‘The conference will provide us with shelter – somewhere for pilgrims to huddle in a storm’

The ebptc organising team is delighted that Welsh poet, spoken word performer and therapeutic writing facilitator Mel Perry has accepted an invitation to be a keynote speaker at our event in October.  Mel, who is chair of Lapidus International, a partner host of the event, is also playing a key role in the coordination of our event in Canterbury. 

Mel came to the field of therapeutic writing after a career in public health and substance misuse services and believes this to be an essential part of her journey into poetry and therapeutic writing.

‘I am honoured, if somewhat nervous, to be invited to share the platform as a keynote speaker for the conference.  Many of us in this practice are informed and grounded  by our own personal life experiences.  It becomes an essential piece of kit on our journeys with others as we gently facilitate participants'  personal reflection, sharing and insights,’ she says.

‘I hope to share a little of my story, layer it with my current therapeutic writing activity and celebrate more widely the variety and impact of this work.’

Mel first found comfort in poetry when she was director of alcohol and drug service Prism in Carmarthen in Wales, a role that she held for 17 years and which grew increasingly challenging:

 ‘I found myself taking poetry books to work with me. I would stand by the window of my office first thing in the morning and read poems by the likes of Gillian Clarke or Michael Longley – they felt like psalms or prayers --  as a way of settling myself for the day.’

A series of life events meant an abrupt end to her role coinciding with the death of her mother and uncle in close succession. ‘We lost the tender for the drug and alcohol service. ‘My mother died, the organisation that I had led for 17 years was obliterated and I was made redundant.. I went home, went to bed and didn’t go back to work.’

Mel says she was saved by an international literature residency in Sweden arranged by the arts organisation Kultivera, which opened up a new world of possibilities  for her in terms of her own personal writing and how it can be used with others. ‘I often say that I went to Sweden as a public health practitioner who wrote a bit and came back as a writer who worked for Public Health Wales,’ she says.

In 2016 Mel embarked on the MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes at the Metanoia Institute just a few days after the death of her father.  The course set her on a continuing journey of self-exploration: ‘One of the great things I got from the course was that it offered an opportunity to mine ourselves  for material and that is what I think is unique. It changed me in the sense that I can recognise myself now and reflect – I found my reflexive voice.’

Her research project exploring the power of spoken word poetry with women survivors of domestic abuse was published as an audio piece in the Lapidus international research journal LIRIC.

Mel has a firm belief in the potential of poetry to change lives and facilitates regular groups as well as writing her own poetry.  Her third collection Mineral Wealth, a poetic response to her relationship with her unmet grandmother and an associated family secret, will be published in November by Broken Sleep books.

‘Poems offer a chance to reflect quite deeply, and can unlock things very quickly. When there is a poem that has concrete images that can represent joy, grief, trauma, regret and people can experience themselves through that, it’s like seeing the light bulb come on…And when we read it out loud its’ engaging different senses which offers different keys or ways into ourselves.’ 

Mel attended the first two European Biblio-poetry conferences and is very much looking forward to the Canterbury event as a means of connection between other cultures, communities and languages and as an opportunity to share our common humanity. 

‘Experiencing our differences is enriching and informs our own practice. Given the precarious nature of the world this seems more and more important each time we meet. The conference provides us with shelter, somewhere for us to huddle together in a storm as pilgrims would. There is a realisation in that we are not alone.’