Writers in Residence
Writers in Residence
Sometimes wild flowers grow unexpectedly
You have to pay attention to notice them
Stephanie Morrison went further and gave them a name
“Writers in residence”
This is how results emerge in our work
They cannot be planned in advance but grow spontaneously
Offering Feldenkrais and running sessions
create the Ground
enable people to become more resilient
to flourish in their vitality
to connect with friends and families
Writers in residence – event
Friday 21st November (2-4pm) – HMP Grampian prison Peterhead
Runforever celebrated expressive writings by poets, writers, rappers and troubadours during prisoners’ week, “Crossroads, what’s next?” (16°-23° Nov). Stories, words and lived experience have found a way to be expressed inspired by the running/Feldenkrais sessions. The event took place in the Media unit at HMP Grampian. It has been a huge success celebrating all the work we have done in the last few months with around 35 people participating including HMP Grampian Governor, MSP Audrey Nicoll, different members of the prison staff mainly from the new established Recovery and Health/Wellbeing team, representatives of partner organisations – IFF, ACE Voices, Citymoves, Familiesoutside and around 10 prisoners who have been invited to give voice to their lived experience and perform their poems.
It has been an honor to witness the fragility, strength and beauty of individuals who exposed themselves to new paths…
A story
Recently a prisoner showed us a poem. He told us that it was written just after a Feldenkrais session. The poem was written in less than 5 minutes following the flow of free words and thoughts emerged after the movements just done during the Feldenkrais lesson. He titled the poem “To be” and said that writing it felt liberating.
We hear many similar stories from people participating in both running and Feldenkrais sessions where they spontaneously feel something opening in themselves. They recognise our sessions as art, feeling like dancers or performers and acknowledging how they create the ground for exploring other forms of art. Following this insight, we came to know of many prisoners already working through art (writing, painting, maquette) and how this is helpful for their own health, to maintain a sense of purpose and one of connection with their families and the outside world.
Our weekly Running/Feldenkrais® sessions at HMPG engage prisoners in autobiographical paths of self-discovery and healing through movement and create the ground for eliciting creativity and self-transformation. After each session prisoners are invited to voice emerging sensations, feelings and emotions through different techniques including automatic writing and improvisational drawing, allowing the unconscious mind to flow freely onto the page.
In the last few months more students/participants in our classes discovered that writing down thoughts and sensations helped them a lot. We noticed that… In particular Stephanie Morrison highlighted it and wanted to share some of those words with the Scottish Recovery Consortium at the recovery walk in September 2025. She then had the idea to name this unexpected wild flower “Writers in residence” proposing to work through the expressive writing method by James Pennebaker where writing is personal, free-flowing, and informal, typically without concern for style. It is not about becoming poets (although this can happen) but of healing through writing.
About wild flowers and the unexpected
For a new idea of rehabilitation
We understand our programmes as educational practices of freedom, growing potentialities in individuals. Therefore they cannot be instrumentalised for achieving directly measurable results since they can lead to unexpected outcomes. In fact in our work we pay attention to the paradoxes we encounter if we don’t maintain awareness on logics governing programmes of rehabilitation and recovery when driven by their inseparable reductive evaluative procedures incapable of catching the interdependency of life.
Inspired by the notion of “warm data” as relational information (Nora Bateson 2023), and by acknowledging that any form of evaluation can affect the sense of safety and undermine the learning context (polyvagal theory – Stephen Porges 2021 at minute 54’), we aim at co-creating new forms of value from the inside by moving from data gathering to storytelling and art-based activities giving voice to prisoners and include them in creating the path of learning and healing of our programmes. The Runningstories podcasts together with the Photovoice activities are examples of our approach and the new Writers in Residence group gives evidence of a new emerging value.
After a few years of work, we are now more aware of the potential of what we do. As part of Healing Arts Scotland – advocating for improved physical, mental and social health through the arts, we bring beauty to people since the practices we offer touch on, open/mobilise the source of creativity present in everyone. These practices foster processes of self-discovery and healing through movement. They enable people to become more grounded and resilient human being, to flourish in their vitality and to connect with friends and families by fostering a community of support which works as a bridge between inside and outside the prison and provides the context where good and healthy social relationships can grow.
Therefore our work aims at distinguishing itself from the logics of goal-oriented rehabilitative programmes, towards a practice of freedom and equality.