Have You Ever Wondered How Poetry Heals Trauma?
She now has over five million followers!
The journalist wanted to ask me about the healing properties of poetry, and I was thrilled to talk about it. As an expressive arts therapist who works with trauma survivors, I know how poetry can reach places inside us that conventional talk therapy often can’t touch.
That interview inspired me to write this post. I want more people to understand how the expressive arts, like poetry, heal trauma. And I want to give you a practical, embodied intervention you can try at home today.
The Roots of Words as Medicine and Why Poetry Heals
Poetry as a healing tool isn’t new.
Ancient Egyptians wrote healing words on papyrus, dissolved them in liquid, and gave them to the sick to drink.
Words as literal medicine.
In the 1700s, Pennsylvania Hospital used reading and writing as part of treatment for people experiencing emotional distress. And by the early 1800s, Dr. Benjamin Rush was formally introducing poetry into psychiatric care.
Today, researchers like James Pennebaker have demonstrated that expressive writing for as little as 15 minutes over 4 days can produce measurable health benefits. And research published in the Journal of Poetry Therapy found that after just eight sessions, participants in poetry therapy groups reported significantly less emotional pain and an increased ability to identify and express their emotions.
So why poetry, specifically? Why not just journaling or traditional talk therapy? (Both of which I also love and use, along with the expressive arts, by the way.)
Poetry activates both hemispheres of the brain.
When someone constructs a poem, they’re working with imagery, rhythm, metaphor, and emotion all at once. That process engages both the cognitive, verbal brain and the sensory, emotional brain. For trauma survivors, especially, this kind of bilateral activation can support the integration that’s essential for healing. The experience moves from being “stuck” in the body to being witnessed through language.
Poetry creates safe distance.
Metaphor is one of the most beautiful gifts poetry offers in a clinical setting. A client doesn’t have to say “I feel abandoned.” They can write about an empty house. A bird that flew away. The last light going out. That metaphorical distance can make it possible to approach painful material that might otherwise feel too overwhelming to touch directly.
Poetry supports meaning-making.
For trauma survivors, meaning-making is central to the healing process. It’s how we move from fragmentation toward integration, from “this terrible thing happened to me” toward “this is part of my story, and I get to decide what it means.” When someone writes a poem about their experience, they’re not just expressing emotion. They’re actively reconstructing their relationship to what happened.
This is how poetry heals trauma: not by erasing it, but by giving it shape, language, and meaning.
Found Poetry: An Art Therapy Healing Tool
One of my favorite poetry-based interventions is found poetry.
Found poetry is exactly what it sounds like: you find the words rather than generating them from scratch. You flip through magazines, newspapers, or old books and let certain words or phrases catch your eye. You cut them out. Then you arrange them intuitively.
And something unexpected emerges.
What You’ll Need
A stack of old magazines, newspapers, catalogs, or books you’re willing to cut up. Scissors. Glue or tape. A blank piece of paper or cardstock. Optional: colored pencils, markers, washi tape, or other collage materials.
Step 1: Arrive in Your Body
Before you touch a magazine, take a few minutes to get present. Place both feet on the floor. Take three slow breaths, letting each exhale be a little longer than the inhale. Ask yourself quietly: What wants to be expressed through me right now?
You don’t need an answer. Just let the question be there.
Step 2: Select Words Intuitively
Now look through your materials and start flipping through them. Let your eyes scan loosely and notice which words or short phrases pull you. Notice a feeling of, “yes, that one.” Tear out the whole page and keep going.
Aim for 15 to 20 words or phrases. Some might seem random. Some might be contradictory. That’s perfect. Your unconscious mind is doing the selecting.
Step 3: Cut and Arrange with Curiosity, Not Control
Now that you have your pages with the words and phrases, cut them out. Then spread them all out on a table or the floor. Take a moment to just look at them.
Notice if any natural groupings want to happen. Some words may feel like they belong together. Others may feel like they want to stand alone.
Begin arranging them into a poem. There’s no wrong way to do this. The poem doesn’t need to make logical sense. It needs to make felt sense.
As you’re arranging, stay connected to your body. Notice: does this arrangement feel complete? Is something missing? Does one word want to be moved? Your body will tell you when the poem is “done.”
Step 4: Read It Aloud
This is the step most people want to skip, and it’s the one I encourage you not to. Read your poem aloud to yourself. Then read it again and feel what the poem is sharing within you.
When you speak the words, notice what happens in your body. Does your throat tighten? Does your chest open? Do you feel emotion rising? These are all signals that the poem is touching something real.
If you have a trusted person, whether that’s a therapist, a friend, or a partner, you could also share it with them. Being witnessed in your creative expression is one of the most healing experiences available to us.
Step 5: Make It Beautiful (Optional but Provoked)
If you’re drawn to it, turn your found poem into a piece of art.
Glue the words onto cardstock. Add color, images, or textures from the same magazines. Draw around the words. Add dried flowers or fabric. Let it become a collage, a mixed-media piece, a visual prayer.
This step honors the core principle of expressive arts therapy: the creative process itself is healing. You don’t need to make it “good.” You just need to make it yours.
Step 6: Close the Ritual
Take a final breath. Place one hand on your heart and one on your belly. Thank yourself for showing up.
If it feels authentic, you might say something simple like: I honor what came through me today.
Then put your poem somewhere you’ll see it for the next few days. Let it keep speaking to you. Poems have a way of revealing new layers over time.
If You’re Curious to Explore More
Remember that young woman from the LA Times article who turned her therapy poems into a movement with five million followers? She started by letting words meet her where she was. You can do that too.
If you’re curious about how poetry heals trauma and want to explore what this could look like in your own life, try the found poetry practice above. Let the words find you. And if you’re drawn to go deeper into expressive arts therapy or other creative approaches to trauma recovery, I’d love to connect. You can book a consultation call with Luna here.