Publish date: 5 September 2025
A powerful creative initiative from South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has gained national recognition with the publication of a brief report in the Journal of Poetry Therapy.
The article, titled “The Hope Collective: An Exploration of Joy, Hope, Light and Meaning Through Poetry in a Mental Health Hospital”, highlights the impact of poetry as a therapeutic tool for staff, service users, and stakeholders.
The Hope Collective - a brief report
Launched in collaboration with the National Poetry Centre, the Hope Collective invited participants to submit poems reflecting themes of hope, joy, light, and meaning. Over eight weeks, 112 original poems were submitted, and a follow up survey revealed that 84 percent of respondents felt more positive after writing their poem.
The project demonstrated how poetry can support emotional connection, self expression, and healing, especially in mental health settings. Staff, service users, and stakeholders alike described the experience as allowed them to share how they felt allowing them to feel more seen and heard.
This publication marks an important step in exploring how creative practices like poetry can support recovery and wellbeing across healthcare.
Take part: Hope Collective 2.0: Poetry, Connection, and Healing
Mersey Care is delighted to be invited to take part in the next steps of this project, exploring how poetry can support connection and give voice to the unspoken, especially around themes of loss and healing following the death or loss of a baby or child. Perinatal loss is pregnancy or newborn loss, loss of baby/infant, and loss through separation (including social care).
Staff, service users, and families are invited to submit poems under the categories: Unspoken, Loss, Begin, and Moment.
Please take a moment to read and share the FAQs that support this meaningful project.
Frequently Asked Questions
Submit your poems by 11 December 2025
You can scan the QR code to submit a poem or use the link: https://forms.office.com/e/W2fM02evHd
