The Use of Ancient Oral Poetry Forms in Therapy

Therapeutic SOULSPEAK is a unique form of poetry therapy that uses ancient oral forms that tap into the unconscious almost effortlessly. It provides a healing, communal way of expressing the conflicts, fears, hopes and desires of the deeper self. It has been recognized by therapists and teachers as a unique and powerful adjunct to therapy, as well as an simple, ongoing technique for deep, healing self-expression that can be used in everyday life.

Therapeutic SOULSPEAK has been used since 1995 in an ongoing program for at-risk children and adults in therapy conducted by SOULSPEAK/Sarasota Poetry Theatre in conjunction with therapists and teachers in alternative and mainstream schools, substance abuse centers, as well as grief counseling, family counseling, group therapy, and individual therapy programs. Over 2500 individual of all ages with a widely varying range of emotional, intellectual and educational backgrounds have participated in the program in Sarasota, Manatee, Lee, Hendry and Collier counties. Its proven benefits are increased self-esteem, self-awareness and empathy for others.

No knowledge of poetry or even reading or writing is required. Both therapists and clients have remarked on the remarkable ability of therapeutic SOULSPEAK to access the deeper levels of the unconscious in a healing, non-traumatic way that requires little or no post-processing .

One of the things that has made SOULSPEAK so successful among at-risk children, parents, therapists, teachers and adults in therapy is the self-healing nature of SOULSPEAK. No matter how deep the emotional disclosure, the process has impressed any number of skeptical therapists psychologists by its ability to be self-healing. I can state categorically that no child, teacher, parent, therapist or psychologist who has participated in a SOULSPEAK program has ever declared the process other than healing. Despite this fact, all sessions are conducted with a professional skilled in counseling or psychology, depending on the population. Because SOULSPEAK poems can run deep, the poems also present very accurate indications of serious emotional problems that may have gone unnoticed, especially in a busy school environment. In the case of children, we, and the therapists and teachers who work with us in each program, are ever watchful for indications in the poems that a child is suffering from physical or sexual abuse or other serious emotional trauma.

We have conducted SOULSPEAK programs with over 2500 children and adults over the past 8 years in over 30 schools and institutions and have written evaluations by every participant, teacher and therapist. In these evaluations, there has never been a single report of any child or adult being harmed in any way whatsoever. In addition, we have on file hundreds of unsolicited letters and reports on SOULSPEAK’s healing power. It is a testament to the power of poetry, and most especially oral forms.

“As a person afflicted with MPD [multiple personality disorder] I have been searching all my life for a way to truly heal…but nothing I tried could reach the parts that desperately needed to be heard.

My therapist… invited me to take part in a group….specifically for persons like myself… called SOULSPEAK . Before the first session I had strong suicidal thoughts, low self esteem, talked very softly, was confused, cried all the time, nightmares were the worst of my life and I prayed for God to take me home….

I was really scared at first..[but].. I allowed the words to rise up from who-knows-where and spill them into the microphone. I seemed to reach an altered state, a peaceful place….

Though some of the words that rose were painful I realized quickly that I could eject the feelings out of my body and finally have peace….It’s hard to say what SOULSPEAK has done for me but this I do know. I was able to reach inside to a place where a part of me was stuck in time, suffering the same trauma over and over… [ with SOULSPEAK ] I could find that part of me, relive the pain one more time and spill it out of me. In its place I found a peace like I have never known… SOULSPEAK is an incredible, magical tool for healing the deepest wounds, soul wounds… Thank you for bringing SOULSPEAK to me.”

Therapeutic SOULSPEAK was developed in 1995 as a special version of the oral poetry we call SOULSPEAK. SOULSPEAK is the name we have given to a simplified, contemporary version of an ancient oral, antiphonal poetry. It is a primal, communal form that allows anyone to express their deeper emotions in a beautiful, healing and human way. It can be learned almost instantaneously.

Oral, antiphonal poetry was used by our earliest ancestors, long before we learned to read and write. Sometimes called tribal poetry, it consisted of a simple story or refrain spontaneously chanted out to rhythmic music in antiphonal (speaker/ responder) fashion by the member of a tribe. It was created while the tribe moved in unison to rhythmic music. All early cultures used some form of it.

It is also a form of poetry that combined many of the separate art forms we know today (music, dance, costume, mask, storytelling, song). It is a very potent form of poetry. Most importantly, it is a form of poetry that is in our genes, much as our ability to gossip and joke are. It sounds complicated, but we already know how to do it. It simply has to be reawakened.

SOULSPEAK, being a simplified version of that ancient poetry, is especially easy to reawaken. For one thing, it only uses two aspects of tribal poetry: narrative speaking and music. In addition, only two people participate at any one time. Using SOULSPEAK techniques, they spontaneously create a story in speaker/ responder fashion to slow, rhythmic music.

What makes SOULSPEAK significantly different from its ancient counterpart is the fact that we have grafted the power of contemporary confessional poetry onto the antiphonal form. This grafting is seamless, and allows the poetic impulse to focus on individual emotions rather than tribal concerns.

