Introduction

Journal Writing, also known as Journal Therapy, has become increasingly popular as a counseling technique.  There are many benefits of Journal Writing for therapy.  Journal Therapy:

• Is cost-effective
• Offers the opportunity for deep reflective writing
• Can be done in the privacy of your own home
• Has no time limits.
• Can be done with or without a counselor
• Offers the feeling of privacy so that the writer can disclose more.

Poetry Therapy.  This website offers ideas and insights into poetry writing as therapy.  It involves reading and responding to classic and contemporary poems.  It also involves writing original poems, as a way of expressing deep and meaningful feelings.
 
 

Life Journal.  Life Journaling is a personal journal software that provides beginners and experts vaaluable information and ideas on writing techniques.  The software offers a program for:

• Daily Journal Entries - a word processor that includes a time, day and date stamp.  It also includes ideas and topics.
• Dream Journal Entries - gives a place to record dreams that are meaningful.
• Daily Pulse Entries -  a place where you can rate yourself on mood, stress, energy and health.
• Daily Pulse Graph - charts the daily pulse entries and lets you view it in parameters of a week, a month or a year.
• Prompts - questions or statements designed to help you think about a subject in a new way.
• Quotes - inspirational from famous philosophers and thinkers to help you feel inspired.
• Life History Timeline - helps you build your autobiography in small steps.
• Life History Journal Entries - a place to write about important life events.
• Journal Techniques - six different techniques such as dialog, list, portraits, inner voice, altered viewpoint, unsent letter.
• Timer - allows you to time yourself if you would like in either stopwatch mode or countdown mode.

American Counseling Association.  This website offers current information on counseling techniques for counselors, consumers and students.  The ACA is a professional organization which is dedicated to the growth and development of the counseling profession and those who are served.
 
 

My Memory Maker.  Journal designed for children ages 4-14, to aid in coping with their feelings. This set offers helpful suggestions to adults and coping strategies for children who are faced with the grief that accompanies Alzheimer’s disease. The My Memory Maker journal provides children a pathway to the expression of their feelings through artwork and journal writing, which is called Heart Art.
 
 

DIARY DOOR.  Diary and Journal Writing provides insight and inspiration for personal growth and creative expression.  This website offers online workshops to help clients improve their self-esteem to live happier more creative lives.  The Diary Door offers the opportunity to share stories with others as a stimulating and satisfying way to grow as a human being.
 
 

Power Writing.  This website offers ideas and insights on power writing to counselees.  The website gives instruction on enabling the writer to access the deeper layers of his or her consciousness.  The methods use include free association and a dialogue format.  The purpose of this is to access different domains and dimensions of our lives.  The website was created by a psychologist who studied under Carl Jung and D.T. Suzuki.  Coounselors can also get information on Seminars which teach the structured journal writing.
 
 

Writing Therapy.  The healthy aspect of journal writing is explored in this website.  The belief is that recording memories, fears, concerns, and/or problems can help relieve stress, promote health and well-being and lead to personal growth.  This type of journal therapy focuses on helping people work out solutions to their problems which will help reduce the stress in their lives.  Scientists believe that journal writing is effective in fighting off stress-related diseases and it has been proven to have a positive impact on heart rate and blood pressure.
 
 

Write Yourself into Being.  The writing process used here is a gradual approach to creating stories and poems.  This approach fosters greater self-clarity and self-responsibility.  Too often in our lives we fall victime to our preconceived attitudes, habits, and behaviors that are not a true reflection of who we are or of who we hope to become.  Thinking through these confusions is facilitated through journal writing.  This is self-discovery.
 
 

Breast Cancer Therapy.  UMass Graduate School of Nursing has received a grant to teach women with breast cancer how to disclose through expressive writing.  Patients are encouraged to put their negative feelings about their disease in writing.  The hypothesis is that "women with metastatic breast cancer who participate in an expressive writing intervention will have better quality of life, slower disease progression and lower health care costs" (Bauer, 1999).
 
 

Psychotherapy and Writing.  Writing offers meditation and allows people to meditate and go to a very deep place that many never knew existed.  Although men can use this website, it is geared for women.  Some areas presented here are writing for eating disorders and depression,  Women may submit poems and writings which they have composed to help offer insight to others who are experiencing the same problems.