Poetry for Mental Health Programs
- IPM Team
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. We are taking this opportunity to share with you some of the IPM Community Partners and their programs with mental health focus.
May 1-31st
Crescent Moon Center
IPM's collaboration with Crescent Moon Center focuses on bringing free poetry and wellness workshops to adults in recovery, veterans, BIPOC mothers, disabled adults, LGBTQ+ community members, immigrants, refugees, and suicide-loss survivors throughout the Bay Area. Participants are invited to reconnect with themselves through both nature and creative expression. The horses we work with are our partners who help create a space of emotional grounding and presence, while writing poetry offers participants a way to process experiences, rediscover their voices, and build community through shared storytelling. We invite and encourage you to click the link above and help us support Horses for Mental Health this month during their global fundraising campaign.
May 23rd
The Institute for Poetic Medicine - Summit 2026
A number of the programs we are sharing today are facilitated by students and graduates of IPM's 3-year Practitioner of Poetic Medicine training. The first of these that we want to mention is James "Jim" Elsaesser, a PPM graduate, who will be leading an online session on this Saturday called Poetic Medicine in the River of Cruelty. We hope that you will join this livestream to learn more about the impact of poetic medicine that Jim has witnessed during the many years of workshops he has shared with attendees at both DASI (Domestic Abuse & Sexual Assault Intervention Services) and through programs supported by Family Peace Initiative. Jim will share more about his years of experience with this work and the mental health benefits of poetic medicine at this weekend's Summit 2026 May session.
May 24th
Arts and Healing Resiliency Center
A Message from Sherri Levine, facilitator for this session:
Mental Health Awareness Month is dedicated to raising awareness about mental health, fighting stigma, and advocating for those with mental illness or those who know someone who is. I am supporter and board member of Portland, OR chapter of Depression & Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) whose support groups have helped me feel like I belong to a community that cares and listens with an open heart. I believe in the power of writing in a group that is supportive, non-judgmental, encouraging, and caring. For the National DBSA fundraising event, I led a writing group for World Bipolar Day. I plan to partner with them to develop more writing programs. Please visit their website: dballiance.org.
May 26th
The MERI Center for Humanity in Healthcare has been leading poetic medicine workshops since 2020 under the guidance of former IPM student Redwing Keyssar. The programs they offer month after month have brought community and healing words to people caring for others and to those in the midst of grief.
The MERI Center will facilitate the workshop Loss, Losing, and Loosening during IPM's Poetic Medicine Summit 2026 on September 17th and we are excited to have their experience with this topic available to our wider community.
Learn more about what they offer: https://meri.ucsf.edu/poetic-medicine-information
June 9, 16, 23
Cancer Lifeline has been improving the quality of life for people living with cancer since 1973. They help people live their best life with cancer through free or reduced cost educational presentations, experiential classes, financial assistance, immersive retreats, and personalized emotional support. IPM's collaboration with Cancer Lifeline continues year after year and this June we will again lead a three-part poetic medicine workshop starting June 9: https://cancerlifeline.org/event/embracing-our-whole-selves-in-our-life-journey-through-poetry-sponsored-by-virginia-mason-franciscan-health/2026-06-09/
In a crisis? Call or Text 988
National Alliance on Mental Illness - NAMI
The NAMI HelpLine provides the one-on-one help and information necessary to tackle tough challenges that you, your family or friends are facing.
Call, Text or Email with the HelpLine M-F, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. ET
988 crisis service available 24/7
Call 1-800-950-6264
Text “NAMI” to 62640
Additional Programs from some of the organizations listed above:
Crescent Moon Center
Crescent Moon Center volunteer Marley Brandenburg trained with IPM in 2025 to become a Poetry as a Tool for Wellness (PTW) facilitator and now offers a free online PTW Poetry Circle on the 3rd Sundays each month at 3pm Pacific. View the CMC schedule of online and in-person events here: https://www.crescentmooncenter.org/schedule-programs
Learn more about IPM's Poetry as a Tool for Wellness program here: https://www.poeticmedicine.org/poetrypartners/poetry-as-a-tool-for-wellness
As mentioned above, Crescent Moon has been selected to be part of a global platform called the “Horses for Mental Health” campaign. As one of Crescent Moon Center's Community Partners, an IPM Ambassador Page has been created so that The Institute for Poetic Medicine can gather supporters from our community for this May fundraising campaign.
We invite you to join us in supporting Crescent Moon Center during the May 2026 Horses for Mental Health campaign and we hope that you will be able to join in person for one of the Horses and Poetry days that IPM and CMC offer in collaboration. Donate here:
Arts and Healing Resiliency Center
The Institute for Poetic Medicine for many years has worked in collaboration with Arts and Healing Resiliency Center (AHRC). This is rooted in the long-term friendship of John Fox and Diana Kaufman. It was in 2011 that Diana first invited John to present Grand Rounds at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The Arts & Healing Resiliency Center is an outreach of the Hold On Campaign for Suicide Prevention: www.holdoncampaign.org
IPM is delighted to share news of a further collaboration between Poetic Medicine and AHRC! Diana has invited two graduates of the Poetic Medicine 3-year, 3-phase training program – E. D. Watson and Marcie Schwartz – to bring their gifts and skills this summer to AHRC program participants. IPM is keen to support this excellent outreach and collaboration!
Registration for these events opens a week and a half before the events happen so we don't have links available for these at this time. We will update this page once we have live links. Please visit the AHRC Eventbrite Information page to see when new registrations are posted: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/arts-healing-resiliency-center-34407610017
As listed at the top of this article, AHRC does have a registration link available for you to attend a workshop by Sherri Levine, a new friend of the Institute, happening this coming Sunday! Sherri’s poem Stealing Flowers from the Neighbors is featured in the IPM May Newsletter.
Sherri Levine offers:
Sunday, May 24th, 2026 at 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM (PST).
Sherri Levine, is a poet, educator, mental health advocate, and squirrel lover who lives in Portland, Oregon. She spent her career teaching English to immigrants and refugees at colleges and universities. She is the recipient of the Patricia Ruth Banta Award which recognizes an individual or group who has offered significant contribution to Oregon poetry by the Oregon Poetry Association. Sherri says: we will write short, timed writings and then share what we have written in small groups, depending on the size of the Zoom room. (You can always pass!) We will listen to each other and offer positive comments.
E. D. Watson offers
Song of Myself: A Poetic Medicine Practice
Sunday, June 28, 2026 at 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM (PST).
Join award-winning poet and certified Practitioner of Poetic Medicine E. D. Watson in an engaging writing workshop to celebrate and explore the “multitudes” you contain. This online class introduces participants to the basic principles and wellness benefits of a poetic medicine practice. Taking inspiration from the poetry of Walt Whitman as well as other poets, we will cultivate self-appreciation and honor the complexity of our being. All experience levels are welcome, from seasoned writers to first-time poets.
Marcie Schwartz offers
Listening and Attention with Poetic Medicine
Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM (PST)
Join Marcie in exploring the importance of listening with attuned attention, the power of finding your voice and the healing that transpires from transforming pain into written language through poem writing.
Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen teaches: “The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention… A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.”
Marcie shares: As you practice self-compassion, to turn towards your suffering with love and awareness, my goal is for you to feel safe and supported as you honor your inner voice, releasing stuck emotions out from your body and onto the page. No writing experience is necessary.
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