Our CPD opportunities, workshops and bespoke training events

These workshops are ideal for healthcare professionals, students, educators, social workers, community practitioners and anyone interested in exploring the potential of creative writing to enrich their practice and perspective.

About the workshop

Explore how stories shape empathy. In these lunchtime taster sessions, we’ll invite you to explore how creative writing can spark empathy, understanding, and emotional growth in every part of life.

With gentle guidance, reflective writing prompts, shared conversations, and talking circles, you’ll discover how writing can become a meaningful practice for cultivating compassion, reflection and insight, and authentic connection.

Preparation

These workshops can be taken singly or as a series. No previous experience of creative writing is necessary. Just bring paper, pen and curiosity. 

Assessment

There is no assessment for this course. The course is for your continuing professional development, and is not designed to provide a formal qualification.

This course provides 1 hour of CPD.

Upcoming dates

• Tuesday 25 November 2025, 12.30pm - 1.30pm (online)
• Tuesday 16 December 2025, 12.30pm - 1.30pm (in-person, GDC 1.38)
• Tuesday 13 January 2025, 12.30pm - 1.30pm (online)

Book your place

Ideal for healthcare professionals, educators, social workers, community practitioners and anyone interested in exploring the potential of creative writing to enrich their practice and perspective.

About the workshop

Unlock the power of words and stories to build deeper understanding, connection and emotional intelligence. Join us for a half-day workshop to explore how creative writing can be a transformative tool for developing empathy in both personal and professional contexts.

Through guided writing activities, reflective prompts and collaborative discussion, participants will discover how using writing as a creative, reflective and expressive practice can help us to foster compassion and insight across all aspects of life and better understand the perspectives of others.

• We’ll consider concepts such as the beginner’s mind, the inner critic, self-compassion and point of view.
• We’ll explore the imagination to gain fresh insights into understanding and feeling empathy.
• Our approach will be playful, mindful and fun.
• We’ll consider some of the evidence base which supports this approach to empathy and wellbeing.
• There will be opportunities to develop tools and skills for journaling and writing beyond the workshops.

Preparation

No previous writing experience is necessary and we’ll be working in a safe, non-judgemental space.

Assessment

There is no assessment for this course. The course is for your continuing professional development, and is not designed to provide a formal qualification. A certificate of completion will be provided at the end of the course.

This course provides 3 hours of CPD.

Upcoming dates

• 13 January 2026 | 9.30 am - 12.30 pm
• 17 February 2026 | 9.30 am – 12.30 pm
• 17 March 2026 | 9.30 am – 12.30 pm

Book your place

Cost

• £50 (this special introductory rate provides a 60% discount on the standard cost of £125)
• Block booking: 10 places for £400

Location

Online (MS Teams).

We design and deliver bespoke Creative Empathy CPD sessions that provide a reflective, restorative space for healthcare teams to pause, reconnect, and rediscover empathy for themselves, their colleagues, and the people they care for.

Through shared reading, guided writing, storytelling, and reflective discussion, participants explore their own experiences and perspectives in a supportive environment. These sessions nurture emotional resilience, deeper understanding, and stronger team relationships, empowering professionals to bring renewed empathy and insight to their daily practice.

Preparation

Each programme is tailored to the specific needs of individual healthcare teams and specialties. We meet with and discuss the needs of each team or service in order to prepare for our session. Our experienced facilitators handpick literary and creative materials to reflect the clinical realities and emotional challenges faced by different services, or to support particular aspects of teamwork, professional development and personal wellbeing.

Example event: A CPD and wellbeing workshop for a dementia diagnosis and memory team 

Recently, we delivered a bespoke half-day CPD event for the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Memory Service, working with nurses and consultants specialising in dementia diagnosis. In collaboration with the clinical lead, we explored the nature of the service, the challenges of providing empathic care, and the pressures faced by staff. Together, we defined learning outcomes focused on enhancing empathy for colleagues and patients, promoting personal wellbeing. We introduce creative tools participants could use beyond the workshop to support their ongoing professional and personal development.

The session centred on shared reading and writing activities using carefully chosen texts. One example was Wendy Cope’s poem “Names”, used to explore the power of names in preserving identity and memory. In dementia care, names often serve as fragile links to a person’s sense of self and relationships. The poem’s focus on remembering and the emotional resonance of names invited reflection on empathy, personhood, and connection - themes central to compassionate, patient-centred practice.

Contact us

To discuss bespoke Creative Empathy CPD options for your team, please contact us at empathy@le.ac.uk.