Participants in Shared Reading groups say that the experience helps them feel better, lifts their mood, or benefits their mental health. But what about physical problems – can Shared Reading help with them too? The Reader Podcast spoke to Helen Cook, who has been part of a long-running Shared Reading group for people living with chronic pain, to learn what Shared Reading means to her.

Links:

More information about chronic pain: Chronic Pain on NHS website; The British Pain Society; charity Pain Concern

Potiki by Patricia Grace

More about Shared Reading

Find a Shared Reading group near you

What is this thing we call Shared Reading? How does it work? Who is it for? What has changed in over two decades of The Reader’s Shared Reading? To help answer these questions, we spoke to a group of people who have led Shared Reading groups over many years in a variety of settings. Listen in for their honest, thoughtful and moving reflections.

It’s a bumper episode - see below for time stamps to help you navigate it:

0.00 - 12.22: Introductions to the speakers

12.23 - 51.07: The nuts and bolts of Shared Reading – how it works

51.30 - 1.02.00 The rewards of Shared Reading – who it’s for

1.02.17 - 1.12.22 How Shared Reading has changed (or how it hasn’t)

Links:

The International Shared Reading Conference at Calderstones

Find out more about Shared Reading

Find a Shared Reading group near you

Become a Reader volunteer

The founder of The Reader, Jane Davis, leads an online Shared Reading group who have met on Zoom every week for over two years to read The Prelude, a long, autobiographical poem by William Wordsworth. In this episode, members of the group explain how they came to be part of this special shared endeavour and what the experience has meant to them. We’ll hear about the early days of The Reader, and gain insight into how Shared Reading can create fellowship, powerful thoughts and feelings, and a shared sense of deeper meaning.

The Prelude by William Wordsworth (online text)

The Prelude by William Wordsworth (buy a copy)

Jane Davis reads Paradise Lost on Substack

Find a Shared Reading group near you