Expressive Writing for Healing & Growth
We tell ourselves stories in order to live. --Joan Didion
Research of the past 30 years confirms that expressive writing – personal writing that explores our inner world of thoughts, memories, and emotions – can boost physical and emotional healing, promote health, and create new possibilities for growth.
Pathways to Thriving’s Expressive Writing Workshops provide a safe, nurturing space for self-discovery and transformation. They use evidence-based techniques that can:
- Reduce stress and promote balance
- Process complex emotions and conflicts that fuel chronic pain
- Increase self-awareness, reflection, and self-compassion
- Promote healing and inner peace
- Rewire the brain for positive changes like greater positivity, resilience, and joy
No prior writing experience is needed—just a willingness to explore your thoughts and emotions on the page. Sharing what you write is entirely optional, but if you choose to read, your words will be received with warm appreciation and kept in complete confidence.
Customized Writing to Heal Workshops:
Contact us to explore how we can design an expressive writing workshop tailored to the needs of your group or organization. Potential topics and audiences include:
- Introduction to Expressive Writing for Healing and Growth (can be adapted for midlife women, empty-nesters, coaches and therapists, people with brain injury or chronic illness, etc..)
- Cultivating Self-Compassion and Burnout Prevention (for helping professionals, caregivers)
- Creating a New Self-Story: Exploring Identity, Meaning, and Purpose (can be adapted for midlife women, empty nesters, people navigating Traumatic Injury or Chronic Illness)
- Expressive Writing for Chronic Pain Recovery
Journal to the Self © Workshops:
Journal to the Self © is a structured, transformative writing program developed by psychotherapist and therapeutic journaling pioneer Kathleen Adams. Since its introduction in 1985, this course has enabled more than 100,000 people globally to use writing as a tool for self-discovery, personal growth, and creative expression.
This 12-hour series, presented in six 2-hour weekly workshops, teaches 18 classic journaling techniques, including: Alphapoems, Captured Moments, Character Sketch, Clustering, Dialogue, Five-Minute Sprint, Guided Imagery, Inner Wisdom, Lists of 100, Perspectives, Reflection Write, Springboards, Stream of Consciousness, Topics du Jour, and Unsent Letters.
Registration for the January 2026 session of Journal to the Self © opens in December. Check back here for details.
Thrive Writing Circle: An Amherst Writers & Artists Workshop
Creative Writing is a powerful outlet for self-inquiry and expression
Our Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) workshops provide a welcoming and inclusive space where everyone—regardless of writing experience, background, or genre —can explore their voice in a supportive community.
Using the proven AWA method, these workshops foster creativity, confidence, and self-discovery by following five key principles:
- A writer is someone who writes.
- Every person is born with creative genius.
- Everyone has a strong, unique voice.
- Writing belongs to everyone.
- Writing can be practiced without damaging the writer’s original voice or artistic expression.
These guidelines from AWA’s visionary founder, Pat Schneider, foster a warm, dynamic community which honors each writer’s unique voice, perspective, and artistic choices. Together, we co-create a safe container for personal discovery and creative exploration, a judgment-free space where everyone’s story matters.
In a Thrive Women’s Writing Circle, you will:
- Connect and write weekly with other women and hear what they find strong and memorable in your writing
- Experience an internationally-renown workshop method that helps new and experienced writers gain fluency and confidence in tapping into the transformative power of your words
- Enliven your personal and artistic expression with prompts that ignite creativity, incite memory and experience, and engage body, mind, and heart.
What to Expect:
Creative invitations to explore:
We meet by Zoom for two hours each week. The facilitator offers prompts, and everyone will write for a given amount of time (typically 5-15 minutes). Prompts are suggestions, intended to spark imagination, memory, wisdom, playful experimentation, and flow. You are free to interpret them as you like, explore what comes to you, or set the prompt aside and write whatever you want!
Positive feedback from a caring community:
After writing, each participant can choose to read what she has written to peers, who listen with an open mind and give feedback on what stands out as strong, vivid, and memorable in the writing. There is no criticism of newly written, first-draft work, and no questioning of the author – just affirmation and appreciation of strengths. This approach quiets your inner critic, builds confidence, and unleashes creative freedom.
Get to know your authentic, unfiltered voice:
Writing in timed bursts in real time lets you bypass your inner editor and get words on the page. You will be amazed at the creativity, eloquence, and wisdom that pour out of you and your peers when you feel safe to explore freely. This can elevate well-being, nourish the spirit, and enrich your relationship with self and others.