SOULSPEAK was initially developed in 1992 by myself and poet Scylla Liscombe. Our original aim was to create a more accessible poetry, a more speech-like poetry, one that would be easily understood at public gatherings such as poetry readings .We found, however, that the form that had come to us almost intuitively, and which we now call SOULSPEAK, was a form that took us far beyond the confines of poetry readings. As poets, we continue to create and record SOULSPEAK poems under the group name MANY VOICES, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. What still amazes us is that it has allowed us to bring poetry into the life of our community in ways we could never have had anticipated. One of the most important ways has been in therapeutic situations ranging from at-risk children to sexually abused women. Over 2500 adults and children have participated in Therapeutic SOULSPEAK programs since 1995.

SOULSPEAK’s basic poetic form is oral, antiphonal. By oral I mean spontaneously spoken without forethought, and by antiphonal I mean speaker/responder to rhythmic music. We have grafted onto that ancient form the interior vision and drive of contemporary confessional poetry.

In 1995, when it first became apparent to me that SOULSPEAK could possibly be used in therapeutic situations, I created a special version for non-poets. This version, called Therapeutic SOULSPEAK, has been continuously refined over the past 8 years thru close collaboration with scores of psychologists, therapists and teachers as well as thousands of participating children and adults. All sessions are conducted with the assistance of either teachers, therapists, counselors or psychologists, depending on the nature of the population. More importantly, Therapeutic SOULSPEAK is so simply structured that once participants learn it, they can continue to practice it for the rest of their lives.

If you wish to know more about SOULSPEAK as an art form, what it sounds like, its history, it’s relationship to contemporary poetry, and how it can be used in everyday life and therapeutic situations, a book/CD combination (SOULSPEAK: The Outward Journey of the Soul) is available either for free downloading or purchase through our web site www.soulspeak.org.

Therapeutic SOULSPEAK gives at-risk children and adults in therapy a positive, healing non-traumatic way of expressing deep unresolved emotional conflicts. Its spoken, communal nature helps to break down the increasing isolation of children and adults, an isolation, that when pushed to the extreme, can lead to the type of violence seen recently in our nation’s schools and workplaces. While we over 2,500 children and adults have participated in intensive (6 -18 hour) programs since its inception in 1995, this does not count the thousands more who have participated with teachers and therapists we have trained in the SOULSPEAK method.

Therapeutic SOULSPEAK taps the unconscious almost effortlessly and is both healing and cathartic. It is a non-traumatic process that that gives anyone an easy, instinctive way of expressing their deepest feelings. Therapists have often cited the ease with which it accesses deep emotional levels. They have also noted that it requires little of the post-processing normally associated with deep emotional access.

Therapeutic SOULSPEAK has proven effective with every population we have encountered except the severely retarded. In the adult field, we have participated in programs for clients recovering from mental illness, substance abuse, sexual trauma and family disorders. In the area of at-risk children and ESE students (grades 3-12) we have participated in programs for children with a wide range of emotional, educational and learning disabilities, including ADD, autism and uncontrollable anger.

Although SOULSPEAK is markedly different from the written, single voiced poetry we know today, it can be mastered in a matter of minutes by anyone. The basic learning method is experiential. Simply hearing several SOULSPEAK poems spoken out and then obeying a few guidelines is all that is required to get going. It is a simple as that. Equally important, it is a form of poetry that young people find instantly appealing. No previous knowledge of poetry, or even reading and writing is required.

Therapeutic SOULSPEAK has been proven to dramatically increase self-esteem, self-awareness and empathy for others (See 8.0 STATISTICS). The poems spoken out in Therapeutic SOULSPEAK sessions also provide an extremely accurate diagnostic tool for counselors and therapists. More than one therapist has referred to the poems as verbal Rorschach tests.

Because Therapeutic SOULSPEAK is a communal form of poetry, and because it uses the original physical route of spontaneous speaking rather than writing, we have found it to be uniquely powerful in its ability to tap into the unconscious. Therapists see SOULSPEAK as a powerful tool that can be used in any therapeutic process, group or individual. It has allowed many participants to express themselves in ways they could not through conventional therapies. This has often allowed them to gain enough self-knowledge and esteem to use those therapies more successfully. In some cases, it has reached those who could not or would not respond to the more conventional therapies. Therapeutic SOULSPEAK has been cited many times as having no counterpart in its ability to reach the unreachable.

