Introduction

Five members of the Post-doctoral International Community of Practice (a subgroup of the Person-centred Practice Research International Community of Practice, of which Jan was formerly the director) came together to agree a process through which we could co-create a poem in memory of Jan. Each of us had developed a relationship with Jan through our doctoral studies, but also through working with her in our organisations and through this journal. These relationships with Jan were unique to each individual but significant for us all.

Individually, we each selected Evoke cards (evokecards.com) that spoke to us about our memories and relationship with Jan. Using the cards, we then recorded a video story, sharing our cards and why we had chosen them. We uploaded the stories to an online database so they could be viewed by us all. While looking at the pictures and listening to the stories, we made notes about what was significant for us within the stories. Subsequently, we met virtually to synthesise the collective themes.

Using the themes, we began to create poem lines and stanzas. These creations were then crafted into the first draft of a poem by Michele. This draft was shared so we could review and refine it until we agreed on the final poem, which appears on the next page.

This approach is aligned with Jan’s way of being in the world. Using creativity to unearth our intuitive knowing is something that philosophically and theoretically she inspired us to explore and embrace.

This article by Michele Hardiman, Catherine Buckley, Donna Frost, Kate Sanders and Maria Mackay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License.