Mo Szulejewska, qualified pluralistic counsellor currently working as mental health mentor with university students, member of the counselling team at Tayside Centre for Counselling.

The first gathering of this new special interest group took place via Zoom on Saturday, 26^th September 2020 and it was indeed a gathering where creativity and storytelling flourished. We introduced ourselves by telling something of our own stories, so creating a fertile, receptive environment in which ideas were able to be shared, explored, take root, and grow.

We came from different backgrounds and brought a diverse range of interests and experience to the gathering but displayed a common enthusiasm for exploring ways in which we could enrich and expand pluralistic toolboxes. The practice of counselling is in itself inherently creative as a new relationship and way of connecting is co-created with every client but this is often highly reliant on the medium of words and consequently left-brain orientated. The gathering expressed interest in identifying creative practices that could be introduced into the counselling room-–and finding ways in which to transfer them to the virtual counselling settings in which so many of us are currently working.

This initiative is still in its infancy and we hope it will develop and grow organically over the coming months. Consequently, the exact format of the next gathering has not been pre-determined and will be shaped by the number and interests of those who choose to join. However, it was decided that we would centre part of the gathering around the theme of  the use of letter writing.

So if you would like to share something you have learned from your own experience of using letter writing within counselling, if you have some questions–or answers–about using letter writing in this context, please do come and enrich the gathering with your contribution. And if you have nothing specific you want to bring on this theme but would just like to make contact with fellow practitioners who are interested in creativity and storytelling, please come along and enrich the gathering with your presence. Our intention is to meet monthly (via Zoom) for one hour from 10.00 am to 11.00 am on the last Saturday in the month. This means that the next gathering will take place on Saturday, 31^st October. So, if you would like to join the gathering in October, mark this date in your diary and let us know your intention by email to ppncreativity@gmail.com