A Journey Toward Healing Through Writing

Bali, September 13, 2024 – The Literature Team of the English Language and Literature Study Program, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia conducted a launching for a collaborative training program with Balai Guru Penggerak (Transformational Teachers) of Bali. Helmed by the Head of the English Language and Literature Study Program, Prof. Eri Kurniawan, M.A., Ph.D. as the project coordinator, the team was greeted warmly and given a positive response by Dr. I Wayan Surata, S.Pd., M.Pd. as the Head of BGP Bali. This program provided workshops to train transformational teachers, consisting of 19 members who teach at 19 different junior high schools. Motivated by recent issues related to violence at educational institutions, particularly in schools, the English Language and Literature Study Program conducted this training to specifically raise awareness regarding this issue and also to propose strategies to combat and prevent this issue.

On the opening day on the 22nd of June, The Literature Team presented and proposed the concept of “Writing for Healing”. The literature team focused on the creative outlet for those who have been impacted by violence at school, particularly bullying which currently has become a hot-button issue in the media. This proposed strategy is aimed to be implemented by these teachers with their students.

It needs to be noted that the concept of “Writing for Healing” is not a way to cure mental health issues and trauma as a result of violence at school but rather a form of creative outlet to express one’s self. Previous studies about the effects of writing like those conducted by James W. Pennebaker from the University of Texas in Austin about the impact of expressive writing as well as The Decameron Project that used writing to provide a way to cope during the pandemic, became a few amongst several others that became inspirations for the concept of “Writing for Healing”. 

The Literature Team consists of six members, including Dr. Nia Nafisah, S.S., M.Pd. as the leader of the team; Prof. Bachrudin Musthafa, M.A., Ph.D.; Prof. Ahmad Bukhori Muslim, M. Ed., Ph. D; Dr. Rd. Safrina, M.A., Nita Novianti, M.A., Ph. D.; and Rendila Restu Utami, S.S., M.A. The workshop was divided into online and offline meetings. The offline workshop was conducted in Bali on the 22nd of June as part of the launching of the program and the online meeting was conducted on the 28th of July 2024. The online meeting provided an explanation of the Writing for Healing concept and gave a chance for the transformational teachers of Bali to write.

On the 28th of July 2024, the Literature Team presented their online workshop from 08.00 until 15.30 Western Indonesia Time. The rundown consisted of several presentations, a workshop, and a talk show. The presentations gave a more detailed concept of Writing for Healing and the model of writing for healing, a discussion about the role of contemplating in writing, and an overview of techniques and types of writing. The second half of the schedule consisted of a writing workshop using Padlet. The team encouraged the transformational teachers to share their experiences and also to write based on the prompts given. The workshop then continued with a sharing session that gave a space for the transformational teachers to share their works and their personal experiences. The schedule ended with a talk show that discussed their works and plans on how to implement this strategy of healing with their students.

With these efforts, hopefully, the concept and strategies proposed can serve as a model not only for the transformational teachers of Bali who attended the workshop but also on a larger scale.

(PkM Bali Tim 3 Sastra)