By Lee Murray Trigger Warning: This article addresses issues mental illness. Trauma. Anxiety. Depression. Psychosis—the Venn diagram where horror and mental illness meet at times seems a perfect circle. This… Read more

By Lee Murray Striking a sustainable work-life balance for the long-game in horror takes time and experience. Eric LaRocca, Christa Carmen, Ace Antonio-Hall (Nzondi), Pamela Jeffs, and EV Knight offer… Read more

By Lee Murray Trigger Warning: This article addresses issues of grief, loss, and mental health. Moderated with compassion by Mo Moshaty, an author-producer with experience working closely with death doulas,… Read more

By Lee Murray Trigger Warning: This article addresses mental illness.  For this panel, held in the virtual space, I had the honour to be joined by panellists L.E. (Lauren Elise)… Read more

This month on Holistic Horrors we take a brief look at the role of poetry in promoting well-being and connectiveness. Numerous studies suggest that this is the case. For example, in their 2018 study examining the value of writing poetry as a “means to help people living with chronic pain to explore and express their narratives in their own unique way”, researchers Hovey, Khayat, and Feig concluded that “to write cathartic poetry means bringing into presence our inner reflective thinking, emotions, and self-empathy to help ourselves and others who suffer alongside us.”

Happy New Year to all our colleagues for 2024!

As we head into 2024, and before the Wellness Committee gets stuck into its work for the coming year, it is appropriate to take a pause to thank everyone who has supported and engaged with the work of the committee over the past twelve months, to celebrate our collective achievements in raising awareness of the mental health initiative, and to reflect again on our mission to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. In the main, our work has involved development of programs such as NOTABLE WORKS, facilitating panel events and discussions, curating articles and blogs, providing sensitivity reading services to conferences and festivals, and awareness outreach to the wider horror community. We could not have carried out this work without the engagement and encouragement of HWA members and we are grateful for your enthusiastic support.

Trigger warning: This article discusses mental health.

In this month’s column, Del Gibson and Lee Murray discuss the recent HWA Weird & Wonderful Panel, P.M. Raymond reflects on the StokerCon 2023 Self-Care for Horror Writers Panel, while… Read more

(Trigger Warning: Articles in this column discuss mental health/illness)

HOLISTIC HORRORS PANEL REPORT: SENSE AND SENSITIVITY & ESSAY: PORTRAYALS OF DEMENTIA IN HORROR By Lee Murray

In this column, I’m… Read more

Written by Lee Murray (Trigger Warning: Articles in this column discuss mental health/illness) In this column, I’m pleased to offer a report of the inspirational virtual panel on sensitive treatments… Read more

*The following post contains this writer’s individual experiences and opinions.  This post should not be interpreted as mental health diagnosis or treatment. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis,… Read more