11 hours ago
How creative writing can aid healing process to create happy ending
Renee Hayes was leading an "ordinary" suburban life when a back injury up-ended her plans, rendering her bed-bound.
"I was an active 30-year-old who went from having a busy life to being stuck in bed for [six] months," she said.
She had been working in a dental surgery in the Atherton Tablelands when one morning she woke in excruciating pain after a disc burst in her back.
She tried countless options to manage the constant, chronic pain, but was ultimately unable to move or work, and the sudden changes in her life made it difficult to cope.
"Anyone who has been in chronic pain knows it is incessant and it's very hard to escape from," she said.
Hayes eventually found an escape in the written word.
Initially, without a laptop, Hayes hand-wrote the first draft of her self-published fantasy trilogy, the Rim Walker series, while flat on her back.
"After being stagnant for so long trying to heal, it felt like a gift and that I hadn't wasted that time," she said, reflecting on how writing gave her a fresh start.
Now a published author of three novels, Hayes credits the creative writing process as a therapeutic outlet that allowed her to find joy again, despite the pain.
"It helped me through an incredibly tough time mentally and physically and I no longer felt like I'd lost anything or life was punishing me."
Creative writing expert Edwina Shaw isn't surprised.
The writer, educator and tutor in the University of Queensland's creative writing department said the therapeutic benefits of writing went far beyond the stereotypical journalling exercise.
"It's about using the craft of writing to create something beautiful from the pain, trauma or loss someone has suffered," she said.
She said research had shown that the process of handwriting was very calming on the body and a subduer of our stress systems, while creativity was "a natural calmer of the vagus nerve".
She said writing could help to avoid internalising powerful emotions such as anger, which was associated with experiences of grief or trauma.
"We need to separate ourselves from what's happening in our lives and reframe the way we think about it," she said.
"Creative writing can help us do that, whether writing a poem, a song, a novel or even writing comedy."
That was singer-songwriter Greta Stanley's experience when she lost her home and contents in the December 2023 flood that ripped through Far North Queensland.
"Songwriting was a big part of my healing process, 100 per cent," Stanley said.
At the time, she felt lost, anxious and completely overwhelmed, was trying to manage a debilitating autoimmune disease and write her third album.
Stanley said she tried meditation, reiki healing, a therapist and even a visit to a psychic to help her manage her mental health and chronic pain, but songwriting was the most cathartic outlet.
Stanley, 27, said using the lyrics as a tool to express herself on the album about navigating mental health gave her hope.
"The album has definitely been my way of putting all the noise and stuff going on in my head, into something that makes sense for me."
But creative writing expert Ms Shaw said the writing did not have to be an autobiographical piece to be effective, and acknowledged that for some, that would be too confronting.
"Sometimes life is too close or too hard to write about it as yourself, so you can invent a character … and give your experience to someone else … change the ending."
Canberra-based widow Emma Grey took that approach in her novel after the death of her husband Jeff.
"I found incredible comfort in writing about grief and it was a very cathartic process for me."
She said using writing to navigate the trauma of losing her husband allowed her to manage the myriad of feelings that would creep up, often without warning, and channel them into something "useful".
The Last Love Note, her novel written while grieving, sold more than 100,000 copies in the United States alone, becoming a beacon of hope for many who had lost loved ones, Grey said.
"I have since been inundated with messages from around the world from readers sharing their stories of loss and how my novel helped them through tough times," she said.
