WRITING & THRIVING
IN HIGHER EDUCATION
I Support Doctoral Researchers To THRIVE While WRITING Your Thesis.
NOW.
Writing your research paper, chapter or thesis can feel isolating at the best of times.
Right now, connection is key.
To THRIVE while you’re WRITING your thesis in these uncertain times, I invite you to come together to share your challenges and experiences with others.
I facilitate online WRITING & THRIVING coaching, bringing students together in a structured and supportive environment to focus on academic writing and personal wellbeing.
These live & interactive online workshops and coaching sessions support Post-Graduate Researchers with a series of developmental writing strategies for writing your thesis and suggest simple & effective moving and breathing techniques to help with stress relief and overall wellbeing.
“The session was excellent – as a creative writing practitioner, I found the approach to be conceptually sound but also innovative in allowing students to bring their whole selves into the process, becoming more authentic researchers. The writing exercises worked very well remotely, and people valued the time to write, reflect and share their experiences. ”
— Dr Ursula Hurley, Director of the Doctoral School, University of Salford
Writing & Thriving in Higher Education - Graduate School Workshops
Session Themes:
1) Writing as Thinking
2) Writing as Communicating
3) Writing as Narrative
4) Writing as Editing
5) Writing as Critical Analysis
6) Writing as Thesis Position
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“These workshops have had excellent attendance and really brilliant feedback from our PhD students. PGRs have really appreciated the chance to focus on their writing, to learn new strategies and exercises, and to meet virtually with other students and learn from each other's experiences. The workshops are a fantastic blend in that they develop key skills for researchers but are also mindful of and sensitive to students’ wider emotional and psychological circumstances.”
Professor Leigh Wilson, Graduate School Director, University of Westminster
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“As a creative writing practitioner, I found the approach to be conceptually sound but also innovative in allowing students to bring their whole selves into the process, becoming more authentic researchers. The writing exercises worked very well remotely, and people valued the time to write, reflect and share their experiences. I’ve heard some enthusiastic feedback from students.”
Dr Ursula Hurley, Director of the Doctoral School, University of Salford
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“This is a high-level approach to structuring the thesis. Extremely useful to offset the biggest pitfall in writing, that is falling down rabbit holes! This workshop is great - it gives us tools to keep proportion, coherence and continuity during writing. So, actually it has helped avoid a lot of over-writing in one particular area and underwriting in others.”
MF, Writing & Thriving in Higher Education Participant
Barby’s Thesis
“It was very brilliant to just have someone who focused on you and encouraged your writing in a very different way to a supervisor. We did a lot of different kinds of practices so that I could actually find the source of my writing.” Barby Asante.
Barby was completing her PhD thesis when she reached out to me for 1:1 coaching as part of her self-care practice while writing. Barby was struggling with focus after being diagnosed with ADHD. Her experience in the coaching sessions helped her to feel confident with her writing and bring her thesis out in her own words.
Barby Asante - Writing & Thriving Testimonial
One-to-One Mentoring
I offer personal support to Post-Graduate Researchers to work through the challenges of your thesis-writing process, celebrate your successes, set clear intentions and keep you on track to progress. Bespoke wellbeing practices underpin our sessions, empowering you to thrive while you’re writing.
One of the great, unacknowledged, challenges of the PhD process is the difficulty of actually writing the thesis. Often this can be overlooked when attention is focused on the research activity and outcome.
Additionally, meticulous attention to detail and a keen eye for close critical analysis, which are essential to the research process and highly desirable qualities in any doctoral researcher, can actually hinder the writing process if not properly managed and understood. While these key skills have their place in the research stages of PhD study, they can inhibit the writing stage to the point of complete inability to begin – also known as ‘writer’s block’. Therefore, it is essential to understand how to recognise these qualities and manage their implementation in the PhD process, while allowing space for other qualities, such as creativity, exploratory thought and trust in one’s own judgement, to be brought in to liberate the writing process.
Find Out More About Past Sessions at the University of Westminster
Workshop Feedback
“The writing exercises were the most enjoyable element, and the use of creative writing to unblock our writing style was very useful”
“The best thing was the down to earth attitude and the helpful suggestions from somebody who has gone through the same experience.”
“I really enjoyed the creative writing section which gave me a new perspective on my topic.”
“We should have more courses of this nature. There was so much material to cover.”
About me:
Sally-Shakti Willow, PhD
WELLBEING WHILE WRITING used practical techniques from Creative Writing pedagogy and wellbeing techniques from yoga & meditation to support PhD students of all disciplines with the work of WRITING their thesis.
While I was studying for my PhD, I co-developed and taught a series of workshops called WELLBEING WHILE WRITING for doctoral researchers at the University of Westminster.