A new Fellow, who found that poetry can help explain a complex medical condition that affects thousands of people in Scotland, has teamed up with a national charity to enable more people to benefit from her findings. Dr Georgi Gill, from Fife, spent six years exploring how writing poems could help people living with multiple sclerosis (MS) understand their condition better themselves, and more easily explain it to others. Now Georgi, who has MS herself, has fittingly chosen National Poetry Day (Thursday 2 October) to discuss the potential implications of her research as well as announce two new initiatives she’s launching, one in collaboration with MS Society Scotland, to bring the benefits of poetry to more people impacted by neurological conditions.
Georgi, who lives near Kirkcaldy and was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS in 2003 at the age of 28, said:
When I first turned my pen to poetry, it felt like the only writing option remaining to me. My vague ambitions of being a novelist had fallen by the wayside as had my full-time career in school teaching and penchant for night clubbing in high heels; all casualties of the dizziness, brain fog and physical fatigue that have frequently interrupted my life since I was diagnosed with MS. I remember looking at brain scans in my neurologist’s office, scans that I couldn’t understand or interpret. To me, the white patches of inflammation and scarring were moth holes in my brain. Ideas, lesson plans, mental shopping lists, the witty comment I was about to make frequently slipped through these holes and were lost. Eventually I acknowledged, with some burning resentment, that I wasn’t going to be writing the next great novel any time soon. Poems, on the other hand, could be very short. They didn’t need to tell a complicated story with multiple characters. From my previous encounters in literature classes, poems didn’t even have to make sense!
Georgi “grudgingly” signed up for a poetry writing class and within weeks she was hooked. Before long she had completed a Master of Arts in Poetry Writing and released her first poetry collection, ‘Limbo’ (Blue Diode, 2021).
She continued: “Poetry offered a distraction from some of the realities and limitations of my life. Yet it wasn’t just an escape – I was also tentatively using poems as a way to explore my feelings and frustrations about the ways that MS had derailed my life plans. In poems, I tried to understand what was happening to my body and to communicate that lived experience to others. I started to wonder whether writing poems about their lives with MS could offer similar benefits to others with the condition.”
More than 17,000 people in Scotland live with MS. That’s about one in every 300 people, which is one of the highest rates of MS in the world. Yet research carried out on behalf of the MS Society earlier this year suggests just a fraction of adults in Scotland can demonstrate a thorough understanding of the condition. Georgi’s poetry was the starting point for her PhD research at the University of Edinburgh and, in the middle of the 2020 UK Covid lockdown, she found herself hosting a series of online workshops for people living with MS. Participants were encouraged to use verse as a tool for exploring their shared condition and explaining it to others. They benefited from social interactions within the groups and some experienced enhanced self-esteem from taking part in the shared creative activities.
We shared our lives with one another and the aspects that made us feel uncomfortable or isolated from other people. There was a lot of laughter as we recognised our own experiences in others’ poetry and also, on occasion, a few tears. These workshops and the resulting poems created opportunities for people with MS to be heard and understood and, importantly, to build creative communities together. Participants also reported positive outcomes from sharing these poems with a small number of their family, friends and carers. For some participants, an old hobby was revitalised, while for others a valuable new creative practice was found.
Having seen and experienced the benefits of poetry writing, and keen to share those positives with others, Georgi is launching the following initiatives:
- In October, Georgi will publish ‘poeMS: an anthology by people living with multiple sclerosis’. Available as a free e-book through the University of Edinburgh, the anthology brings together poems written by participants in her original study, providing unique insights into their lives with MS. A limited number of print editions will be given to neurologists and charities working to support people with MS.
- The ‘Poems on my mind’ project will then bring her poetry workshops to new audiences and people with a range of neurological conditions including MS, Parkinson’s and motor neuron disease. Initially, Georgi will train staff and volunteers from MS Society Scotland to establish and deliver the workshops. Members of the MS community throughout Scotland will then be given the opportunity to explore and communicate their health experiences through poems.
Georgi will undertake both pieces of work though IASH. IASH Director, Professor Lesley McAra, said: “We’re delighted to be supporting this fascinating and timely project. Poetry helps us look at the world in new ways, and Georgi’s work in the community promises to bring those vital insights to a wide audience.”
Georgi believes that in addition to helping participants understand their own MS, and explain their condition to those close to them, her workshops could also be beneficial in helping medical and other professionals better understand an individual’s symptoms. Looking ahead to the two upcoming projects, she added: “I’m excited: excited to share the original participants’ poems, which brought illumination and inspiration to readers and writers alike in the first project. Excited also to read the new poems that will be written by people joining MS Society Scotland’s ‘Poems on my mind’ groups. My own life with MS continues to shift and change, but poetry is a welcome constant.”
MS damages the protective coating around nerves in the brain and spinal cord, and can impact how people move, think and feel. The MS Society is the UK’s leading charity for people affected by MS, offering support, funding research, and campaigning to improve the lives of everyone impacted by the condition. Jo Anderson, Director for Scotland at the MS Society, said: “We’re excited to be working with Georgi on the ‘Poems on my mind’ project. Georgi’s research shows there are many ways poetry can benefit the MS community, and we’re pleased to be part of the team bringing those benefits to even more people. MS symptoms are different for everyone, and many are invisible. As well as supporting people to explore their own MS, the poetry workshops could lead to friends, relatives, carers, and professionals also gaining a greater understanding of the condition and how it impacts those around them.”
In March, the MS Society revealed the results of a survey conducted, in partnership with Opinium Research, to find out how well people understood MS. Of the 500 adults surveyed in Scotland, although more than 90% had heard of MS, only 12% of those were able to correctly identify whether a series of statements they were shown about the condition were true or false.
When MS Society Scotland revealed the survey results, it stressed that if a person with MS is surrounded by family, friends, or colleagues who don’t fully understand the impact it can have, it makes living with an already difficult condition even harder. The charity pledged to continue working to increase people’s understanding of MS; the poetry project being undertaken in partnership with Georgi will contribute towards this commitment.
- A link to download the free e-book, ‘poeMS: an anthology by people living with multiple sclerosis’, will be posted on MS Society Scotland on Facebook, @mssocietyscot on X, and @iashedinburgh.bsky.social on Bluesky as soon as it’s live.
- Read Georgi Gill’s PhD thesis, ‘poeMS: an exploration of poetry as a way to communicate lived experiences of multiple sclerosis’, here: https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/42995
- Find out more about Georgi’s research and her upcoming projects at https://www.iash.ed.ac.uk/profile/dr-georgi-gill
