Graduate Research Titles

Exploring the Healing Power of Words: MSc CWTP Graduate Research

At Metanoia Institute, our MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes (CWTP) nurtures the exploration of writing as a powerful tool for healing, self-discovery, and personal growth. Our graduates engage in innovative and deeply personal research, examining how creative writing can be applied in various therapeutic contexts—from addressing trauma and identity to supporting mental well-being and social change. This page showcases a collection of dissertation titles from our MSc CWTP graduates, reflecting the breadth and depth of their inquiries. If you would like to learn more about a specific study, please reach out to the respective author or contact claire.williamson@metanoia.ac.uk.

Kerryn Alt

Secrets and Softness of the Felt Sense. A Case Study Combining Creative Writing with Focusing to Explore Life Stories 

Marie Alvarado

Within the context of transgenerational trauma, can Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes act as a heterotopic holding space for secrets, silence and the unsayable? An Autoethnographic and heuristic study.

Jasimi Kiran Bangerh

The KZA’s Quest: Can rap be therapeutic? A Narrative Inquiry exploring the therapeutic potential of rap lyrics in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes.

Sara Botterill

Love, Loss and Rebirth. A qualitative study which explores the potential of poetry to help women adjust to motherhood, by opening a conversation between their pre- and post- motherhood selves.

Lizzie Chittleboro

How I Searched for Meaning Through My Writing – Labyrinth A Journey of Becoming Unshrouded.A phenomenological, heuristic, autoethnographic and narrative inquiry into my creative writing for therapeutic purposes as a replacement child.

Elizabeth Dunford

How can poetry in the classroom have an impact on well-being? An autoethnographic and poetic inquiry from the perspective of a teacher.

Tracy (Tee) Francis

Fear of the Blank Page. An Autoethnographic Exploration Of My Chronic Procrastination using CWTP

Rachel French

A Heuristic Study Exploring Visual Poetry and What it Can Bring to the Field of Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes

Maria Hunt

My Story: In Search of a Sense of Belonging through writing. An autoethnography exploring the experience of understanding my cultures and belonging through the CWTP Programme.

Marie Larkin

You’ve got to Laugh...Or do/have you? An evocative autoethnography on the use of comedy writing techniques for stress management during the menopause.

Roz Mascall

What contribution can Masks make in the field of Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes?

A Heuristic Enquiry with an Autoethnographic Methodology

Kate Mc Barron (kate@katemcbarron.co.uk):

It’s Time We Talked. An Exploration of How Mind-Body Dialogue Writing Can Impact Stress Management.

Dawn McHale (sarie62@gmail.com):

Well Words. An autoethnographic and heuristic study exploring language inspired by the well archetype and the impact of CWTP at the Chalice Well, Glastonbury.

Andrea Michael

Writing to Nourish: A case study exploring responses to narrative-based prompts in CWTP, with women who consider themselves in recovery from eating disorders, with a view to designing group-specific exercises for future sessions

Dawn Miller

Writing Out Our Parts. An exploration of the contribution that CWTP can make to the Internal Family Systems therapy process.

Gabrielle Mullarkey  (gabriellem253@yahoo.com):

An autoethnographic analysis assessing the impact of CWTP on living with cicatricial alopecia (CA) while exploring the contribution of CWTP to imaginatively restructuring a ‘spoiled identity’.

Sarah O’Hanlon

Writing in Colour and Black and White Negatives. A mixed research approach exploring the potential of creative writing in helping to break the cycle of rumination.

Stephanie Parker

A Write of Passage.Can the slow attentive ‘conversation’ of a letter-writing practice with the self

help us shift stuck patterns to come into a more substantial version of ourselves? An autoethnographic study.

Caleb Parkin

If we are here to wonder, I wonder at this. A poetic Inquiry, utilising Participatory Action Research, into ways in which Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes could be used in a museum or gallery setting.

Kate Pawsey (writingtimewithkatepawsey@yahoo.co.uk):

An Investigation into what happens when I, as a facilitator of Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes, conduct a single research session entitled ‘Exploring Play Through Creative Writing’ with adults in Britain.

Mel Perry

Volume in Our Voices: What is the experience of women survivors of domestic abuse (who have practised Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes) reading their written work at a spoken word poetry event and what can we do, as writing practitioners to support them? A case study using a phenomenological methodology.

Sue Pugh (s.pugh2017@outlook.com):  

Not a Straightjacket, but Wings. Investigating the role of creative journal making in defining and supporting clinical practice when working therapeutically with clients.

Judy Rich

Rich Pickings.  An autoethnography exploring the experience of creating a written legacy in the context of CWTP.

Manu Rodriguez (info@manurodriguez.com):

Getting here: My journey so far. An autoethnographic inquiry into disability and multiple abilities (in the context of CWTP).

Thom Seddon

Better Together? An Exploration of the Importance of the Shared Group Experience in LGBTQ Focused CWTP.

Foluke Taylor

‘When We Are A Wake’ An Autoethnographic, Poetic inquiry into Black Parenting in the Afterlives of Slavery

Nicky Torode

Writing to Value.Exploring the experience of online synchronous CWTP sessions with participants in a corporate setting using an appreciative inquiry approach.

Chris Williams

An autoethnographic and heuristic enquiry into the process and effects of writing a novel: reflecting on implications for CWTP participants and medical practice.