Acceptance with joy: Writing as a means of embodying compassion

Abstract

This article reports on research using writing workshops conducted with three women who distanced themselves from problematic relationships with their bodies that were induced by eating disorders. The article focuses on the use of writing tasks based on appreciative inquiry and outsider witnessing processes, practised with a group of women in a manner that provided space for the participants to story compassion for their bodies. The article explores the writing tasks that the participants were invited to undertake, and discusses the subsequent interviewing and outsider witnessing process as forms of narrative therapy practice. The article also documents the process of capturing a participant’s voice in a rescued speech poem.