Here are some examples of the two forms of storytelling poems used in Therapeutic SOULSPEAK: Sometimes in my dreams narrative poems, and I am refrain poems. These are the only two forms currently used in SOULSPEAK. If you wish to hear them in their original form, spoken out in speaker/responder fashion to rhythmic music, go to our web page www.soulspeak.org and click on Recordings and then select either At-risk Children or Adults in Therapy . Here are some transcribed examples of both types of poems (less the music):

Sometimes in my dreams poems are simple narratives that are responded to in a free-style manner. They are the prime poetic form used in Therapeutic SOULSPEAK. The speaker spontaneously creates a narrative poem in conjunction with a responder. The responder simply enters the imaginative space being created by the speaker and responds intuitively to each statement by the speaker. It is important to understand that the speaker and responder are not speaking to each other but to some other imagined listener, as is the case with written poetry. The responder starts out by creating echo responses: repeating exactly what the speaker is saying. As the responder relaxes, usually after 3-5 poems, the responses begin to become whatever occurs to the responder. Responding creates empathy between the two participants in the same way it did for tribal man. It reflexively breaks down the walls that separate us. The power of the antiphonal form in creating empathy should not be underestimated. Responding reflexively strengthens the deep empathetic bond that exists naturally between humans. Unfortunately, in our self-centered age, that bond seems to have become weaker and weaker with each passing generation resulting in our current and ever increasing isolation.

One of the problems we encounter in recreating an oral poetry is getting people to speak from a deep emotional level in front of strangers. In fact, most of us cannot even do it in private. Yet it is in us. It is something our ancestors did easily and the epics are full of such declarations. What I am poems do is help reawaken that inborn ability. Once these poems have made the participants feel comfortable in speaking spontaneously from deep, private places, we have found that they can then easily create Sometimes in my dreams poems, as these poems require that the speaker completely surrender to the suggestions of the unconscious, just as our distant tribal ancestors did.

I am poems are refrains that do not require a complete surrender to the unconscious, and thus can be formed by both our conscious and unconscious minds. They can be funny, dazzling and profound and generally display both our conscious and unconscious concerns, much as we are sometimes capable of doing when we gossip. Creating I am poems allows the participants to comfortably approach the acts of conscious surrender and speaking out loud that Sometimes in my dreams poems require. As I often say to participants, “It will get your lips loose. Once that happens, its all down hill.”

When we first started to teach Therapeutic SOULSPEAK in 1994 to school age children, we essentially tried to teach it as we would to other poets. This procedure, as you might imagine, had mixed results. Sometimes they could do it, sometimes nothing happened. We realized we needed a different approach because the children weren’t poets. Over the years we developed many techniques and procedures, including verbal and visual catalysts, that would allow anyone, and I mean anyone, to create a SOULSPEAK poem instantaneously. During that period, the true healing, communal nature of SOULSPEAK began to become apparent to us. As a note, I should say that we sometimes call SOULSPEAK poems speakings, which is how they are referred to in this excerpt from my book SOULSPEAK: The Outward Journey of the Soul. These passages are about our early work with children in ESE (Exceptional Student Education) programs and how it became apparent to us that the therapeutic version was every bit as powerful as the original, artistic version of SOULSPEAK we were using as poets and that it had the same cathartic, healing effects.

“At the time, we thought there was an essential difference between the therapeutic version of SOULSPEAK the children were doing (which used seed words) and the SOULSPEAK we were doing, which didn’t use seed words. But there wasn’t. The seed words were just catalysts. I don’t know why we were so blind to it. Maybe it was a kind of snobbery, because the only difference was the manner in which we brought the whale underneath the boat. After years of speaking, the poems would just happen for us. The whales were always underneath us. The children, of course, were a different matter. They were complete strangers to SOULSPEAK. The use of catalysts had allowed us to bring the children into the world of SOULSPEAK immediately. We could have a group of twenty children doing spontaneous, oral antiphonal poetry in a matter of minutes. And the poems weren’t nonsense. They were profound. Everyone in the classroom knew it too. Nobody had to be told that these were real poems. You could hear the gasps of recognition. Even from kids who had refused to participate, who told us they hated poetry.

Sometimes the poems were so deep that some teachers became concerned the children might not be able to handle the emotions that were brought up. Until they realized the children loved it. That’s because the children were way ahead of them. No matter how dark, or sad, their speakings were, they were also incredibly beautiful and healing. It felt good to do SOULSPEAK, that’s what the children knew. Their bodies knew it. At this point, we realized that the teachers had to be brought into the circle. While many of them were thankful for what the process had done for their students, some seemed awed by its power. The only solution was to have the teachers participate on an equal level. This frightened many teachers at first, but like the children, they soon learned that SOULSPEAK not only allowed them to say who they really were, but it also felt good. No matter how dark or sad their speakings were. Not only that, but their participation allowed the children to respect them in a new and more profound way. And these were children with severe emotional and anger management problems. Classroom discipline and respect was a constant concern among the teachers. Yet they found that expressing their emotions through SOULSPEAK only strengthened their authority. It gave them a new kind of authority. A human authority. I called it “Oprah Authority.” The teachers liked that. They knew immediately what I was talking about.

