Seeking volunteer facilitators for poetry workshops

MS Society Scotland is partnering with Edinburgh University on an exciting project — PoeMS. This project builds on PhD research by Dr Georgi Gill, who lives with MS. She facilitated online workshops for members of the MS community, where they wrote poems about health experiences and chatted.



Her research found that writing poems together had benefits for wellbeing and self-esteem, as well as the social benefits.

For the next stage of the project, we're looking to recruit volunteers to the PoeMS project. We'll be offering online training to small groups (fewer than ten) of volunteers who are interested in delivering poetry workshops with the MS Society.

How will it work?

Trainees will participate in workshops and then take turns at facilitating them for each other — using a toolkit containing all the session plans and practical tips for poetry group work.

As trainees move on to delivering workshops, there will be opportunities to discuss how the project might take shape. Some may want to work with a local MS Society group, whereas others might prefer to (co-)deliver sessions online. Some may be confident to run sessions by themselves, while others might prefer to work alongside a member of staff or a second volunteer.

Dr Gill's new anthology of poems from the original project is available as a free e-book —poeMS: an anthology by people living with multiple sclerosis. It gives an insight into the marvellous outcomes the project can have.

If you're interested in taking part in PoeMS, please contact [email protected] .