In the past 10 years, medical professionals and clinicians have recognized the therapeutic value of creative writing. A discipline once practiced only in college classrooms with a singular goal of publication in top-flight literary journals or academic presses, creative writing is now recognized as a tool for healing, maintaining wellness, and expressing the buried memories of trauma.
The Butler MFA program which was founded eight years ago with community service as one of its founding principles, has recognized the potential for healing and maintaining wellness, and has taken Creative Writing for Wellness, also known as Expressive Writing, as part of its mission. The Butler MFA now prepares students to lead workshops in wellness among diverse communities. In the past three years, our MFA students have run writing classes with staff members and members of the Transgender Health and Wellness Program at Eskenazi Hospital; with senior citizens at American Health Care Services; with troubled adolescents at Riley Children’s Hospital and Hope Academy; with prison inmates, and with many more communities throughout the Indianapolis area.
The Butler MFA program is an institutional member of the National Association for Poetry Therapy. While our programs are not clinically therapeutic, we focus on coping skills, stress management, artistic engagement and enrichment, and community building.