We finally realized what SOULSPEAK was all about after our therapeutic work had expanded to such a degree that there was no ignoring the communal environment in which it truly blossomed. People got it if they did it together. That was the overwhelming evidence. We were working not only with hundreds of at-risk children of every age and description, but also with hundreds of adults: severe depressives and schizophrenics, sexually abused women, recovering alcoholics, family groups. The results were so striking that it became obvious that if we just created a true communal entity where SOULSPEAK could blossom, it would. Just as it had for us. But we were poets. These were ordinary people. That’s what was so overwhelming. In fact the results were so impressive that the local educational channel created a series on SOULSPEAK to educate anyone who was interested.

We had also found out that no matter how defective or broken the mental or emotional machinery of the participants, the urge of the soul to display itself was so strong as to overcome all obstacles in its way. When a poet I admire read one of my essays on SOULSPEAK and quipped back in a note: “Ah, so the soul speaks English now!” I almost wrote back “The soul can do anything it wants to.” But I never bothered. He’d get it eventually. Hopefully. But the fact of the matter is the soul can do anything it wants to. My experience with SOULSPEAK has shown me that. It’s just that we never know how it’s going to do it. Or why. Or when.”

Although the original form of SOULSPEAK seemed to rise out of our unconscious in response to our own needs as poets, the success of Therapeutic SOULSPEAK made me search for the reasons why I was able to teach anyone this poetry, and why it was so powerful and healing. The techniques that make Therapeutic SOULSPEAK possible were developed over a period of years. Some techniques were intuitively derived, others in response to what we and the therapists were observing. No doubt further developments will occur. I see Therapeutic SOULSPEAK as a work in progress.

At this point in time, despite the elite view of poetry I had inherited from my Ivy League education, I have come to the belief that poetry is a basic activity, much as gossip or humor, and that poetry’s most human and reflexive form is oral, antiphonal, i.e., the spontaneous, communal speaking of a poem without premeditation. It is the original route of poetry. What I did was capitalize on that fact by developing ways that made it relatively easy for anyone to speak spontaneously from a deep level, the level where poetry occurs. A number of techniques are used to accomplish this, from verbal catalysts that trigger the unconscious to dim lights to make people less self-conscious. (See 7.0 METHODOLOGY).

Equally important is the fact that Sometimes in my dreams poems are simple, straightforward narratives. To put it more bluntly, SOULSPEAK hooks into the same automatic story making machinery that forms our everyday, unthinking gossip, but from a deeper level. It is a reflexive form: we do it without thinking how we do it.

The third reason for the success of SOULSPEAK is the communal (speaker/responder) nature of oral, antiphonal poetry. Standing alone facing the unconscious can be an awesome task, but when it is done by spontaneously collaborating with another human being, the level of courage dramatically increases. A bonding occurs. I will go even further and say that the antiphonal form is in our DNA, and despite its seeming complexity, is the most natural form for oral poetry to take.

The last reason for its success is that through the use of catalysts, the participants can be directed to critical areas, areas they might never touch on their own, nor even know how to approach. Our experience has shown that the more conflicted the participant is, the more readily a SOULSPEAK poem will form. What the catalysts allow us to do is direct the unconscious to where the pressure is greatest. The body takes care of the rest.

Because Therapeutic SOULSPEAK has very specific environmental and instructional requirements (See 7.0 METHODOLOGY), I have also developed a written, single-voiced version, called Elementary SOULSPEAK, which can be used in almost any environment. It is similar to the written poetry with which we are all familiar. Unlike Therapeutic SOULSPEAK, which requires personal instruction, Elementary SOULSPEAK can be learned from a textbook, which we make available to those interested. Simply contact us via our web page.

My experience with both versions of SOULSPEAK (written and oral) has solidified my beliefs as to the superiority of the oral, communal power of Therapeutic SOULSPEAK when dealing with deeply conflicted populations. This may run contrary to current thought, but my only answer is that unless you experience that oral, communal power, you’ll never really understand what SOULSPEAK is all about. The written version (Elementary SOULSPEAK) will give you some idea, but only an idea. It’s the difference between knowing married life by reading about it and living it. If you wish to try to create an oral poem, I again refer you to my book/CD combination (SOULSPEAK: The Outward Journey of the Soul) which is available either for free downloading or purchase on our web site, www.soulspeak.org.

When you boil it all down, Therapeutic SOULSPEAK is, in reality, a series of techniques for reawakening an ancient poetry that is already within us. That is to say, I take no credit for the form, which is ancient, outside of grafting the confessional mode onto it, but what I do take credit for, along with the teachers, therapists and participants who helped me develop them, are the techniques that make it Therapeutic SOULSPEAK possible.

1) The first technique is to create a safe, comfortable, productive environment, which is briefly outlined in section 7.1.

2) The second is to introduce catalysts either in the form of words or pictures that will trigger the formation of a story (See 7.2 Seed Words).

3) The third is to insist only I am poems or Sometimes in my dreams poems be created and that the participants should forget everything they know about written poetry: rhymes, line breaks, meter, etc. This is to allow the reflexive, narrative nature of SOULSPEAK poems to come to the surface.

