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.


"Poetry for Mental Health was formed at the outbreak of Covid; helping people cope mentally by inspiring them to write poetry. Five years, five 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 1200 visitors 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!"


PLEASE DONATE - Poetry for Mental Health is run voluntarily. It receives no funding or grants so please donate just £10.00 (GBP) / $15.00 (USD) to help us continue support others by promoting and publishing poetry for mental health. Press the DONATE button for £10.00 (GBP), or the PayPal button for a larger amount.

Thank you!

ROBIN BARRATT

Founder POETRY FOR MENTAL HEALTH

"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!"


Today's Featured Poetry

15/10/2024

OBSOLETE CLICHÉ

By Vatsala Radhakeesoon


When at 5, your mum dropped you at

primary school and on the first day you still cried,

a bossy teacher grabbed your hand

and pointed at the round-faced girl

whose pigtails looked neat

and cheeks all-dry,

you felt her big teeth- grin was placid, dull

but to the eyes of adults was framed brave;

You felt something within your behaviour

sank-shrank


At 12, when you battled Vitiligo whims,

during recess-time, a few friends bullied you

with their sharp knifed- lines,

“grey streaked -hair and old wrinkled cow-skin,

no boyfriend to catch the eyes”,

you hid yourself in the classroom,

stopped playing 

and preferred dreaming in pop music magazines;

You felt something in your body

sank-shrank


As an adult, amidst a management training session,

you rushed to the wash-room,

glanced at yourself in the mirror

and let the tears well down your faded dimples,

“That job is not for me, All Money, No Humanity”,

you let the voice in you yell;

You felt something in your mind

sank -shrank


You became a writer,

and when you joined a group of authors

for book signing sessions,

you thought that was where you belonged,

but their intellectual show off or egos 

coupled with 21st century social media’s

self-hero worshipping 

and their thirst for fame, name, money

and no shame,

labelled you as “too sensitive, engrossed in your trauma”;

You said it was a cry for help

but they shrugged, priding their better worth;

You felt something in your heart

sank-shrank




All throughout life stages, pinpointed as 

the HSP* and the society blaming you as some

weak, cowardice -sin,

you finally became who you were meant to be


Now,

You walk alone,

You work individually,

You create depth in your solitary refuge,

Yet you always stand up for the ones

sincerely in need of help,

You feel the pain of all,

even the ones who once hurt you,

You bear no grudge


You no longer carry the obsolete cliché 

of sensitivity being insane,

You go on,

You are unstoppable


You are an empath.


* HSP – Highly Sensitive Person


ABOUT THE POEM: "Being an HSP from childhood to adulthood, I have often been reproached by many people of being “too sensitive " and they have advised me to be tough skin. Thus, till my early 30s I kept believing being highly sensitive was a flaw and that gave me some inferiority complex. However, my whole perception of myself changed after I read the book , The Highly Sensitive Person by the clinical research psychologist and author, Elaine Aron. In that book, the writer emphasizes that we should consider being an HSP as a quality and channel it in the right direction in our daily lives. I have written this poem based on my own personal experiences and for other HSPs who have crossed my path."


ABOUT VATSALA: Vatsala has been writing poems for more than 30 years and she is the author of numerous poetry books. She is also an abstract artist and likes to experiment various possibilities that bless Art. Vatsala is a literary translator and currently lives at Rose-Hill, Mauritius.


Blog: https://booksbyvatsalaradhakeesoon.wordpress.com


More Featured Poetry ...

