A guest blog from Marissa Salvaterra, a student of the MSc in Global Mental Health and Society at the University of Edinburgh.
I initially pursued the Poetry for Wellbeing project to learn about the inner workings of a phenomenon that I had long observed as both a poet and a poetry enthusiast.
What is it about poetry that can affect us so deeply?
Through the lens of seven poets and poetry workshop/project facilitators across Scotland, I was able to learn far more than I could have imagined. Perhaps these findings may shed light on one or multiple reasons to give poetry a try – for your own wellbeing.
The study interviewees shared personal – and sometimes difficult – stories from their lives to illustrate the comfort and enlightenment that poetry has brought to them and others. As the poet-researcher, I interpreted their reflections through poems about their experiences with poetry. This method of poetic inquiry resulted in the emergence of several themes, including:
1) Individual and Collective Purpose
2) Recognition and Connection
3) Agency and Autonomy
4) Disclosure, Expression, and Witness
5) Perspective and Understanding
6) Identity and Remembrance
7) Humanisation and Reflection
The Poetry-Making Process
Each poem is derived from the interview transcript of the corresponding interviewee. There is no overlap of transcripts or researcher inputs in any of the poems. Words and phrases that make up each line are entirely sourced from the interviewee’s transcript. The slashes (/) represent a re-ordering of what was said within the transcript or an elimination of words from the transcript as a poetic choice. The structure and format of the poems are also inspired by the diverse communication styles of the interviewees.
Upon the creation of each poem, interviewees were individually sent a copy of their draft poems and asked if they felt that their voice and ideas about poetry had been accurately reflected. All interviewees expressed approval of their poems before they were included in the final paper. Two interviewees (D & G) each offered a specific phrase suggestion to add to their poems, and these ideas were incorporated and denoted with italics.

The Poems about Poetry







The Poetry-Wellbeing Hypothetical Framework

The poetry-wellbeing hypothetical framework illustrates a relationship between each theme that appears to connect poetry and wellbeing by integrating data from both the interviews and existing literature.
The arrows, with phrases written inside, connect themes in the way that matches the direction in which they are pointing (ex. “Collective and individual purpose promotes meaningful connection and recognition.”) The dotted lines between themes show connections that may also be interlinked, directly or indirectly, in their facilitation of wellbeing. Humanisation and reflection, aptly placed in the centre of the diagram, appeared to connect to all other themes.
While the lived experiences of these seven interviewees proved to be both meaningful and relevant to understanding the poetry-wellbeing relationship, these findings demand further research outside of their existing context. Due to the sample size, replicating the study may produce fascinating new discoveries. Increased geographical, racial, gender, and age diversity are just a few examples of factors that could expand upon this groundwork.
For as long as people continue to engage with poetry, the poetry-wellbeing relationship may never be a closed case. Still, should this study be replicated, the emergence of new truths does not invalidate the truths uncovered in this study. Assuming an interpretivist epistemological stance, this research argues that the individuals who were interviewed can assign value to their own lived experience as their own truth. As the expressive writing form of poetry has evolved to this point, it is expected to keep evolving and creating new truths.
On Not Being ‘Poetic’ Enough
When I began this research, an overwhelming part of me felt like I was not ‘poet’ enough. I had never published my poems. I had not performed spoken word in years. I did not have the expertise to describe structure and form beyond an intermediate level. Most of my writing lived in a stack of journals meant for everything else, like grocery lists and course notes. My poetry was the written word form of doodling.
However, none of that seemed to disqualify me from being in the presence of other people who loved poetry. I learned that my sense of imposter syndrome about being a poet was all too common, even among the interviewees.
A lot of us carry “baggage” (term from Interviewees B & C) weighed down by self-comparison and an imagined disparity between how we express ourselves vs. how we think we ought to express ourselves. Including all the other names for this baggage across different interviews, it was one of the most frequently described barriers to the positive effects of poetry.
We impose these norms of art upon ourselves, forgetting that art was meant to impose on norms. Several interviewees had at least one story about the ambivalent participant with no poetry experience who entered their writing group and blew them away.
This is not to say that poetry is easy, but it is to say that poetry does not have to be trained and perfected to offer value, purpose, and a sense of wellbeing.
Marissa Salvaterra is a poet-songwriter living in Cleveland, Ohio. She has been creatively writing for as long as she can remember, and observed early on how sharing our words can inspire meaningful expression and connection with others. She began to write poems as a way to process and reflect on emotions, and the goals of her writing have grown to integrate her passions for social justice advocacy and turning mental health awareness into action.
Marissa earned a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Psychology from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and recently achieved a Master’s of Science in Global Mental Health and Society with Distinction from The University of Edinburgh. Inspired by her dissertation, she hosted a mental health open mic night at the university café to celebrate the end of the academic year.
To keep up with her work, you can follow Marissa on LinkedIn here.
If you are interested in running your own Poetry for Wellbeing workshop, you can access and download our resources and ideas from the Scottish Poetry Library website.