This year I will be offering a workshop again at the annual conference of the
Bundesverband Psychiatrie Erfahrene e.V. (BPE) (German Association of People with Psychiatric Experience)
TRANSLATION of the text. The conference will be in German.
Conference theme: Without Psychiatry – conceivable?!
For registration information and Flyer click here
Location: Youth Hostel Düsseldorf
Date: October 16–18, 2026
Workshop language: German
AG 5: Reclaiming One’s Own Story – Writing Beyond Psychiatric Narratives
Many people have experienced that others tell their story.
Often in the language of psychiatry.
With diagnoses.
With judgments.
That can be exhausting.
And it can feel unfamiliar.
In this workshop, the focus is on taking one’s own story back into one’s own hands.
Through writing. Very simply.
It is not therapy.
And it is not about being able to write “well”.
We will do short writing exercises.
Those who want to write, write.
Those who prefer not to, can simply listen.
In the first part we look together:
Which stories have been told about me?
Which ones may I have adopted myself?
After the lunch break, we try something new:
Beginning a story differently.
Not with what is supposedly wrong —
but with what happened.
What did I experience?
And why does it make sense?
Everything is voluntary.
Sharing is voluntary.
Listening is enough.
The workshop is a protected space.
It is not a therapeutic service.
It is open to anyone curious whether another way of telling one’s story is possible —
and what that might feel like.
