TRIGGER WARNING!


This website contains poetry and true stories about trauma, personality disorders, suicidal thoughts, self-harming, depression and other significant mental health issues, as well as personal stories of emotional neglect and physical and sexual abuse, which some people might find disturbing.


Poetry for Mental Health

Supporting people with mental health challenges by motivating and inspiring them to write poetry.

PLEASE help support Poetry for Mental Health as it continues promoting, publishing and showcasing poetry for mental health into 2026. Thank you so much ... together we can keep supporting people around the world through words and poetry!


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"Poetry for Mental Health has supported thousands of people around the world through words and poetry!"


"Formed at the outbreak of COVID by helping people cope mentally by inspiring them to write poetry; five years, seven books, hundreds of poets, and thousands of pieces of poetry later, we are still inspiring people to write poetry for positive mental health! With around 1400 visitors now each and every month, Poetry for Mental Health is now probably the largest and most visited website for poetry and mental health on the net!"


"No matter what your age, background and experience, culture or identity; whether an established writer with many published titles to your credit, or an aspiring poet who has never written a word of poetry in your life, our philosophy here is to embrace, welcome and support everyone, everywhere suffering from mental health challenges, and help you cope through words and poetry ... Get writing!"

ROBIN BARRATT

Founder POETRY FOR MENTAL HEALTH


This Weekend's Featured Poetry

05th July, 2025

TWISTED SISTERS

By Susan Evans


There is no use barring the windows and doors 

and staying up all night with a shot gun 

across my lap to keep out 

the veiled, long-faced, Blue Miseries -- 

sobbing into tear-stained hankies and carrying doomsday calendars,

or the squat, white-gloved Small Petties, squinting through 

magnifying glasses and gripping score cards and tweezers; 

or even the ragged, hand-wringing, Desperate Needies, clutching 

donation requests and begging bowls;

and ditto the quill-coated, helmeted, Battle-Ax Harpies, 

snarling over bitter chocolate and dill spears;

and utterly impossible to stop the wide-bottomed Death Worriers 

clad in hoodies and compression socks, biting fingernails 

and rolling beads over their palms.


My house stands riddled with holes 

and the unwelcome seep inward with relish,

waving mockingly,

letting me know what a fool I am to allow entrance.


I rise reluctantly from a sleepless night 

with my chain of heavy keys

and unlock doors, surrendering to all the miscreant

sisters, agitators, complainers, and droopy drawers.

I feed them occasionally, strewing crumbs of regret,

express slight sympathy, pat their knees 

murmuring, “There, there;”

and try civilizing and integrating them into polite society,

letting them stay -- too long -- dining on my better nature


Finally, patience wears thin and drama exhausts, so I 

glance at my wrist, look pointedly at the door, 

and say, “My. Look at the time! Off you go!”


They sigh. I avert my eyes. 

They pack up their dribbles of things, 

take some of my baggage,

and wistfully scuttle out, looking back longingly 

even as I slam the door in their smudgy, baneful, graceless faces. 

Eyeing the mess they’ve made,

I vacuum


ABOUT THE POEM: "I believe the stress is palpable these days, and it is difficult to even sleep at night. My poem addresses my own insomnia and how I cope (eventually)."


ABOUT SUSAN: Susan lives in Baltimore, Maryland, and enjoys writing poetry, memoir, and creative nonfiction. Humor seems to help her make the world a little less scary, so she writes that, too.



06th July, 2025

UNTITLED

By Caligo Cai Amber


When every second of every day my poor wired brain loudly wails and my soul wildly howls,

when peace and contentment seem in my life seems mostly extinct because of the power of mere memories, 

and my mind does loop-de-loops in a circular pain cycle,

and the bottle that once numbed but broke me calls again,

but the answer is not in flavors that are sweet and strong,

and so I fall back other bad habits like caffeine to resist the totaling temptation,

and try to fall back to reading and poetry to once again become level and resilient.




More Featured Poetry ...

On the themes of mental health, from hundreds of poets around the world.



"Why is poetry so very good for people with mental health challenges? Because it helps them see the world in their own way, and in a way that makes sense to them ..."

Robin Barratt



Books

Click on the covers for further details of all our titles. With thousands of contributions from hundreds of writers and poets around the world, our anthologies are probably some of the largest collections on mental health ever published. Please buy a copy - ALL profits from the sales of our titles go towards promoting and publishing poetry for positive mental health.


NOTE: All our books are now available as PDF e-Books! Just £3.99 (GBP) / $5.99 (USD). Click on the button below, and click through to the book you would like as a pdf.


Our Books

Personal Journeys

In their own words, poets and writers write about their own personal journey with mental health.


Interviews

Poetry for Mental Health chats to writers and poets about their journey with mental health.


NEW - Articles

Articles about poetry and positive mental health. MORE ONLINE SHORTLY.


Featured Poets

Featuring over 65 poets around the world, with up to six pieces of their work, and a little about the author and the stories behind their work.


Other ...


Directory of Support Services

Charities, groups and organisations worldwide offering mental health help and support to people in crisis.

Read more ...

Mental Health First Aid

Identifying warning signs of common mental health crisis, and how to guide a person towards safety and appropriate help. Read more ...




"People can benefit from writing poetry because it can take the images and the talk in your head and transfer it to paper. It’s like getting the words out

of your head so that they don’t linger there."

Nadine Dunseith



Newletter

Be kept updated with our news and calls for submissions.


Advertise here ...


You will soon be able to advertise your mental health related products, services and events etc here. Weekly, monthly, or for a full year.  Contact us for further details: Email: Robin@PoetryForMentalHealth.org


“No matter how bad something may seem at that moment in time when you feel all is lost, it can get better if you can only give it more time."

Lynda Tavakoli





NOTE ON CONTRIBUTIONS: We publish mental health poetry from around the world, and for a number contributors to this website, English is not their first language. Unlike some other platforms, we don't heavily edit a poet's own work (if we did, it would then not be their own work!), so please focus on a poet's messages and meanings, and not necessarily on any grammatical mistakes or translated imperfections that may arise within their contribution.