4) The fourth and most important technique is for the instructor to communally create 3 or 4 poems for the group as examples to imitate. Hearing the poems, rather than seeing them, is the deep trigger that will reawaken the form within the participants.

Therapeutic SOULSPEAK requires a special environment, especially if it is to be successfully taught and practiced in an institutional or educational or group environment.

The group size must be small (10–12), the instructor must also be an active participating member of the group, and a second instructor, if possible, should assist the main instructor as a responder. The instructor must also be accompanied by a therapist if the instructor is lacking in that training.

An atmosphere of absolute respect and trust must be maintained among all participants, and in the case of unruly children, strictly enforced. If a disruptive child will not obey the rules of conduct, for example, that child will be asked to leave so that the other children can continue.

Participants can partake of the sessions in whatever way feels most comfortable to them. If this means simply respectful listening, but not speaking, that is fine. Some people simply take longer to feel safe enough to speak.

The group sessions must be held in a quiet room where the lights can be dimmed. The sessions should be held daily from 5–7 days and should last approximately one hour.

In addition, because all poems are spontaneously created by speaking them to music, they are always recorded and played back, which means that microphones and recording equipment are involved. Participants are given cassettes or CDs of their recorded poems so they can listen to them in private and to help them focus on the fact they are creating art.

The focus of the group should always be on creating art. If SOULSPEAK is approached as therapy, not art, the results are not as good. As I’ve said to many a therapist, “If the poems are good, the therapy and healing will take place of its own accord.”

There are many forms of catalysts for Therapeutic SOULSPEAK, but the easiest and most convenient is the use of seed word sets. The seed word sets for I am poems consist simply of the names of 7 things, for example: car, plane mother, fire, house, gun, star. The seed word sets for Sometimes in my dreams poems are derived by a more complex technique. Because of this, I have developed many sets of proven seed words over the years. The participant can be given one of these seed word sets by the instructor or, if the situation dictates it, an entirely new set can be created to direct the unconscious to a particular area. (See 7.3 THE SEVEN CATEGORIES RULE). Once the seed words are obtained, the participants must follow a set of guidelines in actually creating the poem. What follows is another excerpt from my book in which the exact technique for using seed words to create Sometimes in my dreams poems is described:

“ Just before you open your mouth, however, there are a few things you must do. First, remember that you’re going to tell a story, and you’re going to tell it exactly as you would to a friend. This means you must forget everything you know about poetry and poetic diction: rhyme, inversions, lines, meter, stanzas, everything. Remember, this is a poetry you already know, and it has completely different rules. Here are the seed words we’ll use as catalysts:

Let your eyes wander over them until you notice yourself looking at one of them more often than the others. Don’t be self conscious about it, just do it. If one of them isn’t sticking out slightly, look away quickly, then look back. Do it several times. The word your eyes keep going back to is the one with the most mojo. Forget about the others.

Start out: Sometimes in my dreams, I . . . and then connect “I” to the mojo word. Don’t worry how, or what words you’re going to use. Your body will take care of all that. And don’t think. Just allow your body to say what it wants and to visualize what’s taking place, exactly as it visualizes what’s taking place when you gossip. Let your body go as far as it wants with the mojo word. That may be one phrase, or two, or three. Then, when your body pauses (because it doesn’t know where to go), let your eyes jump immediately to another seed word in the list. Let your body use that new word to advance the story. When your body pauses again, let your eyes jump to another word and keep going until you’ve used up all the words or the story simply stops. Either way, you’ll know when the speaking is finished, because your body will know. It will simply stop. Welcome to SOULSPEAK.

In the event you became confused and didn’t quite enter the world of SOULSPEAK as we had both expected, it may have been because you didn’t quite understand what I meant by looking at a seed word and letting your body advance the story with that word until it can’t go any further. Let me illustrate by creating a speaking without a response for purposes of simplicity. I’ll indicate where my body stopped speaking by an (*). The next phrase will be the result of my scanning the seed word list until my eyes select another word (which I’ll italicize so you can follow my progress). The mojo word I’m using for this speaking will be “window,” as this is the one my eyes kept going back to. Don’t force this operation of selection—don’t go crazy with your eyes. Let your body select the word. The correct word is simply the one you’re drawn to, the one that’sleaning with you. As always, I’ll start out with the incantation: “Sometimes in my dreams, I . . .”

For many years I intuitively created the sets of seed words used in Therapeutic SOULSPEAK sessions. Over the years, I saved those that seemed especially effective and distributed lists of them to therapists and teachers using Therapeutic SOULSPEAK. Lists of these proven, pre-selected seed words, which cover a wide range of emotional conditions, are available by simply contacting me via our web page. Many instructors, however, wanted a way of creating their own seed words to fit a particular emotional situation. I developed the Seven Categories Rule to assist them in doing this. It has proved to be immensely effective if used correctly.

Family member or loved one Mother, father, sister, grandfather, God, pet, boyfriend, wife, uncle.

