A website to help support your creativity

I've never quite been able to understand why I am on LinkedIn, thinking, as I do, that it's mostly about people networking to find their next job. I'm not so keen on getting another job, as it happens! However,  every now and again something comes to my attention that makes me pleased I am there.

This week I got a contact request from fellow named Richard K Potter. The name meant nothing so I looked him up and got a pleasant surprise. 

 Richard is an artist who also runs a website called Creativity 4 Wellbeing (C4W for short). The site is all about promoting health, wellbeing and a sense of belonging through creativity.  It's about sharing creative ideas and about supporting people who want to start an activity group or an art workshop in their own community.

Richard is actually a visiting lecturer in Narrative Writing at the university of Brighton so his skills are not limited to visual arts. He seems to be particularly interested in using creativity to help people with mental health needs.

Take a look at the site. Here's the link again if you missed it the first time: Creativity 4 Wellbeing. If you don't get inspired to start a community group I'm sure you'll  be personally inspired by some of the fabulously creative ideas.

Here's a link one of my favourite project ideas on the site, the treehouses.

Creative Docs in the media

Much as I don't want to draw anyone's attention to the terrible photo of the Creative Docs committee that appears in the article I do want you to know that we have had some very nice attention from the media as a result of our publicity campaign for last week's Creative Docs  Performer's Night. (More about the night in a later post)

Here's a link to the article by Amanda Lyons from the RACGP Newsletter

Bringing Your Stories to Life

Creative Doctors Writers Night 2018 is on Thursday April 12th at Moore Park Golf Club and this year we are taking a slightly different look at story writing.

It is true that we all have personal stories that just won't leave us alone - stories from our work and stories from our lives. Drawing on both oral and written traditions we hope with this event to encourage Creative Doctors members to bring those stories to life - and maybe even to create something tangible from them.

Some of our number have already volunteered to tell a first person story in the campfire tradition. They will have 5 minutes to tell their story in an engaging and entertaining way. "Story slamming" like this  has been made popular in recent years by organisations the US  the Moth but, it has to be admitted, the tradition of storytelling around the campfire goes back a whole lot further than when the Moth began in the 1990s. It's even possible that it started before the campfire was invented!

You can listen to  some great examples of oral storytelling on The Moth website by clicking here.  

On Writers Night  2018 Dr Hilton Koppe will come to listen to our stories with us. He will lead us in some exercises to help us find ways of making our real life stories into something more than just dinner table conversation. Even the greatest raconteurs amongst us can do with a little extra help from time to time!

When: 6.30pm 12th April 2018
Where: Heritage Room, Moore Park Golf Club
RSVP please to Dr Howard Gwynne howard@aya.yale.edu