Blog Closed

This Blog - irishpoetrytherapynetwork@blogspot.com -  is now closed. 

From February 2026, it will no longer be updated or monitored. 

A new blog will be included on our website IPTN.ie

Wellness Through The Seasons and Poetry Club 2026

 Wellness Through The Seasons 2026

 

 Two hour workshops led by qualified poetry therapy practitioners

from 2pm - 4pm

February 21st - Theresa

April 18th – Maria

June 13th – Carol

August 15th - Shelley

 €20 for members and €30 for non-members

Poetry Club

One hour workshops led by members of IPTN from 2pm

March 21st – Shelley

May 16th – Bernie

July 26th – Ger

September 19th - Elizabeth

 Sessions are open and free to IPTN members

 

  

NI IPTN Workshop - Click to read

IPTN Ezine Autumn '25

IPTN ezine in now availble to read online, with details of our conference and much more. Check it out.

IPTN Conference - Nessa O'Mahony - Guest Speaker

 
This year the IPTN Conference will be held on zoom on Sat 11/10/25. We are delighted to welcome Nessa O'Mahony as guest speaker on the topic: Down to the River.

Poet Nessa O'Mahony explores the relationship between the writer and their local river, focussing on how writers have turned to waterways as a source of inspiration, consolation and recuperation over the centuries. She will discuss the importance of her own local river, the Dodder, to her poetry and how it inspired her work in the aftermath of major surgery in 2024, and will read poems from her forthcoming collection, Dodder Daughter.
Nessa O'Mahony is from Dublin, where she lives. She has published five volumes of poetry - a sixth, Dodder Daughter, will be published by Salmon Poetry in 2026. She is an associate lecturer with the Open University and a regular facilitator of creative writing workshops.

Pre-Conference Workshop

 

Pre-Conference Workshop  

Connecting with Nature, Connecting with Creativity: A Poetry Therapy in Practice Workshop

The Northern Ireland Poetry Therapy Interest Group is holding a pre-conference workshop on Sat 4^th October ’25 at the MAC, Belfast.

The outcomes of the workshop will be presented at the IPTN conference on 11^th October. If you attend the workshop, you are welcome to take part in the presentation at the conference.

Cost: £20 IPTN members/£30 non-members

For full details, please email Shelley Tracey at

shelleyztracey@gmail.com

Connections with Nature - Conference 11/10/25

We are pleased to announce that the IPTN 2025 Conference -Connections with Nature - will be held on Saturday 11 October '25. Our guest speaker is the masterful poet and writer Nessa O'Mahony. More information to follow shortly!

IPTN Poetry Club and Workshops 2025

Wellness Through The Seasons 2025

 

Dates for our four Saturday sessions from 2pm – 4pm

       1 February 2025 – Theresa Kelly

     12 April 2025 – Shelley Tracey

     14 June 2025 – Carol Boland

     6 September 2025 – Maria Ortega

 €20 for members and €30 for non-members

Dates for one-hour Saturday sessions from 2pm:

       22 March 2025 – Alison Broder

      17 May 2025 – Bernie Walsh

       5  July 2025 – Ger Campbell

       20 Sept 2025 – Elizabeth Fitzsimons

 Sessions are open and free to IPTN members

 

  

New IPTN Website

 IPTN has a new website with lots of information about the work of IPTN in Ireland and elsewhere.

Check it out at IPTN.ie

Poetry Therapy Ezine Autumn '24

 

IPTN Annual Conference

 

We are delighted to confirm that our IPTN annual conference this year will take place on zoom on Saturday 12 October 2024.

Our keynote speaker is Lani O'Hanlon. She was winner in the Adult Published category of the Trócaire Poetry Ireland Poetry Competition 2022 with her poem ‘When I Visit Dalal’.