Positive emotion or feeling Warm, love, comfort, laugh, happy, peaceful, serene, light, smile

Negative emotion or feeling Cold, hate, sharp, cry, sad, stormy, angry, dark, frown.

Structural part of a house Roof, floor, stairs, wall, window, door, attic, cellar

Part of the body Face, eyes, mouth, lips, nose, arms, belly, bones, heart, brain

It can be used by the instructor, or at a certain stage of development, by those participating.

Write down the first word that comes to you, no matter how lightly it comes or how foolish (or dangerous) it seems. Do it quickly. No hiding. No thinking.

It’s okay for someone else to create a seed word list for you, especially if he or she is a close friend. In fact in such cases we have found that the set of seed words is often better than what could have been developed alone. It’s part of the communal power of Therapeutic SOULSPEAK..

Because Therapeutic SOULSPEAK was so different and so new, many granting organizations and participating institutions requested we develop statistics indicating the success or failure of the process. We have painstakingly done this. Here are our latest statistics.

The first set of statistics has been created from by simple questionnaires given to participants before and after a Therapeutic SOULSPEAK program. They are simple questions that even a third grader can answer. They are aimed at finding out SOULSPEAK has created a new awareness of a deeper self (Question 1), a rise in self-esteem (Question 2), a rise in self-awareness (Questions 3,4) and finally an increased desire to work with others, or empathy (question 5).

Survey Population 941 students 4–12 grades
	Yes	No	Unsure
1. Were you surprised by your poems?	72%	19%	9%
2. Does making a poem make you feel good?	76%	11%	13%
3. Did your poems help you say things about your life you couldn’t say any other way?	67%	17%	16%
4. Did making poems teach you something about yourself you didn’t know?	61%	25%	14%
5. Do you think working with a partner made the poems better?	66%	18%	16%

The second set of statistic is from teachers and principals. While the first set shows that over 70% of the children (grades 4-12) report growth in self-esteem, self-awareness and empathy, the second set reports an even higher increase of over 90%. This difference can perhaps best be explained by saying that the teachers saw evidence of internal changes that some of the children would only become aware of with time.

Population–51 teachers/principals
	Yes	No	Unsure
1. Increase in students’ self-esteem	84%	1%	15%
2. Increase in student’s tolerance/empathy	73%	2%	25%
3. Teacher more aware of students’ deep feelings/problems	92%	2%	6%
4. Students more capable of discussing emotional problems	85%	7%	8%
5. Appeal of Soulspeak to students high to moderate	99%	1%	0%
6. Quality of poems exceeded expectations	100%	0%	0%
7. More students writing poems on their own	66%	6%	28%
8. Soulspeak program enhanced English curriculum	83%	6%	11%

Survey results taken from teachers/principals at Cyesis Teen Parent Program, Myakka Stop Camp, North Port Glenallen Elementary, Sarasota Foundation Middle School, Gulf Gate Elementary, Oak Park School, New Deal/Venice High School, YMCA Character House, YMCA Triad South Alternative Education, YMCA Triad North Alternative Education, Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches, Clewiston Youth Development Academy, Tara Elementary, Brookside Middle School, McIntosh Middle School, Booker High School, Taylor Ranch Elementary, North Port Toledo Blade Elementary, Sarasota Middle School, Bayshore High, Community High @MTI, Venice Area Middle, Haile Middle

Here are some comments from therapists who have worked with us in Therapeutic SOULSPEAK programs. Although we wish it were otherwise, there are some therapists who are personally uncomfortable with having to open up and participate on an equal level with their clients, which is one of the prerequisites for Therapeutic SOULSPEAK. Without that equal participation, Therapeutic SOULSPEAK loses much of its power. In other words, everyone has to enter the circle. Many therapists however, even those who feel uncomfortable with it, have commented on the remarkable self-healing nature of SOULSPEAK. What they have witnessed is the fact that clients require little or no post-processing after a deep SOULSPEAK session as compared to what has to be done after normal therapeutic sessions when painful emotional situations have been brought up.

“I appreciated learning about SOULSPEAK… I must admit I was skeptical at first… I have a fourth grader whose sister died in a car accident almost a year ago. ..Many of the regular counseling techniques were just not working. In the last three weeks, the only change in our working together has been using SOULSPEAK as a part of individual counseling. The change, well, it has been remarkable. This little girl is expressing herself, smiling, sharing her poems with her mom, which is beginning to open things up at home for her. She is so proud of her work…she often requests to share them with the office staff…( this is a little girl who considered herself “no good at poetry”.) We spoke of the [SOULSPEAK program at last night’s Sarasota Counseling Association. Robyn Marinelli is looking into all of the counselor’s receiving this wonderful training.”

“I have been using SOULSPEAK on small groups of students in my RAINBOWS (grief counseling) groups…. Regardless of academic ability ALL the middle school students were soon eager to share their feelings through this unique medium… students were able to reach deeply inside themselves….I would recommend this medium as an icebreaker or anytime during RAINBOWS, as it is a very positive experience and very rewarding for all.”