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

Poetry by: Vatsala Radhakeesoon, Martin Embree, Dan Healy, Tadgh Quill-Manley, Reuben Scott, Paulette Hampton, Dr Sabrina Rubin, Bella Hope Smith, Lindsay Walter, Dale "Coyote" Johnson, Alexander A. Henning, Emma Welch, Sophie Squires, Chris McClelland, Sasha Irwin, Faiqa Ali Chughtai, Hari Berrow, Victoria Fitzgerald, Andrea Mitchell, Mohammed Ali, Chad Boucher, Zack Benz, Jordan Claeys, Nicole Crossno, Valentina Fulginiti, Ethan Boyd, Heidi Hildeman, Oscar Lozano, Addie Suter, Dionne Risley, David M White, PhD, Melissa W. Sorgi, Kyra Merryman, Riley M. Frank, Hilary Canto, Amelia May Hart, Reese, Anneli Knight, Keila Cruz, Bhagvati Patel, Amber Roeder, Cynthia Foss, April Bulmer, Chelsea Garcia, Trish Lundy, Divya Paliwal, Jeanette Stephenson. Luke Preston, Autumn Johnson, Amy Harris, Braxsen Sindelar, Kristen Moody, Sindy Stern, Sam Hendrian, Deby Cedars, Kiran Harrar, William Gray , Tim Boardman, Jason Kirk Bartley, Ruben Smith, Crystal Hall, Diane Kennedy, Phil Griffiths, Nadine Dunseith, Cynthia Foss, Titan Sanchez, Alex Turner, Brielle Hoban, Aviva Lilith, Spruce Craft, Frea Wooten, Rosalynn Gildart, April Bartaszewicz, Prudence Sage Massaria, Howa Ramadan, Brodeigh Pearce, Annie Walsh, Charity Louise, Sasha Pavlovic, Haley Headrick, Trisha Lawty, Noor Yousif, Hannah Louise MacFarlane, Anthony Lanza, Basil Kaye, Malachy Mackel, G.S. Yarbro, Sanda Ristić Stojanović, Bobby Z, Binod Dawadi, Fredua A .Boateng, C.W. Blackburn, James Aitchison, Eshaal Asim, Anthony Lanza, Natalie Hussey, Kiran Harrar, Gary Shulman, Abraham Aruguete, Johnathan Eldridge, Faith Graham, Amanda Sharon Hancock, Garima Sachdev Kapoor, Rita McDermott, Shahida Seedat, Jose Manoj Mathews T, Farblos Artem, Jennifer L. Alukonis, Thomas Oddie, Tricia Lloyd Waller, Lisa Anderson, Himanshu Ahuja, K. Weber and Mary Bone.


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 poetry for positive mental health.

Our Books

“Poetry can be mind-bogglingly confusing or ever-so simple. It can be several pages of complicated verse, or just a few simple, easy-to-read words. But one thing we know for sure is that poetry is a story, a journey, or indeed a statement, and this is created by a careful composition of words and structure, with a sole purpose of evoking strong feeling or emotion. Poetry is about form (however that is defined), purpose, and establishing your voice.”


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.

Featured Poets

Featuring over 70 individual poets with up to six pieces of their work and a little about the author, and the stories behind their poem/s..


Magazine

New for 2024!!!

Our NEW Poetry for Mental Health magazine featuring poetry on the topics and themes of mental health from writers and poets around the world, as well as lots of poetry writing advice, tips & techniques, articles, essays, poet profiles, personal stories, and a forthcoming regular poetry competition!

"Probably the only magazine in the world exclusively dedicated to poetry for mental health!"

Our Magazine


"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 (contributor)




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 ...

Poetry Writing Course

A FREE course for anyone, anywhere wanting to use words and poetic verse for the first time to help them express how they think and feel.

Read more ...





Publish your poetry collection!


Poetry for Mental Health provides a fast, inexpensive way of getting your poetry collection independently self-published in paperback and Kindle - via your own Amazon KDP platform - and distributed globally. If you have a manuscript that you would like to independently self-publish, but not sure how, or don't have the time, depending upon where you are in the world, we might be able to help. We have helped publish over 100 books for authors and poets worldwide! CLICK HERE for further details.



Stay Connected

Be kept updated with our news and calls for submissions, or CLICK HERE to send us a message.

Share by: