TRIGGER WARNING!
This website contains poetry and true stories about trauma, personality disorders, suicidal thoughts, self-harming, depression and other significant mental health issues, as well as personal stories of emotional neglect and physical and sexual abuse, which some people might find disturbing.
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Poetry for Mental Health
Supporting people by motivating and inspiring them to write poetry.
Poetry for Mental Health has supported thousands of people around the world through words and poetry!
"No matter what your age, background and experience, culture or identity; whether an established writer with many published titles to your credit, or an aspiring poet who has never written a word of poetry in your life, our philosophy here is to embrace, welcome and support everyone, everywhere suffering from mental health challenges, and help you cope through words and poetry."
About ...
"I formed
Poetry for Mental Health at the outbreak of COVID, as a way of helping people cope mentally through lockdown and the pandemic by inspiring them to write poetry. Six years, seven books (just started working on our eighth), many hundreds of poets, and many thousands of pieces of poetry later,
Poetry for Mental Health
is still inspiring people to write poetry for positive mental health! And with almost 1900 visitors for the month of Jan, 2026, it
is now probably the largest and most visited website of its kind on the net!"
ROBIN BARRATT - Founder POETRY FOR MENTAL HEALTH
CONTRIBUTE TO OUR NEXT ANTHOLOGY ...
You can now contribute to the next title in our acclaimed mental health book series:
PTSD - Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
A collection of personal stories and poetry about life and living with PTSD.
We are looking for poetry, short prose, interviews and personal stories.
Deadline: 31st March 2026
Publication date: April 2026.
Click on the linkbelow for further details and submission guidelines.
NEW - This Week's Featured Poetry (x3)
Week commencing Monday 23rd March, 2026.
MY ADHD MAKES ME A ...
By Dorian Blink
My adhd makes
my
My ADHD makes it hard to focus.
I am hard to focus on
They look at me and they see
my ADHD makes me
a boy who talks out of turn.
I am a lot of things,
but I’m only that.
A lot.
A lot of energy
for them
A lot of people in one head
A lot of effort,
frustration
A lot of a lot of
My ADHD makes me a
superpower
I’d choose invisibility
if I could
cause I like not being
My ADHD makes me
I see things weird
I think
they’re weird
but I guess they’ve seen things
I haven’t
I am someone else
the mailman, maybe
but not the kid down the street
the ice cream truck guy, sure
but not
My ADHD makes me
hard to follow
Things hard to focus on:
poems
school
thoughts
the right thing
the wrong thing:
bug on the window
life in Japan
focusing
not being enough
what they say about me
I am
impossible
extra
just stop
too much
going to deliver pizzas
weird,
I was
I was
myself
until you called me
someone else
I live in the box I was put in
It’s dark and lonely.
Here,
my ADHD makes me.
THE MOVEMENT TOWARDS ...
Anonymous
He glides past my dress as we work it all through
Just the right to and fro for the focus to be
As it must, as it must, and I'm out there again
The door shuts behind and my wonderment grows
Does everything he knows then enter on in?
Does it grow, move, and breathe and land once again?
Do his eyes light up as they all rush on in --
The blues, golds, and ohs! come rushing on in?
The movement towards, the movement towards
Ah, ah
The Movement Towards
THERAPY
WHAT IF IT WAS YOU SUFFERING?
By Tammy Khan
Having a mental illness isn't like having a cough or cold
Once the word is mentioned or written on your notes
You feel you're in a different world and not like everyone else
No one seems to want to know you or even give you help
It feels like everyone's avoiding you because they think they will catch it themselves
It is not a nice thing to suffer from and it is very hard to recover from
People who are suffering this should not be put aside or missed
When they're very poorly, they don't know what's going on
So they may harm themselves, or even someone else
But they really don't know they are doing this
And should be given lots of love and lots and lots of care and trust
Sometimes all people need when they're ill is love and care
Knowing that there is someone kind out there
It's nice to have someone to talk to at anytime in need
And yes they may repeat themselves but talking to someone -
HELPS THEIR NEEDS!
Have a heart of gold not of stone made out of mold
If you want to help us please don't rub us off
We're sorry but we don't just have a cough, cough, cough
Yes, we're sorry, but we don't just have a cough
But, yes, we will get better!
We will get better
We are feeling better now
It's time to go Home!
ABOUT TAMMY: "I am fifty-one years-old and currently reside at a care home. I started suffering from poor mental health when I was about 19-20 years old. It's been such a struggle going through this because - as you may know - mental health is still in its early stages of acceptance, by both the medical world and society at large, so, in the past when I have suffered from things like depression and stress, I didn't get adequate care as these were not recognised as mental health conditions at the time. I suffer a lot of other health conditions too but I am learning to live with them all. Writing poems and songs like this are one of my ways of coping and communicating my feelings with other people. I also do some art work because this relaxes me as well, and one of my hobbies is collecting watches and, at my last count, I had over 400 beautiful wristwatches!"
NB: "I have had help typing this up by a carer as I am unable to do so myself because of my learning disabilities."
Lots more Featured Poetry here:
Our Books
Personal Journeys
In their own words, writers and poets write about their own personal journey with mental health.
Interviews
Ten amazing writers and poets talking about their own personal journey with mental health.
Featured Poets
Featuring poets from around the world, with up to six pieces of their work, and a little about the author and the stories behind their work.
And lots more ...
Featured Books
Promoting poetry books and publications.
Other ...
Directory of Support Services
Charities, groups and organisations worldwide offering mental health help and support to people in crisis.
Mental Health First Aid
Identifying warning signs of common mental health crisis, and how to guide a person towards safety and appropriate help.
Newsletters ...
What's new at Poetry for Mental Health - February 2026.
0.8 MB pdf file
Send us your name and email address and we'll keep you updated with what's new at
Poetry for Mental Health, plus calls for submissions for our titles and website. IMPORTANT: we'll never pass your details onto anyone else ... ever!
Publishing Services
We publish books for other people too!!!
Would you like to see your poetry collection published as a paperback and Kindle, and available for other people to read around the world? Prices start from just £150.00 for a chapbook / short collection. Click on the link for more info. Plus Promoting Your Book- information and advice for promoting and marketing your book. We have published over 100 books for other people. Just a few examples below:
We have published over 100 books for other people. Just a few examples below:
NOTE ON CONTRIBUTIONS: We publish mental health poetry from around the world, and for a number contributors to this website, English is not their first language. Unlike some other platforms, we don't heavily edit a poet's own work (if we did, it would then not be their own work!), so please focus on a poet's messages and meanings, and not necessarily on any grammatical mistakes or translated imperfections that may arise within their contribution.