I was a participant observer in their SOULSPEAK projects ..at a number of institutions specifically designed to treat at-risk children : Juvenile Justice Myakka Stop Camp, Oak Park School, Adolescent Recovery Center at Manatee Glens, Pace Center for Girl’s. Just for Girls Inc. The young people involved…were boys and girls, 9-17 years old. They were victims of physical, sexual and/or substance abuse. Many were prone to violence.

…There are several aspects of SOULSPEAK that strike me as unique and powerful.

1) The SOULSPEAK process can be used by ANY youngster. It is not limited to the artistically gifted.

2) The participants’ process, within a peer setting, of emotionally embracing their identity….is remarkably therapeutic in itself.

3) SOULSPEAK encourages joint participation and cooperation in the creation of these spontaneous, oral/musical poems. This is totally unique to the SOULSPEAK process and creates empathy and bonding within the group.

4) SOULSPEAK uses seed words to guide the youngsters creative processes to the particular area of trauma, i.e., drugs, sexual abuse, anger, etc. This is healing and cathartic.

Natasha Mann, BS, MS, Clinical Psychologist, with half a century of clinical practice, teaching and training with psychologists such as Fritz Pearls, Carl Rodgers, and Albert Ellis.

Soulspeak can be utilized as an effective therapeutic tool. It helps people bypass the rational judgmental mind and access more primary process expression, which is fluid, symbolic and emotional. This can help people bring up life issues and themes that they would be more uncomfortable discussing in a subject or problem oriented dialogue. The healing quality of speaking the language of the soul in a shared and personal mode can facilitate and perhaps accelerate the therapeutic process. It seems most effective in groups, where there are multiple options for participation in ways that break down the barriers of self-consciousness without being too threatening.

“It was nothing less than awe-inspiring to see (those participating)… work in tandem, access their creative potential, develop a sense of self and a sense of community belonging… I witnessed withdrawn and depressed people speaking…in a way that our culture neither fosters or allows, intimate touching of the hearts… I would very much like to see this medium used in the mental health community…[SOULSPEAK] is a powerful, powerful and exciting experience and highly therapeutic. .”

Patricia Musselwhite-Weaver, MA, CRC, LMHC , Foundation for Intensive Rehabilitation of Sexual Trauma

On an 18 month SOULSPEAK Program for Sexually Abused Women

We have just completed the third sequence of SOULSPEAK for women who have been sexually abused…Each woman became more self confident expressing herself with the weekly recordings and by the end there were no women who did not participate … Noteworthy was the bonding effect between members… Issues addressed… were relationships, losses. grief, anger, love, suicidal thoughts…shame, interpersonal boundaries, depression, loneliness,…. intimacy, empathy and validation.

Rather than talk about these issues , [through SOULSPEAK] the women were able to share and experience with the group and receive intimate and personal feedback… Some of the participants .. have had severe dissociate and post traumatic stress disorders. The rate of flashbacks or dissociate episodes was greatly reduced [as a result of SOULSPEAK]… Several of the women who had been too depressed to work, returned to work, several severed dysfunctional relationships, all became more comfortable expressing their feelings, all greatly reduced if not ceased self-derogatory statements, and there were no incidents of suicide attempts during any of the sessions, and many felt bonding within the group sustained them in their daily lives…I can say with certainty that SOULSPEAK is an effective medium …in treatment of sexual abuse survivors… SOULSPEAK is nothing short of therapeutic, reverent and healing.”

It is my clinical experience that the deep level attained through SOULSPEAK was more rapid than conventional group therapy…

In no case was a patient overwhelmed by the experience , since it is contained. It is clear from our videotapes that patients have a sense of relief after doing their poems and their affect brightens during the course of each session.

I have stopped short of calling SOULSPEAK psychotherapy but it is indeed therapeutic. It is experiential therapy. It is much less overwhelming than psychodrama, more creative than standard group therapy and dispenses with the history telling and cuts right to the feeling level, rapidly overcoming patient resistance.

Interestingly enough, it came to be known to the participating therapists that SOULSPEAK was sufficient in and of itself and that it was not necessary to process after the SOULSPEAK experience…. The making of the poem is the process.

If any therapist requests more information, I would be happy to speak with them.

Patricia Musselwhite-Weaver, MA, CRC, LMHC , Foundation for Intensive Rehabilitation of Sexual Trauma

“I am a Florida LCSW who has recently completed SOULSPEAK training in a weekly group … for sexually abused women…. I found SOULSPEAK to be a fascinating and effective medium, one that allows the participants to quickly and safely tap into and express underlying feelings … I saw a dramatic change in several of the women ….there seemed to be a blossoming of their inner selves and an increase in self confidence.. an added benefit to this medium is the empathy that is generated [between participants] I feel that SOULSPEAK is a powerful therapeutic tool.”

