Paper Therapy: Online Journal Writing Course

“This course has been an absolute gift to me! It came at just the right time. I have developed a beautiful new friendship with myself where I’ve found deep wisdom, inspiration and so much humour! I’ve gone from never finding the energy to journal write to naturally building it into my every day (usually on the tube!). It brings me energy, peace and a new closer relationship with myself/my higher self that is life enriching. I find Jackee’s guidance throughout the course so delightful and easy to engage with.

“All fabulous, only problem was there was so much of it. I particularly liked the creative and sacred aspects, loved the video inner views with the journaling experts and also the personal development

“I loved the high number of poignant quotes and references and ideas. The whole variety of approaches appealed to me including people sharing their way of journaling because I can get bored easily, especially if the subject matter is superficial. The way Jackee encouraged all contributions to the table, whether large and small, no comment or enquiry was unimportant, which encouraged honesty and individual approaches to journaling. The course was fun and a change.

I’m a believer in the power of the pen and have seen how first hand the simple practice of keeping a journal literally saved my life and many of the individuals I have coached and worked with. In 2013 after launching Paper Therapy I realised I was ready to share my love of journal writing in a more structured transformational learning programme with others. After personally investing and participating in a number of online courses I realised just how much I loved the creativity, freedom and innovation the courses offered in really attractive online packages and so Paper Therapy was born.

What’s great is that you can do the course from the comforts of your desk, your home or whilst you’re out and about.

The prompts arrive via a link each morning in your email inbox. You can attempt all, do some, a few or literally work on the ones that grab your attention. There are a number of lessons available as we recognise that everyone will have their own pace and levels of interest so there’s enough for you to choose from depending on what level and how much learning you wish to engage in.

• For this reason the course is structured so you can go at your own pace or follow the rhythm of the weekly course classroom.
• Paper Therapy purposely shows you have you can regularly empty your mind and creates white space and generate that qualitative thinking space so many of us crave.
• Enjoy and be stretched by the range of juicy, persuasive journaling prompts and multi media activities designed to coax you onto the page in a journey of self exploration and self discovery
• You have access to me for the six weeks as your coach, mentor and guide.
• Ongoing supportive encouragement from me and your classmates, which mean I get involved as much or as little as, you would personally like from the online forum and weekly videos.

On week four we take a break so you can catch up and integrate the materials so far as we prepare to continue with the final three weeks of the programme.

What we know about the benefits of journaling from research that supports this programme is that:

• Journaling has psychological, emotional and physical benefits
• Has a positive impact on your immune system
• Helps with normalising traumatic and stressful situations whilst creating a healthy outlet for processing and releasing feelings and emotions
• Is a powerful form of self-coaching and self-enquiry that builds confidence and self-belief
• Is an inexpensive form of personal development that is both sustainable and transformational

I followed a traditional academic career, which includes a degree in Government and Politics and a master’s degree in Creative Writing and Personal Development. I hold post-graduate qualifications in Executive Coaching and Youth and Community Work.

I have over twenty years experience in training and learning and development, creative writing and spiritual development along with fifteen years experience in leadership and executive coaching. I have invested over twenty years in my own personal and professional development and this is something I continue to be fully committed to.

I have always been interested in the spiritual side of life and in 2002 I was ordained as an interfaith minister and spiritual counsellor. I am a self confessed self help book junkie and lover of trees which I blog about at www.jackeeholder.com

I understand the power of keeping a journal and view the journal as both a truth teller and a soul catcher. When we consciously engage with writing at this level we write both the truth and the language of the soul. It is from this place that true leadership, passion and life purpose emerges from. I so believe in the alchemy that flows when we write journals and have witnessed first hand the transformational energy that keeping a journal generates.

I have walked my own path of trauma and life and work challenges and my journal has been a trusted friend in helping me make sense of many of those experiences.

I consider myself both a student and a teacher. The two for me are always shifting and changing. I have achieved my dream of one day becoming a writer. My hundred or more journals are a living testimony to this. Anything more from here really is a delightful bonus.

Jackee Holder is well loved for her heart-warming talks and keynotes, her inspirational retreats and workshops and her commitment to the power of the written word. This London born writer, coach and teacher knows what it is to overcome adversity, what it takes to live outside the expected traditions and norms of family life and what it takes to work with change.

She is the author of three published books,

Soul Purpose: Self affirming rituals, meditations and creative exercises to revive your spirit, Be Your Own Best Life Coach: Take Charge and Live The Life You Want and 49 Ways To Write Yourself Well: The Science and Wisdom Of Writing and Journaling along with several e-books and writing kits including, The Journal Journey Guidebook, 52 Quotes To Inspire Your Inner Writer, The Wheel of Life Tree Playbook and Life Audit and Writing With The Senses.

Jackee’s work has been featured across the globe including several features and appearances in Psychologies magazine (UK), Red Magazine, Mslexia and coaching and therapy journals including Coaching At Work and Coaching Today. She has an international media collection of podcast interviews, which can be located at www.jackeeholder.com.

Jackee describes herself as the girl who loves trees and the woman who loves to walk and wander. She currently lives in London.

At the very minimum is 7 hours, one hour for every week of the programme.  You’re free to break the hour down and complete the lessons as they arrive or chunk them up and do them all in one go. Don’t worry if you fall behind (all the materials will be loaded up and waiting on the site for you once you sign back in), this really is about the journey, not the destination and you have access to the course for a whole year afterwards and most of the lessons have a genetic timeline.  But our evaluations of the programme confirm that the more time you invest the more you are likely to get out of the programme.

Everyone in some way, shape or form is challenged by time, myself included. My question to you is not how you will create or free up space for this course but how you will best use the time you have. By this what I mean is how can you write during and amongst the daily routines of your day?

For example if you take public transport to work can you write for 20 minutes during one leg or part of the journey? If you drive into work could you leave 20 minutes earlier and spend those extra twenty minutes writing behind the wheel of your parked car? You get the drift. I’d love you to think about writing in the in-between spaces in your day.

You don’t have to like to write to gain from the many benefits writing and journaling offers. Very early on in the course it will be explained that you can be grammatically incorrect and not worry about spelling. What’s more important is that you write what you feel or sense and it does not in any way need to be perfect. Remember these words are for your eyes only and you only share what feels comfortable to share.

Secondly we’ve included video interviews and other creative mediums including collaging and using visual images as part of the overall ‘Paper Therapy’ so you get to play and experiment with a number of creative ways of hanging out in your journals and notebooks.

Here at Paper Therapy we advocate, one thing at a time. So if this is you we invite you to contemplate, what one activity from the lesson could I have a go at that would get me moving and back into the body of the course. It doesn’t matter if you go straight to the current lesson or you go back to the last activity you did. Just do it as Nike said is probably the easiest way to get you back into the swing of things.

Don’t worry, this feeling has happened to the best of us. I paid a £100 for an on-line programme and only kicked in a couple of classes before the course was due to end. I learnt a huge lesson from that experience. Firstly I was waiting for the perfect moment to get going and of course the perfect moment just didn’t come. Secondly I learnt that I was facing a big fear and rather than recognise how close I was to getting excited I froze which created a block. The best thing I could have done was to keep moving until I arrived at some kind of breakthrough, which inevitably is likely to happen.