12.5 No Rules, Just Words: Creative Writing for Healthcare Professionals
Tracks
Botanical 1 room
| Friday, October 24, 2025 |
| 1:35 PM - 2:05 PM |
| Botanical 1 room |
Details
Format: Practical workshop (60-minute)
Speaker
Dr Sarah Saunders
Northern Territory Government
No Rules, Just Words: Creative Writing for Healthcare Professionals
1:35 PM - 2:45 PMAbstract Overview
This 60-minute creative writing workshop offers healthcare professionals a reflective and supportive space to explore the therapeutic power of writing. Open to all—especially those who do not see themselves as writers—this session encourages creativity as a tool for self-expression, emotional processing, and professional resilience.
The session will begin with a brief discussion on the intersection of medicine and the arts, highlighting how narrative, poetry, and creative reflection can enhance clinician well-being, deepen empathy, and create space for the complexity of healthcare experiences. Participants will then be given a short writing prompt and invited to write freely—whether in prose, poetry, or another form—about a moment in their work that has stayed with them.
Writing will be done individually in a quiet, supportive environment, with pens and paper provided. At the conclusion, participants will be invited (but not required) to share their writing in a group setting. This is a safe, judgment-free space with no corrections, no red pens, and no expectations—only encouragement.
Creative expression has long been recognised as a valuable complement to clinical practice. This workshop provides an accessible, inclusive way to reconnect with meaning, emotion, and the human stories at the heart of medicine.
The session will begin with a brief discussion on the intersection of medicine and the arts, highlighting how narrative, poetry, and creative reflection can enhance clinician well-being, deepen empathy, and create space for the complexity of healthcare experiences. Participants will then be given a short writing prompt and invited to write freely—whether in prose, poetry, or another form—about a moment in their work that has stayed with them.
Writing will be done individually in a quiet, supportive environment, with pens and paper provided. At the conclusion, participants will be invited (but not required) to share their writing in a group setting. This is a safe, judgment-free space with no corrections, no red pens, and no expectations—only encouragement.
Creative expression has long been recognised as a valuable complement to clinical practice. This workshop provides an accessible, inclusive way to reconnect with meaning, emotion, and the human stories at the heart of medicine.
Biography
Dr Sarah Saunders is an ACRRM Registrar currently working in Katherine, Northern Territory, where she applies her advanced skill in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She earned her medical degree and a Bachelor of Arts in Medical Humanities in the UK, and has since worked across four continents, often with remote, underrepresented, and marginalised communities. With clinical training in two countries and a global perspective shaped by cross-cultural experience, Sarah brings both breadth and depth to her clinical work. She has a particular interest in domestic violence prevention and trauma-informed care. Alongside her clinical practice, Sarah is an award-winning artist and writer whose published creative work explores healthcare through both clinician and patient perspectives—drawing on her own lived experience. She is passionate about the intersection of art and medicine, believing that storytelling fosters reflection, strengthens empathy, and benefits both clinicians and the patients they serve.