Merrill Tanner, LCSW

“ I was a participant observer in the SOULSPEAK project conducted with the Foundation for Intensive Rehabilitation of Sexual Trauma.. As a clinical; psychologist with thirty five years of experience in therapy, I am deeply impresses by this method of work….. The [SOULSPEAK} poems offer helpful and diagnostic understanding of the problems the client is experiencing. This can be an invaluable tool for the therapist.. SOULSPEAK uses seed words to guide the client’s creative process… The result is both healing and cathartic… and creates therapeutic empathy and bonding within the group. I see SOULSPEAK as a valuable therapeutic tool that releases the creative process. The tangible process of clients seeing their poems in print and hearing themselves on tape enables them to put a healthy distance, or separateness, between themselves and their trauma. Externalized in this way, it is safely out in the world and more easy to handle emotionally.”

Natasha Mann, BS,MS, Clinical Psychologist, with half a century of clinical practice, teaching and training with Fritz Pearls, Carl Rodgers, and Albert Ellis.

“The purpose of [SOULSPEAK is to allow participants to express their feelings in a safe environment and in a manner that feels safe, supportive and non-threatening…..it was not necessary for the group to become closely connected in order to accomplish the depth of expression they achieved . This is not the norm for group treatment with sexual abuse survivors SOULSPEAK is an interesting and comforting technique…it is easy to learn, it is extemporaneous yet keeps the participants in touch with themselves at a deep and real level. It was beneficial to the staff member because it allowed the opportunity to both observe and to participate; the latter is not what occurs other methods of group treatment”

I have come to believe that Therapeutic SOULSPEAK, because of its oral, spontaneous, communal nature, can be an extremely powerful form of poetry therapy that can be used by anyone of any age regardless of educational, cultural, intellectual or emotional limitations. Despite the depth of the poems possible under SOULSPEAK, experience has shown it to be a non-traumatic, healing experience. Both the statistics and observations by teachers and therapists over an eight year period back up all of these observations. Of equal importance, it is a form of poetry that can directed to critical unconscious areas. It also a form of poetry that is so human it can be mastered by anyone in a matter of minutes. And finally, once learned, it can be used for a lifetime.

Our web page contains hundreds of adult and children’s oral recordings of Therapeutic SOULSPEAK (click on Recordings) as well as written examples of Elementary SOULSPEAK (click on Books). In addition our on-line poetry exchange (click on Write a Poem) contains hundreds of SOULPEAK poems submitted by children and adults on their own. The web page also contains contact information for those who would like to contact us or order Elementary SOULSPEAK text books or complete transcripts of the letters quoted in the various sections..

Justin Spring resides in Sarasota Florida. His poems have been published in such distinguished periodicals as American Poetry Review, Passages North and Organica as well as numerous anthologies such as Florida in Poetry. He is the recipient of many prizes and honors including the 1997 State of Florida Individual Artist Fellowship, and is the author of two collections of poems, Polaroid Poems, published in 1995 by White Eagle Coffee Store Press, and Other Dancers, published in 1991 by March Street Press. Mr. Spring’s oral poetry can be found on the following MANY VOICES/SOULSPEAK STUDIO recordings: GATHERING (1997), SMOKE (1998), NURSERY RAPS (1998), SPEAKINGS (1999), IN YOUR MIND (2001).

Mr. Spring is the Artistic Director and founder of SOULSPEAK/Sarasota Poetry Theatre, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing poetry back into the lives of everyday people. Mr. Spring is the originator, along with Scylla Liscombe, of SOULSPEAK, a contemporary version of ancient oral, antiphonal poetry.

He has also developed Therapeutic SOULSPEAK, a specialized version of SOULSPEAK that is used extensively in programs for at-risk children and adults in therapy. Over 30 schools and institutions and over 2500 children and adults have participated in these programs since 1995. The program has been hailed by teachers and therapists as an innovative, healing technique for deep emotional expression that can be used by anyone.

Mr. Spring is the author of SOULSPEAK: The Outward Journey of the Soul, published by Sarasota Poetry Theatre Press, March 2002. This Book/CD is intended for a general audience and gives the background and history of SOULSPEAK as well as techniques for creating this contemporary version of ancient tribal poetry. Mr. Spring was educated at Columbia College.

THERAPEUTIC SOULSPEAK
The Use of Ancient Oral Poetry Forms in Therapy

Abstract

Key words

THERAPEUTIC SOULSPEAK
The Use of Ancient Oral Poetry Forms in Therapy

On an 18 month SOULSPEAK Program for Sexually Abused Women

Merrill Tanner, LCSW

THERAPEUTIC SOULSPEAK The Use of Ancient Oral Poetry Forms in Therapy

Abstract

Key words

THERAPEUTIC SOULSPEAK The Use of Ancient Oral Poetry Forms in Therapy

On an 18 month SOULSPEAK Program for Sexually Abused Women

Merrill Tanner, LCSW

THERAPEUTIC SOULSPEAK
The Use of Ancient Oral Poetry Forms in Therapy

THERAPEUTIC SOULSPEAK
The Use of Ancient Oral Poetry Forms in Therapy