Jay Teague (they/them) is a Welsh writer, writing facilitator and Poetry Therapy Practitioner based in Eryri, north Wales. They note that living and working in a place of outstanding natural beauty has played a huge part in their healing and well-being and has helped sustain their own creative process. They are an Executive Director of iaPOETRY (the International Academy for Poetry Therapy), and a Master Mentor for the academy – mentoring and training potential Poetry Therapy Practitioners and those wishing to become mentors. They have received awards and scholarships from the National Association for Poetry Therapy and Wales Arts International, for pioneering work in the field of poetry therapy, as well as scholarships from BridgeXngs Poetry Center, New York. They also founded Out of the Blue Writing, where they facilitate writing groups, works with individuals and provides online courses.
Well-being Weekend
Writing can become a powerful, therapeutic act. This weekend course will invite you to engage with writing as a tool for connection, reflection, expression, and emotional clarity – all while acknowledging the challenges of form, vulnerability, and exposure that come with putting words to personal experience.
Through a mix of guided writing exercises, reading, and group discussion –as well as time spent connecting with the landscape and one another – we’ll explore how to write honestly and safely about complex emotions and difficult subjects. Together, we’ll think about how to express what we truly mean, and how to do so without compromising our well-being.
We’ll also explore strategies for self-care in creative practice and facilitation: how to write through discomfort without burnout, and how to meet our work – and ourselves – with care rather than criticism – to craft a sustainable, fulfilling practice to carry beyond the course.
Led by poet and facilitator Taylor Edmonds, this intimate weekend course takes place in the heart of autumn at Tŷ Newydd – a truly idyllic setting to pause, reflect, and write.
Tutor
Jay Teague
Guest Reader
Gwyneth Lewis
Gwyneth Lewis was the first National Poet of Wales and wrote the words on the front of the Wales Millennium Centre. A prize-winning poet in both Welsh and English, her last collection was First Rain in Paradise (Bloodaxe 2025). Her third memoir, Nightshade Mother: A Disentangling (Calon 2024) won the Wales Non-fiction Book of the Year and was nominated for a Sky Arts Award.