There's a question I ask almost every therapeutic writing client and participant

Not necessarily at the outset – but when they're struggling to find clarity, or lacing their self-disclosures with criticism and contempt.

I ask: how would you speak to a dear friend who shared this with you?

The answers come quickly. And in a distinctly warmer tone. Their natural compassion and warmth hits hard in contrast to their treatment of themselves once they clock it.

Then I invite them to turn that warmth inward.

Laughter, tears, and wry recognition often follow. Sometimes something quieter – a long pause as the dissonance settles. The realisation that how they’ve been speaking to themselves is not their voice and not their values.

Most of us already know, intellectually, that we’re harder on ourselves than we would be on anyone we love. What’s less obvious is what to do with that knowledge – how to get from understanding it to actually living differently. Telling yourself to be kinder doesn’t work. It’s about as helpful as being told to relax.

Compassion Journalling came out of my own need for nurturing support. I developed it during a family crisis, when I needed to stay resilient and had no one to offer me the grounding I so desperately needed. I started writing in two voices – one expressing whatever was present, however raw, the other responding with the attuned, non-judgmental attention I might offer a struggling client or friend. What surprised me was how quickly that second voice began to feel like mine. Not a performance. Not an aspiration. Not my fixer voice either – just a warm, holding presence that drew on everything I’d known and learned. I began to integrate it within me.

You can read the full origin story here.

That practice – two-pen dialogue – is at the heart of the four-week course I’ve been running for several years. We write in two colours, two voices, and over time something shifts. The conversation stops being on the page alone.

We don’t only write. We use poetry, hand mapping, lovingkindness practice – turning that same quality of attention toward the body, the heart, whatever is ready to be heard. We write collaboratively. We work with the inner critic – not to silence it or reframe it by force, but to listen for what’s underneath it and respond from felt sense. Reframing, when it comes, comes naturally. It’s never required.

“The setting you created allows inner world wisdom to emerge. I felt less alone – other people have similar thoughts, the things people do not talk about in daily life. A beautiful setting to share.” – Elisabeth

The course runs over four Tuesday evenings, and something about that rhythm – returning weekly, carrying the practice into ordinary life between sessions – is part of how it works. Each participant receives a 58-page Compassion Journal Companion, and graduates are invited to continue through monthly Compassion Circles.

No previous writing experience needed. Just an openness to explore.

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Compassion Journalling – A 4-Week Course
Tuesdays 2nd–23rd June 2026 | 7–9pm BST |
Online via Zoom | Limited to 8 participants | £225

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