Author:s:: Ross Nichols and The Creative Coaching Collective
Publishing Date: 14th November 024
Many thanks to PR Literally team and the authors for my physical copy of the book and a spot on the blog tour
Blurb
These poems were selected by a team of 7 co-editors standing together as The Creative Coaching Collective: Anjli Gheewala, Kate Jenkinson, Tracey McEachran, Sarah Moores, Ross Nichols, Elizabeth Papalia and Sharon Strimling.
We can all feel stuck at times, limited by difficult experiences. It’s not always clear where to find support. Poetry and storytelling can provide appropriate support either as standalone resources or within a coaching context.
Poetry for Coaching is an anthology of poems and the stories behind them, written by coaches, counsellors, and therapists to support personal transformation, empowerment and healing.
This book provides a unique opportunity for the reader to benefit from the depth of experience of qualified coaches and therapists who have faced and overcome rich and textured life challenges. Here they share with you their insights and learning — through the power and beauty of poetry and prose.
The Anthology has been grouped into chapters based on themes that are the stuff of coaching: Connection; Love; Acceptance; Forgiveness; Resilience; and Life. These themes may be used to guide the reader when seeking support for a specific challenge. The book can also be read more generally for inspiration and the sheer beauty of the poems and stories. If you’ve never read a poem before, you are in the right place! Simply relax, suspend judgment, and let your curiosity draw you to whatever it is you need at this moment, be that a poem or a story. Or perhaps you are a coach, counsellor or therapist and see the value in using this resource in your practice.
Poetry, in its brevity and elegance, engages us with layered meanings. It can take us beyond the words on the page to touch our very souls. As Phillip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials, wrote: “Poetry is not a fancy way of giving you information; it’s an incantation. It is actually a magic spell. It changes things; it changes you.”
From early in my coaching career, I found myself spontaneously sharing poems and stories with my clients. When I did, they almost always found them useful. Later I began to write my own poems and sometimes shared these with my clients, which were generally well received. What I’ve noticed is that poetry and storytelling can help people to:
- Connect to others’ experience
- Gain insights into their own experience
- Be present with their own emotions and go deeper into themselves
- Reframe their experience
- Gain fresh perspectives
- Provoke new ways of thinking about themselves and their situation
- Evoke awareness of their uniqueness
- Equip themselves emotionally and spiritually for the current stage of their life journey
- Realise they are not alone, that others have walked the same path
- Poetry can also be used as part of a coach’s reflective practice
Storytelling adds richness and context to the poems. Combining stories with poems heightens the impact of both: one can unlock new meaning in the other. Applying poetry and storytelling to coaching enhances the art of coaching by enlarging the coaching space, enabling new possibilities to emerge.
My thoughts
This book is fantastic and one to remain on my bookshelf for ever!
No poem is the same, they are unique and hold so much power and weight in each sentence. I find poetry really fascinating and also complex because how can a few sentences tell a whole story and carry so much emotion.
I think some of these poems do hold a therapeutic element as they are so varied, they potentially could resonate to so many people. It was an interesting set up as one page you get the thoughts behind the poem and then the poem on the next, It was a great way to connect with the authors.
Some poems are empowering, showing resilience, connection, thought provoking and can provide some emotional empathy and grounding.
I liked that not only did the poems help you reflect and understand but some made you actually think, deep dive into yourself and challenge some thoughts. But some more on the curious sides.
My favourite are: Kate Jenkinson 'Curiosity' making you think of your favourite word and why it was (I found this one fun), Julie Heubeck 'Fear' and Elizabeth Papalia 'Hope Restored' "Aching hearts wish for happy days'.
This is a wonderful book and would be perfect as a gift or even for yourself!
I love how you pick up on how poetry can say so much in so few words. This is in many ways what drew me to start writing it. When I talk or journal I fit so much in, yet in poetry the art of summarisation somehow finds me and what I need to get across is distilled into something short and sweet - or sometimes short and angry - whatever it is that needs to be brought out, moved through and reflected upon.
ReplyDeleteAs part of the Creative Coaching Collective who brought this Anthology together, it felt comforting to realise that so many of us found the same. This is a companion compendium for sure.