Unlock Your Wellbeing Potential
Explore the connection between nature and joy
Master various forms of poetry and creative writing
Apply nature-inspired insights to enhance your daily life
Unlock the secrets to finding happiness in the natural world
Meet Your Guide
Monique Schmidt
MFA in Poetry | Resource Development Officer, The Grant Plant
Writing to Wellness is designed and led by Monique Schmidt, Master's of Fine Arts in poetry, who is a Resource Development Officer at The Grant Plant. With a passion for language and an ear for stories, Monique has worked in the nonprofit world and the field of education throughout her career. She has led many creative writing classes and workshops over the past twenty years. Besides traditional classroom poetry writing classes, she has led poetry writing workshops for inmates in correctional facilities, motivational poetry writing to groups of runners before they hit the marathon course, writing sessions focused on pop culture and rhyme for blossoming teenage hip hop artists, and writing sessions focused on healing for survivors of trauma. Monique has published one book, Last Moon Dancing, and has much gratitude for the joy writing brings into her life.
What is Writing to Wellness?
Writing to Wellness is a series of online, interactive workshops that help you and your team cultivate wellbeing via creative writing and short guided meditations anchored in the natural world. Each workshop has a different theme, focusing on a specific aspect of nature and a particular form of poetry. Across all of the workshops, we explore how nature gives us clues on how to find joy and happiness in our lives. The workshops are open to all levels of prior experience with writing. Workshops take place over Zoom and last approximately one hour. Workshop #1 - The Camel: Explore how camels, who can smell water from 50 miles away, can provide us humans with inspiration to find our strengths and grow confident in sharing them with the world. For this workshop, we will use Native American poetry as our base. Workshop #2 - The Rattlesnake: What can rattlesnakes teach us about faith and happiness? Join us as we learn a little about these reptiles and put our creative skills to use writing haiku. Workshop #3 - The Shark: After this session, you’ll have less fear of sharks! (maybe) We’ll use the poetic form of ode and some new knowledge about sharks to help us clean up our mental and emotional landscapes. Workshop #4 - The Koala: Do you associate koala bears with gratitude? You will after this workshop, where we will delve into some of their lifestyle characteristics and see how some of our challenges in life can actually benefit us! For this session, we’ll be crafting sonnets.
Discover the joy and healing power of nature through the art of poetry.
Purchasing the workshops will send you a link to a booking page for a half-hour conversation, when you can learn what to expect and schedule the four workshops that work for you and your team. Let's embark on this transformative journey together! When you buy the workshops, we'll call you to schedule a time that works for your team.
$2,000.00