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Mental Health Writers’ Group

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Join the talented and creative Nanci Lee, a Chinese-Syrian poet and facilitator who hosts this bi-weekly writing group for Healthy Minds Cooperative. The Mental Health Writers’ Group follows a workshop style format to offer sometimes fun, sometimes thoughtful creative writing experiences to those interested in connecting with other writers and getting their imagination flowing.

Objectives for Participants:

  • to have their creativity sparked
  • to begin thinking of writing as wide open with possibilities
  • to share their writing in a respectful inclusive space where they can feel some safety and belonging

Please note that this group does not specifically write about mental health, although its members may wish to do so.

This event is only for those residing within Nova Scotia or other parts of Canada.

Registration is free. Please register for each group meeting you intend to attend at the EventBrite link.

Healthy Minds Cooperative is a peer-led and member-driven cooperative charity, committed to improving the lives of people with mental health challenges, including addiction, through peer-based supports.

Note: this group breaks for summer and resumes in autumn.

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Experience Levels

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) uses the following terms to describe writers’ experience levels:

  • New writers: those with less than two years’ creative writing experience and/or no short-form publications (e.g., short stories, personal essays, or poems in literary magazines, journals, anthologies, or chapbooks).
  • Emerging writers: those with more than two years’ creative writing experience and/or numerous short-form publications.
  • Early-career authors: those with 1 or 2 book-length publications or the equivalent in book-length and short-form publications.
  • Established authors: those with 3 or 4 book-length publications.
  • Professional authors: those with 5 or more book-length publications.

Please keep in mind that each form of creative writing (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, writing for children and young adults, and others) provides you with a unique set of experiences and skills, so you might consider yourself an ‘established author’ in one form but a ‘new writer’ in another.

The “Recommended experience level” section of each workshop description refers to the above definitions. A workshop’s participants should usually have similar levels of creative writing and / or publication experience. This ensures that each participant gets value from the workshop⁠ and is presented with information, strategies, and skills that suit their career stage. 

For “intensive” and “masterclass” workshops, which provide more opportunities for peer-to-peer feedback, the recommended experience level should be followed closely.

For all other workshops, the recommended experience level is just that—a recommendation—and we encourage potential participants to follow their own judgment when registering.

If you’re uncertain of your experience level with regard to any particular workshop, please feel free to contact us at communications@writers.ns.ca