What is Poetry Therapy?

Poetry Therapy is a form of Expressive Art Therapy, which uses creativity to help people explore their emotional world.

Poetry in itself can be highly therapeutic. Often people write or read poetry to make meaning of their inner worlds. Using poetry for counseling intervention can be helpful for children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families.

Therapists may discover that a client enjoys writing or reading. Based on their specific challenges or mental health concerns, a counselor might encourage their client to read a poem related to their situation or create a piece of poetry explaining how they feel.

A counselor might choose to read a poem out loud within a counseling session, or they might ask the client to read it out loud. In this way, poetry can be a vehicle for discussing difficult topics.

Alternatively, a counselor might suggest that a client writes poetry. This expression of emotion through words can be cathartic.

Poetry Therapy can be used in conjunction with other types of therapy and can be beneficial for a wide range of mental health concerns.