Flourishing Spaces Newsletter 016

Hello,

welcome to the sixteenth issue of the Flourishing Spaces Newsletter~ a small offering to pause as we start approaching the end of summer.

We aim to connect a growing community committed to re-humanising medicine and education through creativity, reflection, and care.

This isn’t about adding more noise to your inbox but some encouragement, a signpost to something meaningful, and a glimpse into what’s unfolding in our shared landscape.

All previous newsletters can be read here (scroll to the bottom of the page).

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DOCTOR VOICE

“The medical profession gathers us up and processes us through the assembly lines of medical school, specialty training and beyond. I wonder sometimes what shape we find ourselves in at the end, or middle, or whatever point(s) we stop to reflect on our trajectory. How much of what we become is formed internally, or reinforced and projected by our environment? How much could we disentangle these even if we wanted? “

— Philip White, GP registrar, researcher, singer/songwriter

(From Journal of Holistic Healthcare, Volume 23, Issue 1, Spring 2026, Section Entitled ‘The machine’)

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NEWS FROM THE FIELD

IMT wellbeing day at Northwick park hospital

The Flourishing Spaces team had the honour of attending and presenting at an IMT Wellbeing Day, on 'The Spaces Between: Where Medicine Becomes Human’. The day also showcased their new Human Dimension Exhibition, organised by Internal Medicine Trainee and Flourishing Fellow, Jeyapragash Jeyapala (artist of the work above, and pictured with Prof. Louise Younie). The wellbeing day is part of a wider programme focused on residents flourishing through their work and the gallery space has been set up to display reflective pieces by healthcare workers.

“There are so many forgotten spaces in healthcare. We are often too busy to pay proper attention and feel our efforts will be in vain. But if a space feels like people have given up on it, how we can expect people to want to be there, let alone keep investing their time and energy within it. This project aims to transform the main foyer of the education building into somewhere for staff to reconnect with what the work could and should be. The brutalist architecture and natural light was often missed as people rushed through. People have commented already on how these very small beginnings of a gallery space have already made a difference. We hope that by intentionally building creative, enriched environments, we can breathe some humanity, creativity and a sense of possibility back into the important work and training which happens here.”

— A few words from Jey

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NCCH RCGP GP Creative Health SIG

We are delighted to share the second webinar from our new GP Creative Health SIG series where Prof Louise Younie and Dr Georgina Haffner shared some thoughts on flourishing and the human dimension as well as poetry from the frontline of being an FY2 doctor respectively. Dr Nicola Gill hosted. Comments included:

'These are amazingly powerful poems Georgina. Thank you so much for sharing'

'Thank you so much for sharing, such moving words and beautifully read'

'your words are indeed precious and profound- thank you'

To hear more, including Georgina’s poetry, see here

Additionally, you can sign up here for our upcoming webinar, 16th Sept, 19.30 - 20.30 (all welcome) with Dr Grace McGeoch: 'More Than the Diagnosis: Five Years of the GP SIG for Creative Health’.

Find out more about our RCGP Special Interest Group for Creative Health here.

We also have a Creative Health Events Calendar accessible to all: Creative Health Events Calendar

Acrostic Poems on Resilience and Flourishing

The following poem was picked up on LinkedIn by @Dr Natasha Yates: ’Sharing a poem that is too good to just sit in a book…over time I ‘ve found better words than #resilience and one of the best is #flourishing. This poem is a lovely summary of why'.

The poem (below) is published in 'Finding meaning in Healthcare' (Younie, 2025) written by two students on our Creative Arts Student Selected Component. It captures student voice on resilience and flourishing differences completing a circle of knowledge creation from ideas Louise shared with students, the students creatively reformulated, shared back and then the ideas are given wider hearing through presentations and keynotes that Prof. Louise Younie has been giving.

Younie, L. (2025). Flourishing Spaces. In R. shah & R. Clarke (Eds.), Finding meaning in healthcare: Looking through the hermeneutic window (pp. 128 - 145). Routledge.

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New blog post from Creative Clinic

Usually we share upcoming events by Creative Clinic on our newsletter, but this month (as things slow down during the summer) we would like to highlight the following blog recently posted on their website:

Re-fuelling Your Creativity When the Odds Are Against You

“I can't wait to say that I've been a doctor for ten years and then an artist and designer for thirty years. Their lives might not have looked like the textbook, cookie-cutter life we thought we wanted, but they are evidence of a life well lived despite circumstances and setbacks.

I may battle with burnout all my life, but what I don't want is to never have tried. “

— Alexis Nelson

Click here to read the rest of the blog.

CREATIVE ENQUIRY

Weight of the Heart

by Sokhun Solyndar (Lynda) Khun, Fifth Year Medical student

“When my first patient walks in,

It is with a slow, heavy gait that drags.

We do not speak the same language,

But she regales me with her tale

Of tripping over her prayer mat

And smashing her knee on the hard floor.

It is a game of charades to understand each other;

We are both laughing by the end.

She thanks me and prepares to leave.

She links her arm with mine as I walk her to the door.

She cups my cheek softly with her weathered hand

And whispers,

“Your parents are so blessed.”

She clasps my hand and presses

Something warm into my fingers.

I look down and I see

She has given me a piece of her heart.”

To read the rest, click on this link to the flourishing spaces website

TRY IT OUT

Capturing experiences in a new way

Recently I went on a trip to China. Visiting historical sites and experiencing a new culture was amazing and enabled me to better appreciate Chinese society. It seemed a lot of other tourists had the same agenda, creating large swarming crowds everywhere we went. The beauty of these places wasn’t much affected by the masses of people, yet I felt the superficiality attached with visiting famous places as such. Most tourists did not stop to marvel at the detail of the craftmanship, rather took a quick selfie and moved on. In the age we live in this seems to be the norm, and it was a trait which I too had unfortunately inhabited.

But it was when I found myself staring up at an underpass that I saw this pattern above. The intricacy was marvelling and yet only me set sights on it. That is when I decided to slow down.

This way of photographing became about how I wanted to remember the place I went to rather than just taking a photo. From then on, I became engrossed in finding new angles and perspectives to heighten my attention to the smaller things. I began to evoke a feeling through my imagery which looking back has enabled me to remember these places in a new light.

Guest newsletter editor, Eisha Hussain

Now it is your turn:

Find a moment you wish to capture and the medium you wish to use. If the place is familiar, then think of a way which you can picture it in a new way. Look for details, engravings or find an interesting angle. Most importantly through light and colour try emulating a feeling.

There is no right way to do this, and everyone is to their own. What helped me most was to think ‘how is it want to remember this place in the years to come?’

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“‘But what can I do?’ the traveller asked, his voice cracking. ‘I am just one person, lost in all this chaos.’ The old woman smiled. ‘You are one thread, yes. But every thread is needed to complete the tapestry. Sometimes, when you are pulled too tightly, you must learn to loosen. Sometimes, when you feel weak, you must find strength in another. It is the spaces between the threads that give the pattern its meaning and it is the mistakes that make the fabric strong.’”

— Jane Myatt

(From Journal of Holistic Healthcare, Volume 23, Issue 1, Spring 2026, Section Entitled ‘A fireside tale’)

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If there’s something stirring for you after reading this, or if you simply want to say hello, we’re always here, just email us at creativeenquiry@gmail.com. Our next Newsletter in August will be themed heavily on the Human Dimension (papers, writing, ongoing research).

With warmth,

The Flourishing Spaces Team

Edited by Eisha Hussain, First Year Medical student at Barts And the London School of Medicine and Dentistry

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FLOURISHING SPACES