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Hello, welcome to the fifth issue of the Flourishing Spaces Newsletter~ a small offering to pause in the beginning of the academic season. Firstly, we would like to thank you for signing up to receive this gentle thread. 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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“In our professional culture there is an unwritten expectation that we need to be robotically stoic. I believe that embracing painful lived experience is the precursor to not only personal but also professional flourishing.” — Dr. Leah Jane Henniker, FY1 doctor (“Our Kintsugi Soapboxes”, Journal of Holistic Healthcare, Volume 22, Issue 2, Summer 2025)
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“Draw to Unwind” workshop with Creative Clinic 📍Online on Zoom, click here to sign up ⏱️ 23rd of September 7:30-8:30 pm These mindful drawing workshops with artist Liz Atkin will guide you through calming approaches to drawing, inspired by the work of well-known artists, and giving the freedom to experiment and have fun. Creative Clinic is an organisation run voluntarily by doctors Nicola Davis and Aruna Stannard with the aim of championing creativity as a wellbeing resource for doctors and medical students. You can find them on Facebook and Instagram. They have online poetry and art workshops coming up this autumn and a poetry submission window now open (for an online event organised by the National Poetry Library.) They would love to welcome new faces, whatever stage you are at in your medical or creative journey!
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LAST CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS for Medical Humanities conference at Cambridge University open until this Sunday, 31st August! Submissions to medhumsoc@cusu.cam.ac.uk exploring the theme of being a healer from students, academics, and healthcare professionals across all disciplines are welcomed, deadline on 31.08.2025. More more information, please visit here, or email aatqa.arham4@nhs.net. |
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A new issue of Journal of Holistic Healthcare The Summer 2025 issue of the JHH takes on the theme “Facing the Shadow”. From reflections on burnout and imposter syndrome to creative explorations of loss, identity, and the current ecological crisis, these pages invite us to embrace the difficult and often hidden dimensions of caring for ourselves, our patients, and our communities. As Professor Louise Younie writes, shadow work is “not weakness; it’s a radical act of reclaiming humanity in healthcare.” Medical students, resident doctors, seasoned clinicians and educators offer different perspectives on shadow work - enaging with what is challenging in ourselves and our lives. You can explore the full issue here. |
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August 23rd-27th: AMEE Conference |
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“It was a privilege to present at the AMEE (The International Association for Health Professions Education) Fringe in Barcelona amidst presentations with breathing exercises, Pilates, and Bollywood dancing. The room was packed out and I wasn’t sure if a poem on lived experience moving from doctor to cancer-patient to doctor would land. The silence and listening in the room was palpable. I followed up by explaining, a bit like ‘Photo Bombing’, I have been ‘Human Bombing’ the curriculum for many years, trying to bring the human dimension in wherever I can. I shared the clinical and human dimension DNA image and ended with a live rendition of a collective poem created in the moment on Menti on ‘I feel cared for when’…” — Professor Louise Younie The poem can be read in full here.
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August 20th: Creative Enquiry Research, Advocacy, Practice (RAP) meeting
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Hearing the student creative enquiry voice If you are a medical student/healthcare professional student engaging in creative enquiry, here are some of the places you can submit your work: Society of Academic Primary Care (SAPC) - opportunities for national as well as local conferences: click here to find out more The British Holistic Medical Association has a history of publishing student creative enquiry work (click here to see journals with student work). Submissions and enquiries can be emailed to louise.younie@qmul.ac.uk The Flourishing Spaces Newsletter - email us at creativeenquiry@gmail.com ——————
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The Anatomy of a Near-Peer Educator by Martyna Justyna Paluch “I chose the heart as a central symbol because, like the circulation of blood throughout the body, the role of a near-peer educator involves ongoing movement, connection, and transformation. |
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Teaching mixed year groups and balancing the differing needs of undergraduate and graduate students required adaptability and flexibility. However, through delivering sessions, receiving feedback and observing the impact of my teaching, I began to shape my professional identity, bridging the transition from medical student to doctor and educator. During my time at medical school, teaching has become a deeply fulfilling part of my journey, and as I begin working as a doctor this summer, I hope to keep nurturing this passion within my clinical career.” The full reflection will be published on our website in September.
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TRY IT OUTThe lost art of writing letters
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Since falling in love with the feeling of fountain pens on good paper, I have been seeking for more opportunities to write in this analogue format. Long text messages to friends turned into photographs of letters, which I would at times bundle up in an envelope to send as a token of our connection. Now I have 15 penpals from around the world, and together we exchange our thoughts and the unfolding events of our lives. The photograph on the left captures my writing space, for lettering and journaling. — Newsletter editor Elle Tallgren, 5th year medical student
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Writing a letter: You’ll need loose leaf paper, and a comfortable pen to write with. The recipient? Perhaps a friend, your younger self, someone you’ve lost, or even a part of yourself that longs to be seen. Don’t worry about posting it. The act of writing can be enough. To draw on the themes of the new issue of Journal of Holistic Healthcare, it can be a way to name what is otherwise left unspoken, and to bring shadow into light. |
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“By attending to our inner work and honouring ourselves, we can transmute the painful dross of experiences from our shadow into wisdom and maturity. We can also unleash our latent qualities, and perhaps live the life we were born to live! As we work on ourselves, we change not just us, but those around us, and our profession. What could be more relevant to holistic health than this?”
— Andrew Tresidder, GP (“Facing my shadow in medicine – healing the wounded healer”, Journal of Holistic Healthcare, Volume 22, Issue 2, Summer 2025)
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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. We will see you again in the next newsletter, which is due to be published on the last Friday of September. With warmth, The Flourishing Spaces Team
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