Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennie Linthorst.
Hi Jennie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My story begins in childhood in Tennessee when I first experienced the therapeutic value of the arts. I was 12 years old and was in a modern dance company when my mother passed away from cancer. The director of the company choreographed a suite of dances in honor of my mother’s battle with cancer, and I trained to perform the final solo, which was one of the greatest achievements of my life. It gave me a channel to express and move through my grief, performing that solo around the world. Something shifted in me, and I knew that I wanted to spend my life bringing the healing power of the arts to others.
I later decided to major in psychology at Skidmore College and wrote my thesis on the healing effects of the arts. I dove into jobs post-college managing artists in residency programs in San Francisco and Manhattan Beach, learning all the ins and outs of arts management and non-profits, but I felt amiss not being the artist, not being the one actively facilitating the workshop. Then one summer, in between jobs before a move, I volunteered in a retirement home, and on instinct brought my grandmother’s book of poetry to read aloud to an activities group. My grandmother, Marion Cannon, started writing poetry in her 60’s and became a successful southern poet with her deeply personal autobiographical poems about aging and looking back on life. I had the idea to encourage residents to finish sentences from my grandmother’s poems with their own writing like “I remember” or “in my mirror.” The activities director was moved by the process and pushed me to actively market these workshops to other retirement communities. I did just that, creating a curriculum based on themes in my grandmother’s book inspiring residents to explore their memories through writing poetry. I created anthologies for them and sewed poems into quilts to hang on their walls. From this experience, I read every poetry anthology I could get my hands on including the collection of over 1000 books my grandmother left after she passed, flagging accessible poems that touched on themes of a life story. This became the foundation of my life story course, Your Story Starts Here, which twenty years later, is still my most popular course.
At this time, I stumbled on the field of poetry therapy and the National Federation of Biblio/Poetry Therapy and spent two years completing their rigorous certification as a facilitator. I knew I had found my home studying clinical theory of the art therapy and psychology, honing the craft of poetry, practicing my lesson plans with my supervisor, and completing over 120 hours of facilitation.
Through my study of poetry, I came to find my own voice as a poet and continued to study with my writing teacher for many years beyond my certification. Writing poetry in my writing groups and on my own became a way for me to capture snapshots of my life. It became a lifeline for me when our only son faced global developmental delays as a toddler, facing a gray area of not quite autism but severe sensory processing issues that required years of full-time therapy. I documented that phase of my life in poems which became my first published book in 2011, Autism Disrupted: A Mother’s Journey of Hope. I created a curriculum using those poems to inspire other parents to therapeutically write through their story of raising a child with special needs. Also, during this time, I completed a 2-year master’s degree in spiritual psychology from the University of Santa Monica- a highly experiential program enhancing my counseling skills to add to my poetry therapy practice. My writing continued, and I published my second collection of poems in 2013, Silver Girl, which explores the early loss of my mother and its effect on who I am today as a woman, a wife, and a mother.
My practice grew, teaching ongoing adult writing groups, working with private clients, and spending six years teaching a unique children’s poetry curriculum I created for the third-grade classrooms in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. This led to an ongoing kids’ writing group. I later became a faculty member for the UCLArts & Healing program teaching monthly writing groups and training their art therapy trainees in best practices of poetry and healing. I continue to teach their training and facilitate workshops at the East and West Coast Expressive Arts Summits. I also collaborate with artists, combining poetry therapy with other modalities.
As a poet, I continue to publish my poetry and am working on another collection. I have recently added editing services to my practice, helping my clients fine tune some of their therapeutic pieces into more structured poems and assisting fellow poets with editing for publication.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Marketing and social media have always been a struggle for me. It is uncomfortable for me to sell myself across platforms. I have been lucky to have my business grow mostly through word of mouth with email newsletters and to have group members and clients that stay with me for years. I have learned to align myself with programs that can fill a room for me, so I can focus on building my curricula, teaching, and my own writing. The other struggle has been keeping balance of my practice and my needs at home as a mother. I have worked hard to build a practice that has the right work-life stability. My son is now in his senior year and applying to colleges, so I have come a long way facilitating for over 20 years.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about LifeSPEAKS Poetry Therapy?
LifeSPEAKS offers group and private therapeutic writing workshops, inspiring participants to explore their histories through reading and writing in response to poetry. In my monthly online adult writing groups, we gather to read poems on life themes. I guide them to respond to the poems with their own journal writing based on what comes forward from their own life experience. It is a safe space where everyone, regardless of writing ability, can write and be heard without judgment. First and foremost, it is about self-discovery and honoring what comes forth from their own voice. This is different than most writing groups in that people rarely get an opportunity to express themselves creatively in a safe space with permission and compassion for whatever comes forward.
My most popular private writing course on zoom is a 10-session course, Your Story Starts Here, where we explore a client’s life story guided by a life map. We start with childhood and the childhood home and then move on to family legacies, love and relationships, grief, being a man or woman, and finally, aging. I guide each session with readings of poems, deep listening and feedback to inspire writing. After the ten sessions, clients have over 30 pieces of writing covering their life story with insights into patterns and themes found along the way.
After completing the life story course, most clients go on to do what I call pure poetry therapy sessions, where I put a poem in front of them, and based on their response in our discussion, we cultivate themes and jot some ideas for them to explore in their own voice. The process is an amazing doorway into the subconscious and always brings up what a client most needs to explore in writing.
I also offer editing sessions for clients who are ready to grow their writing into structure and craft; and for more advanced poets who want editing feedback before submitting for publication.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Many people probably don’t know that my love of the arts started as a modern dancer, performing all over the world in a renowned children’s dance company.
Pricing:
- • Monthly Adult Writing Groups: $60/month; committed membership September – June
- • Private Poetry Therapy Sessions: $120/session
- • Editing Sessions: $90/hour
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.lifespeakspoetrytherapy.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LifeSPEAKSPoetryTherapy
Image Credits:
Erik Linthorst
