Writing into Relationship
Creative writing offers a direct path into empathic & intuitive ways of seeing - the kinds of knowing that may be with us during the clinical hour and elsewhere in our lives but are often waiting at the edge of the room, at the edge of what can be said or thought, whether out of care or out of constraint.
Writing in guided community helps these ways of seeing and knowing speak more fully to us in a way that’s safe for ourselves and others. Writing about relationships in particular helps us name what we might sense more deeply within ourselves or about another, and what is actually unfolding between us.
See what changes for you when other ways of putting words to things and shapes to stories come alive on the page.
Current Offering
7 Thursdays • August 27–October 8
1–3 p.m. ET • Online
4 craft workshops in writing techniques with published author & writing instructor Kayla Degala-Paraíso
3 writing practice community rooms with psychotherapist & clinical supervisor Michel’e Bertrand
No previous creative writing experience needed.
$200 full series • sliding scale or partial registration for craft workshops $150+
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How do characters take shape through relationship? What do dialogue, gesture, silence, and other implicit cues reveal about the space between them? How do we convey the felt shape of connection or conflict?
Over a series of 2-hour workshops we’ll read short fiction and nonfiction excerpts and draw on this to create writing prompts to explore how to render relationships creatively on the page.
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Over a few 2-hour practice rooms, we’ll use check ins, discussion, guided writing prompts and lots of quiet writing time to deepen our creative writing practice generally and the ways we write and think about relationships in particular.
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Practice rooms will bridge writing craft with ways of thinking and listening that many of us use as therapists, such as the way we pay attention to process, nuance, and complexity.
The prompts I use draw on the process-oriented, relational psychodynamic & experiential forms of listening I have been developing over the years in my practice of psychotherapy, my formal training in counsellor education, and my own background in creative arts.
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Workshops and practice rooms work together to enliven our writing and storytelling, stir new thoughts about relationships in and outside of the session room, and spend time writing alongside one another as therapists and friends in a guided writing community.
What to expect
Questions? Take a look at the FAQ or reach out anytime. If you’re feeling ready, go ahead and register.
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Drop me a line at info (at) michelebertrand (dot) ca with your name and contact, letting me know which writing offering you’re interested in. We’ll take it from there!
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No problem. We try to make this as feasible as possible, and have ways to help you plug in wherever you can join. Drop me a line letting me know which dates you can attend.
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We design these offerings with you in mind ! Sessions guide you through writing prompts, readings, conversation and more to help you find the writing voice that ‘clicks’ for you.
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For years I have kept a dedicated practice of creative journalling to help me process the week’s events. My journalling draws on imagistic, as well as sensory and other body-based and place-based ways of making meaning that I’ve learned through community writing classes, psychotherapy education and my own formal training in Cinema/Filmmaking.
These are some of the practices I bring to the practice rooms and community gatherings I host. Craft workshops are facilitated by authors who teach creative writing professionally.