The 51% - A series of therapeutic writing workshops for women, journeying from menstruation to menopause and everything in between.

Improving Me launched, the 51% in2024 pilot social prescribing and creative health writing project for women who live in Cheshire and Merseyside with NHS Cheshire and Merseyside women’s health and maternity programme’s writer in residence, Dr Rachel New. Rachel is a broadcaster and radio producer, podcaster and expert in creative writing. This new project will support the delivery of the Cheshire and Merseyside women’s health strategy. It builds on the groundbreaking Holding Time breastfeeding programme; commissioned at the height of the pandemic but constantly evolving; and an Improving Me on-going collaboration with the Writewell Community, the BBC and regional library services to promote and harness women’s voices in order to promote health and wellbeing through digital inclusion. This pilot was designed to resonate with the IWD 2024 theme- Inspire Inclusion.

Hear Me Roar

Improving Me is delighted to share Hear Me Roar, the 51 % digital anthology. This anthology is made up of work created by twelve of the women who took part in writing workshops in 2024. The 51% functions on two levels: to nurture and amplify women’s voices and to call society and our healthcare system to account. It was commissioned and co-designed to enable women to explore, express and articulate their feelings of being a woman in a society; where women’s health is characterised by taboo and stigma; and where myths and misconceptions are widespread. Put simply, to give women a voice, in a world where women’s health is more often than not, secreted away because it is seen as intrinsically dirty and polluting, which impacts negatively on all women and girls in a myriad of ways.

FINAL A Digital Anthology Of Womens Work Hear Me Roar Part 1Nove 2024

Evaluation

Improving Me is indebted to Dr Kerry Wilson for her ongoing support and enthusiasm for Improving Me creative health initiatives but above all else her unrivalled expertise in evaluating, The 51% writing programme. Read all about how positively the workshops impacted on participants The 51% Evaluation 

Improving Me's collaboration with Writewell supported an investigation into the use writing to promote wellbeing and its role in supporting recovery throughout the pandemic. Writewell developed a range of online activities and resources to make writing for wellbeing enjoyable and accessible. This work underpinned a six month FREE healthcare staff on-line writing course running from 2021 to 2023 to improve healthcare staff wellbeing . Developed by the Professional Writing Academy Writewell promotes access to therapeutic writing through regular publications like Ready Steady Flow and a significant online community.

Running alongside this work sits a second collaboration supported by regional libraries and a partnership with BBC Archives to harness broadcast content to promote health literacy and address a digital divide . This work culminated in a new publication with Health Education England’s Knowledge and Library service focused on bibliotherapy to mark international social prescribing day in 2023 -Reading Matters. The publication was revised in 2024 and extended to address a working well context with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority -Healthy Economy Team.

But back to 51%.  Rachel's work concentrated on harnessing a very specific superpower all women have, the ability to talk to each other about their experiences and in so doing create the opportunity to normalise women’s bodies and health issues; which can in turn help break down the taboos and awkwardness which inhibit the very discussion that will ultimately support progress in the women’s health field and simultaneously provide a robust mechanism to respond to the first ever women’s health enquiry for England in 2022 which underlined the importance of creating a voice for all women.

The 51% - consists of a series of six therapeutic , small group, face to face writing workshops for women, journeying from menstruation to menopause and everything in between. It was launched in April 2024 in partnership with libraries. The 51%  programme is:

• Intergenerational
• Provide a great deal of peer support
• Involve participants making a commitment to a six - week programme of two hour workshops
• Weekly and they will create a linear expedition that mirrors a woman's journey from periods to menopause and everything in between including pregnancy, infertility and childlessness.
• Facilitated to ensure all participants will be supported to produce written and/or audio content
• Developed to ensure there are a range of additional opportunities to promote awareness of the participants creative outputs through blogs/vlogs, radio content and podcasts
• Celebratory.

The workshops cover:

Week 1

It's a bloody mess! 

In the first workshop participants explore periods, the pain, the inconvenience, the concerns, the impact, and, well, sometimes the joy! Woman will share and write about their experiences, from heavy bleeding to menopause and everything in between.

Week 2

Am I the only one? 

In this session women will get chance to explore some of the more distressing, embarrassing, life impacting problems they've had with their reproductive cycle, including endometriosis and fertility issues.

Week 3 

Making babies - or not

This week is all about reproduction, women's experiences of getting pregnant, being pregnant, years of trying to get pregnant, and years of trying not to get pregnant. This will be a powerful session and great care will be taken with the women in exploring these topics.

Week 4

Your body isn't your own

Continuing from week 3 women will discuss and write about being pregnant, giving birth and breastfeeding. For some women this will be a huge topic they may want to stay with into the next session. For some women this will be a very difficult place to go and it will be handled with great sensitivity, with a range of extra prompts and tools for women who need them. 

Week 5 

When you stop seeing red

This week is all about menopause and perimenopause. The shock of it creeping up on you, the myriad of symptoms, the strange ways in which is throws your life off course, and the light at the end of the tunnel. For women who have not reached this point yet it's a fantastic opportunity for learning and very cathartic for the woman who are in it or past it.

Week 6 

Show and tell

In this session participants review the work that's been created and women will share the positives and negatives of the discussions and the different writing tools and techniques. The last hour of this session will be for women to share the work they most connected with over the workshops 

A public event and broadcast content will follow the workshops.

Want to know more and get involved?

Please do get in touch with Rachel directly at info@rachelnew.co.uk for more information and project updates.

On My Last Eggs the Podcasts Series

Talking matters so get listening and the next step is always easier!

We think you will know why after listening to these accessible and informative FREE podcasts from Improving Me’s writer in residence and broadcaster Dr Rachel New. Rachel is literally on her last eggs, in the wild throws of perimenopause like millions of other women around the world. This podcast series lifts the lid on that whole messy, confusing journey with the help of experts and conversations with menopausal celebrities.

Improving Me is delighted to bring these FREE and illuminating conversations to help women in Cheshire and Merseyside and beyond explore the menopause and increase understanding about both symptoms and potential solutions.

Seventeen glorious podcasts are available here  All are highly accessible ranging from 23 minutes to just under an hour.  Why not join Rachel’s 84,000 followers and let us know what you think.

Be Inspired

Improving Me believes the work we undertake through a social prescribing and creative health workstream will #Inspire Inclusion and support better more tailored healthcare services whilst promoting public health and equity.  For International Women's Day 2024 and beyond, Improving Me is committed to Inspire Inclusion because we believe like the IWD team , ‘when we inspire others to understand and value women's inclusion, we forge a better world. And when women themselves are inspired to be included, there's a sense of belonging, relevance and empowerment. The aim of the IWD 2024 #InspireInclusion campaign is to collectively forge a more inclusive world for women.’

Join us.

Improving Me social prescribing and creative health lead , Jo Ward.