Lani O' Hanlon is a writer, poet, creative writing facilitator and somatic movement therapist. She has an MA in creative writing from Lancaster University and her writing is published in various journals and anthologies including Poetry (Chicago) Portland Review, Poetry Ireland, Poetry Wales, The Irish Times, Southward, The Stinging Fly, Orbis, Abridged, Mslexia, Vanguard’s 14, and A New Ulster; anthologies, Halleluiah for Forty-foot Women and Staying Human (Bloodaxe), Poems from Pandemia (Munster Literature Centre), Small Wonders (Dedalus Press), Washing Windows Too (Arlen House) and regularly broadcast on RTE’s Sunday Miscellany.

Prizes and commendations include: Hennessey New Irish Writing, The Bridport prize, Hungry Hill's Poets Meet Politics and Poetry on the Lake.

IPTN's AGM (annual general meeting) will be held on zoom on Saturday 18th May '24 at 4.15 pm.

If you wish to join us, please email IPTN at irishpoetrytherapynetwork@gmail.com, for the zoom link .

All Welcome.

Workshops and Poetry Club '24

Throughout the year, IPTN runs Wellness through the Seasons workshops on zoom on a Saturday from 2pm to 4pm. Details of the sessions are advertised nearer the time. IPTN members receive a reduced rate.

We also run a Poetry Club (free) for IPTN members on a Saturday from 2 pm to  3 pm, on zoom.

Here are the dates for your diary and we will email a gentle reminder beforehand.

10 February 2024  Siblings and our Relationship with them. - Theresa Kelly

20 April 2024  The Road Ahead - Carol Boland in Old School, Hollyfort, Gorey,                               and on zoom. A combining of face-to-face and zoom sessions.

18 May 2024 The Place of Poetry in your Life - Shelley Tracey

24 August 2024 - Realisations of the heart: Haibun - Maria Ortega

€20 for members and €25 for non-members

Poetry Club

Dates for IPTN’s one-hour Saturday sessions from 2pm:

23 March 2024  Poems That I Like with Bernie Walsh

8 June 2024 - Anaphora with Ali Broder

27 July 2024 - Parcels with Elizabeth Fitzsimons

21 September 2024 - Let's Play with Words Ger Campbell

 Sessions are open and free to IPTN members

We look forward to seeing you there.

IPTN Conference - A successful day!

What a day it was - full of interesting and enlightening facilitations from all our speakers. Thanks to  facilitators and to all who attended and participated in the sessions, you made the conference the successful event it was. We could not have done it without you! Copies of the poems are on their way.

Check out our autumn ezine below for details of upcoming online events during 2024.

See you there!

 

Watch our IPTN information video

 

Conference Prog - Sat 14 Oct '23

 See our Autumn ezine below for further details.

Book your place by emailing Theresa Kelly at irishpoetrytherapynetwork@gmail.com

IPTN Ezine Autumn '23

 

Sorry! Session Cancelled

Sorry! 

We regret that our Wellness Through the Seasons session on 26th August '23 has been cancelled.

For IPTN members, the next Poetry Club is on 23th September with Alison Broder. She will contact you nearer the time with further details.

Save the Date - Annual Conference Saturday 14/10/23

In the meantime, our IPTN Ezine is almost ready for publication. Watch out for it here and on Facebook. As usual, it is full of interesting articles, and this edition includes details of our upcoming Annual Conference on Saturday 14th October, on zoom.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

IPTN AGM - 20/5/23

This year the IPTN's AGM (annual general meeting) will be held on zoom on Saturday 20th May '23 at 3.15pm

Please email IPTN for the zoom link if you wish to join us.

All Welcome.

Poetry Therapy in Practice at NI Mental Health Arts Festival

Three poetry therapy events are taking place at the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast as part of the NI Mental Health Arts Festival.

https://www.nimhaf.org/2023-festival-events-240423

1. 13th May 10.30am to 12.30pm Introduction to Poetry Therapy

https://crescentarts.org/courses/introduction-to-poetry-therapy-

2. 13th March 1.30pm -3.30pm Poetry Therapy in Practice: Myths, Journeys and Self-Discovery

https://crescentarts.org/courses/poetry-therapy-in-practice-myths-journeys--selfdisc

3. 16th May 10.00am to 12.30pm

We are All Music Makers and Dreamers of Dreams

This workshop combines music and poetry therapy

https://crescentarts.org/courses/poetry--music-therapy