Hi. I’m Sophie.
WRITER. TEACHER. RESEARCHER. LIFELONG APPRENTICE.
I help people to write, to reconnect with their creativity and to nurture their health and wellbeing through writing.
I'm the author of three bestselling novels, and I've been teaching creative writing and working with people using writing as creative exploration for over twenty-five years.
I live on the edge of the moors in beautiful North Yorkshire in the North East of the UK and I teach on the Creative Writing faculty at Teesside University.
Over the past twenty years, I've designed and led courses, workshops and writing communities, online and in person, for universities, businesses, voluntary organisations and in the community.
My work in learning and teaching has been recognised with the award of Principal Fellow of Advance HE (the professional body that works internationally with the Higher Education sector on teaching, student experience, governance and equity).
Drawing on my background in psychodynamic and mind-body therapies, I research the connections between creative writing and wellbeing and the ways in which writing and other creative practices can help us to think, learn, understand ourselves and other people, collaborate, innovate and grow.
You can find out more about my current research here and Creative Writing Lab, our team of inspiring doctoral researchers here.
Mind-body approach
I draw on a wide range of approaches and a common thread runs through all of them. I am fascinated by the connections – and disassociations – between our minds and bodies.
In developing my approach, I draw on many different modalities and disciplines. I studied English Language at the University of Edinburgh (MA Hons) and then worked for Reuters for a number of years, where I developed some of the first professional online learning programmes in the world.
In 2001, I received full Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funding for my doctoral research and became a student of Dr Celia Hunt, a pioneer of writing and wellbeing, at the University of Sussex. My PhD thesis, Writing the body: Ways to facilitate a felt, bodily sense of self, developed a model for writing in education and health care settings.
I am a certified Mind-Body Coach (The Embody Lab), a certified clinical hypnotherapist, and I’ve also trained in somatics, yoga nidra, mindfulness, Emotional Freedom Technique and psychodynamic approaches. l’ve trained and mentored students in a number of medical schools and psychiatric institutions in mind-body and creative therapeutic approaches. .