Consultations
Alternative therapy for your emotional ailments via poetry prescription.
Deborah Alma ‘I think the combination of being carefully listened to; being taken to idealised places through the ‘consultation’, putting your feet up on the chaise longue and then having a hand-picked poem is always a winning combination. Everyone loves it; it has an effect both light and profound.’
How it works
In person consultations are only available in the Bishop's Castle Poetry Pharmacy.
You will be welcomed and ushered upstairs to the treatment room. Settle on the chaise for a gentle consultation with one of our Poetry Pharmacists, and afterwards retire to the dispensary café with your prescribed poems for tea or coffee.
‘From the start I was overwhelmed by people’s responses. There is a magical combination of things when someone comes in: they put their feet up, sounds outside are hushed; it is a non-threatening intimate space.
I have been invited to do the work, or something tailor-made, in hospitals and in hospices, with vulnerable groups: people with sight loss, a loneliness charity, people with learning difficulties, survivors of domestic violence and others.’
Deborah Alma interviewed by Leslie Tate
You can see Deborah filmed by the BBC at work in 2014
In-person consultations are by appointment at The Poetry Pharmacy Shop in Bishop's Castle.
The price includes a consultation with our Poetry Pharmacist, a hot drink and some cake, and specially chosen poetic prescriptions in a Poetry Pharmacy bag.
£30 - £50
If you can’t make it to Shropshire, then consultations are also available as an email exchange, telephone call or video call.
Virtual consultations (£30) include a follow up email with your poetry prescription or Virtual Consultation packs (£50) include a prescription pack sent to you in the post, including your poetry prescription, a bottle of poetry pills and a small gift.