melbourne, on Wurundjeri land. She was the inaugural 2020 Writeability poetry fellow at Writers Victoria and was selected as a 2020–21 Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellow for her non-fiction project exploring the culture of Australian psychiatry, Little Islands, Dead Sea.Anna Jacobson is a poet and artist from Brisbane. Amnesia Findings
(UQP, 2019) is her first full-length poetry collection, which won the
2018 Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize. In 2020 Anna won the Nillumbik
Prize for Contemporary Writing (Open Creative Nonfiction), was
awarded a Queensland Writers Fellowship, and was shortlisted in
the Spark Prize. In 2018 she won the Queensland Premier’s Young
Publishers and Writers Award. Her poetry chapbook The Last
 Postman was published with Vagabond Press (2018) as part of the
decibel 3 series. Mohammad Awad is a Queer/Arab/Muslim and Writer/ Director/Poet/ Playwright. He has written and directed short films such as The Flower, The Messenger and Beauty Marks. Published in an anthology series ‘Arab, Australian, Other’ as well as The University of Sydney StudentAnthology ‘Diversity’, he is also one of the proud editors of the new anthology Admissions: Voices Within Mental Health. Starting at 18, Mohammad worked as the youngest Peer Worker and Mental Health Worker in NSW Health history, conducted lectures at the University of Sydney on the importance of lived-experience in recovery-oriented practice and developed poetry therapy programs for acute mental health facilities in the state.Note: MAD Poetry Coordinator David Stavanger - and lead editor of Admissions: Voices Within Mental Health - will also be the moderator and present at all online sessions.<h3>Workshop FAQs</h3>Do I need to turn my video on?We'd love to see your faces to make this a more interactive session. However, you are more than welcome to turn off your video if you prefer!Will my microphone be on?Your microphone will be muted on first joining the workshop, but will be then turned on once everyone has arrived (plus you can use the live chat feature to communicate with Mohammad, David and the other participants during the session.)TroubleshootingIf you have any issues accessing the workshop, please make sure you have joined via the link provided to your inbox on the day. If you have any further problems, please contact David at david@redroompoetry.org and he will do his best to assist.RecordingPlease note that due to the nature of this workshop and in the best interests of both the facilitators and participants these workshops will not be recorded.Self careThis is a writing workshop only. There will be no pressure or expectation for people to disclose or share anything about their lived experience during the workshops. You don't have to share what you write during the sessions and can also turn your camera off for the duration if it feels more comfortable/safe for you. The aim of this project is to share lived experiences of mental health via poetry. Therefore, some of the workshop content may potentially trigger some readers. If you require mental health support or assistance, a list of free confidential 24/7 support lines can be found <a href="https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/mentalhealth/services/Pages/support-contact-list.aspx#crisis" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">here</a>. You are not alone in your journey.<h3>Discover more</h3><a href="https://redroomcompany.org/projects/mad-poetry/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">MAD Poetry </a>This workshop is presented by <a href="https://redroomcompany.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Red Room Poetry</a> with support from Coordinare. We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we live and work, and recognise their continuing connection to land, water and community. We offer our respects to their cultures and Elders past, present and future.

Our {communityGuidelinesLink} describe the sort of content we prohibit on Eventbrite. If you suspect an event may be in violation, you can report it to us so we can investigate.

To report other categories of prohibited or illegal content, submit {link}

MAD Poetry 2022 - Lived Experience Online Workshop

More events from Red Room Poetry

Discover more events from Red Room Poetry, from Health to other experiences you might love.

Still looking for the right event?

Explore all online events to browse and filter by date, category, and more.

MAD Poetry 2022 - Lived Experience Online Workshop

More events from Red Room Poetry

Discover more events from Red Room Poetry, from Health to other experiences you might love.

More Health events

Browse more Health events with different dates, prices, and formats to find your next great experience.

Still looking for the right event?

Explore all online events to browse and filter by date, category, and more.