Ripples: a journey through belonging 10 poems with photos and personal endnotes

By Kay Underdown

A collection of 10 personal poems together with photographs that take the author on a journey of belonging with endnotes that provide the written background information. The aim is to inspire others to use creativity and to share a different way to record life memories.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Waves and Pebbles Publishing
• Release date: Jun 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9781912899098

Kay Underdown

Kay Underdown is a self-published author who lived for a while on the Isle of Thanet in Kent, England after she graduated as a mature student with a BSc Hons in Social Sciences at the University of Kent. Her dissertation was on sense of belonging in relation to people, place and memories using qualitative research methods in the form of creative workshops. Her route to University was via a Creative Writing course in the community and she believes in the value of creativity for wellbeing. She gained accreditation as a Life Coach with The Coaching Academy and later the Sue Stone Foundation.In 2015, while a student, Kay was diagnosed with a life-threatening form of acute myeloid leukaemia, spending many weeks of that year in hospital. During her treatment she started her Wordpress blog www.wavesandpebbles.blog and eventually published her first book Life Happens Live Happy with the aim of inspiring others to use creative and positive approaches to help in living alongside a cancer diagnosis. After graduating in 2017, Kay went on a road trip with her youngest daughter around the UK and this is when she briefly met the Scottish fine artist Stewart Morrison. Their first book Drawn by the Sea arose out of a long distance friendship based on their creative interests and their connection with the sea. Kay was carrying out qualitative research at Stone Bay in Broadstairs for a post-graduate visual sociology module and a series of texts and telephone conversations during this time inspired the book. The lockdowns of 2020 impacted Kay's creative pursuits in relation to the development of her own approach of life story writing. Drawn by the Sea 2020 was a memorable collaboration with Stewart and his friends that continued during that time and resulted in its publication the same year. Kay has now moved northwards and lives near the beautiful Peak District National Park. Whilst missing the sea, she is able to enjoy stunning countryside views and retains a sense of belonging in relation to the sea from afar through her continued connections. She continues to work in the field of supporting people in relation to their mental health and wellbeing, and is resuming her own work facilitating workshops and small groups to inspire and motivate using creative approaches to help overcome personal challenges, based on her own approach of life story writing (see Writing Back to Happiness for more information on this approach).

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