CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY
Poetry for Mental Health will be taking a little break over Christmas and will be closed from 14th to 29th December.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS everyone, and here's to a creative 2025!
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
"We have supported thousands of people around the world through words and poetry!"
"Poetry for Mental Health was formed at the outbreak of COVID; helping people cope mentally by inspiring them to write poetry. Four years, six 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!"
Poetry for Mental Health
Supporting people with mental health challenges by motivating and inspiring them to write poetry.
PLEASE DONATE - Poetry for Mental Health is run voluntarily. It receives no funding or grants so please donate to help us continue 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 (1)
13th December, 2024.
IT WILL HAPPEN
Gary Shulman, MS. Ed.
(Dedicated to those who are struggling right now)
Some very kind folks are struggling right now
To make heads or tails of this monumental mess
Well I truly don’t have an exact answer for them
That sad reality I must verily confess
It hurts to see such good people stultified
Unable to break out of their gloom
Oh if only I had magic powers for real
To help their joy again blossom and bloom
All I can do is share my thoughts and poems
Share photos of the beauty of life
And hope they bring some peace and solace
To help relieve some of the stress and the strife
I will keep plugging away modeling kindness as well
Helping those who are vulnerable and in pain
It really doesn’t take much effort at all
And there is so much loving goodness to gain
No, I don’t walk a mile in your shoes for sure
Your journey is very different than mine
But I promise to keep on keeping on
I will toast to your healing with vintage wine
And hope that one day, not so far, far away
You will be healed of that stress and that strife
And once again see the rays of bright sunshine
That yearn to envelop your unique precious life
Today's Featured Poetry (2)
13th December, 2024.
DEPRESSION LESSION
dedicated to my daughter Leah
By Joan Kantor
My little girl sits
at the edge of my bed
with love and concern
in her eyes
as I try to look happy
but no longer can
and I watch us switch roles
as she gently strokes my arm
and tries to convince me to eat
She leaves my side
and quickly returns
with a chocolate shake
and tentative smile
Guilt infiltrates
the depths of my sadness
She’s taken on a burden
that’s impossibly large
What will happen
if she someday believes
she failed me
I’m not sure what she knows
so I try to explain
between tiny labored sips
but it’s impossible
How can she understand
what I can’t
NOTE: Featured Poetry will resume after the Christmas break ...
More Featured Poetry ...
On the themes of mental health, from poets around the world.
Poetry by: Joan Kantor, Jamie Gannon, Susannah Chatfield, Emma Follett, Nigel Pinhorn, Boakesey, Milena Dimitrova, Nivedita Karthik, Annette Towler, Lana, Tara Reyes, Donna McCabe, Tony Cooney, Peter W. Morris, Mark Andrew Heathcote, Paul Parker, Angus Shoor Caan, Duane Anderson, Shahida, Joan McNerney, David T. Culkin, PhD., John F. Zurn, hristine Botros, Francis H. Powell. Simon Drake, Roo Newsome, Sherri Levine, Kathleen Chamberlin, Tandra Mishra, Caroline Berry, Angela Masciale, Chris Stokes, Reno Mcgreggor Connelly, 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 and publishing poetry for positive mental health.
OUT NOW!!!
MENTAL HEALTH (Vol.3)
A collection of interviews, personal stories, poetry and short prose from around the world on the themes of mental health.
Out now!
“"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
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.
Featured Poets
Featuring over 80 individual poets with up to six pieces of their work, a little about the author, and the stories behind their poems..
"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
Directory of Support Services
Charities, groups and organisations worldwide offering mental health help and support to people in crisis.
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.
NEW - Classifieds
A great way to advertise your mental health related products and services to a global audience.
Newletter
Be kept updated with our news and calls for submissions.
Publish your poetry collection!
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.
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CONTACT
THANK YOU to the following people who have donated to Poetry For Mental Health: Barbara Rivers, Rabi Mariathasan, Duane Anderson, John Zurn, Sandra Rollins,
Braxsen Sindelar, Caroline Berry, Sage Gargano, Gabriel Cleveland, April Bartaszewicz, Patricia Lynn Coughlin, Hilary Canto, Jennifer Mabus, Chris Husband, Dr Sarah Clarke, Eva Marie Dunlap, Sheri Thomas, Andrew Stallwood, Stephen Ferrett, Craig Davidson, Joseph Shannon Hodges, John Tunaley, and
Patrick Oshea.