Expressive Writing - (It's Easy to W.R.I.T.E. Expressive Writing) by Kathleen Adams (Paperback)

About the Book

Expressive writing is life-based writing that focuses on authentic expression of lived experience, with resultant insight, growth and skill-building. For decades, it has been the province of journals, memoirs, poets, and language arts classrooms. Social science research now pr...

Book Synopsis

Expressive writing is life-based writing that focuses on authentic expression of lived experience, with resultant insight, growth and skill-building. For decades, it has been the province of journals, memoirs, poets, and language arts classrooms. Social science research now provides indisputable evidence that expressive writing is also healing.

Review Quotes

Expressive Writing: Foundations of Practice is a fundamental and affirming text integrating theory and practice. Respected pioneers and practitioners share with compassion and expertise their research results, anecdotal evidence, and personal experience to clearly demonstrate the many ways therapeutic writing works. This is a "how-to" book of extraordinary caliber for facilitators and individuals alike who wish to use writing for self-expression, personal growth and healing.


Expressive Writing: Foundations of Practice is a transformative guide for those seeking insight through writing and for those who guide that process. Kay Adams is the ideal alchemist for this superb work: an international leader in therapeutic journaling, master teacher and mentor, author and editor, healing professional, and community builder.
Adams has distilled both critical research and writing processes from some of the best practitioners in the field. The threads of expressive writing are woven into a text that reflects the evidence-based aspects of therapeutic writing, the creativity and strength building of expressive writing, and specific strategies to use in virtually any context. This work honors and elicits the authentic self--the inner wisdom in each of us.
Adams advances expressive writing in a powerful way. If expressive writing can reveal to us our inner wisdom and we share our common and diverse insights, she believes that expressive writing will help communities shape effective change.
The applications and possibilities for this as an educational tool are endless, and the editor and authors will help you to begin right away. Expressive Writing: Foundations of Practice is a must-have guide for those who want to grow and heal through writing. Simply put, it inspires.

Expressive Writing: Foundations of Practice is the book I've been waiting for! As a licensed mental health counselor and certified journal therapist, I strongly believe this book will be a valuable and unique professional resource. As a woman who has written and journaled for decades, I envision this work as a rewarding introduction to the broad range of genres included in the world of expressive writing.

This comprehensive and practical guide is appealing and easily accessible. Each chapter, instructive and engaging in its own right, is a powerful and critical component within a collective vision in the field of expressive writing. The contributions are woven together in a manner that flows easily from one to the other.
The authors represent the finest in their areas of expertise. Their writing is informative, engaging and supported by additional references. Filled with passion and conviction, each writer provides exceptional wisdom based on their advanced education and decades of experience.
I recommend Expressive Writing: Foundations of Practice with complete confidence.

If expressive writing is a pathway into the undiscovered self, then this book is the ultimate guide to that journey. Filled with tools, techniques, and stories from leaders in the field, it provides the insights and instructions needed to usher others safely into the rich world of their inner terrain, with only our pens as walking sticks. This volume is a testament to the power of writing to make sense of our lives in both ordinary and extraordinary moments. As a certified poetry and journal facilitator, Expressive Writing: Foundations of Practice won't ever be far from my side.


This is an indispensable resource for anyone in the teaching or counseling profession who is interested in exploring the tremendous power of expressive writing for personal, therapeutic or educational purposes. Within these pages, you will find a variety of creative writing tools and techniques that will engage even the most reticent student or client and help them find their "shoobeedoo." A special bonus is the chapter by Kate Thompson which describes how counselors can benefit from using journaling for self-supervision.


This volume is a compelling interdisciplinary contribution to the literature on the therapeutic, educational, personal growth, and community-building aspects of expressive writing. Kay Adams, an international leader in journal therapy, poetry therapy, and expressive writing, has assembled an outstanding collection of authors who within their respective disciplines have joined her to provide clear and practical applications of expressive writing methods. The reader will find, through the description and reflective commentaries, that the practice material presented is suitable for adaptation to a wide range of theoretical orientations and practice models. Indeed, this volume is a welcome addition to the literature on poetry therapy, particularly the expressive/creative component.


With its vibrant integration of emotion, structure, meaningful exercises, careful selection, and the setting of appropriate limits, Kathleen Adams has upgraded Socrates for our times. 2400 years ago, the Apology argued that the unexamined life is not worth living. Adams has provided all of us with ways to examine our lived experience through writing and expression, making our lives not only more meaningful but more exciting and beautiful.

About the Author

Kathleen Adams MA, LPC is one of the leading voices in the field of expressive and therapeutic writing. A psychotherapist and registered poetry/journal therapist, she founded the Center for Journal Therapy in 1988. She is the series editor for the It's Easy to W.R.I.T.E. Expressive Writing series for Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.