Across the years, poetry has been used to inspire psychiatric patients to record their experiences, thoughts, feelings, and insights. In turn, they were encouraged to read their poetry to student nurses to increase their understanding of how patients feel and what promotes their behaviors. "One Life", written by a priest, at the request of his nurse (the presenter) to promote his feelings of usefulness an increase the understanding of others of how he felt in his profoundly depressive state. The nurse provided his favorite music (Bach) for him to listen to and to inspire him to write the poem thus using classical art to inspire more art and to touch his soul so he could touch others. Other poems written by an 18-year-old female patient was given to the nurse to be read to student nurses to help them understand resistive behaviors and self-mutilation (Tears of Blood) and how sexual abuse affects a person (Dreams vs. Reality). Over the years under other guidance of this nurse-presenter, student nurses during their rotations on a hospital in-patient unit have developed group poetry writing and reading as therapeutic insight sessions.
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