‘Highly productive’ writing retreat

Pictured above right, view from Conic Hill, close to Balmaha and part of the West Highland Way looking down to Loch Lomond below.

It is with great thanks to the BPS and the University of York that the BPS Psychobiology Section's first writing retreat took place in early January 2025 at The Oak Tree Inn in Balmaha in Scotland. This was organised and facilitated by Dr Rebecca Maxwell-Stuart, of Acorn Writing Retreats, and we were also very lucky to have Professor Rowena Murray, acclaimed for her structured writing retreat methods, as co-facilitator.  Balmaha, though a challenge to get to at this time of year in the snow and ice, was an outstandingly beautiful location on the shores of Loch Lomond. Close to part of the West Highland Way and with Conic Hill behind us, walks, fresh air and amazing views really set the scene for a productive and inspiring start to 2025.   

The section was fortunate to be able to support five fully-funded places on the retreat. Priority was given to funding postgraduate research students writing up work from their doctorate studies for publication in the area of psychobiology with three students receiving fully-funded places (Lovell Jones, committee member, Anglia Ruskin University; Christia Huntington, University of West of England, and Christina Exall, University of Lincoln).  

Dr Ellen Smith, postdoctoral researcher from Northumbria University and senior lecturer Dr Richard Stephens, committee treasurer, Keele University, also received fully-funded places. We hope to welcome all participants to our annual scientific meeting in September 2025 to tell us about the writing projects they undertook during the retreat and the progress made since.

The writing retreat itself was a full schedule with 12 writing sessions spread over four days and 16 hours of dedicated writing time altogether. There was strong guidance to limit access to the internet and resist the temptation to email. All participants and facilitators sat together to write in silence for each of the scheduled 60-90 minute sessions starting after lunch on the first day and finishing just before lunch on day four. An extended lunch break on days two and three meant that we could explore the surrounding area a little in between sitting and the overall schedule was a perfect balance of writing, walking, eating and talking. 

The supportive and collegiate environment felt in line with the Psychobiology Section's approach to working with our membership body in a non-judgmental and sociable way and, from my personal experience, I found the retreat highly productive enabling me to tackle a research paper write up that had been put on the back burner for longer than a year.  

Supporting individuals to take on challenge in such a beautiful setting took a surprising turn of events when we found out that Rowena was a cold-water swimmer and two of us were persuaded to brave the icy waters of Loch Lomond for a dip as the sun was setting on days two and three! The water was very cold but it certainly made the final session of the day productive, and both Rebecca and Rowena made sure we could warm up in the writing room afterwards with hot tea and heaters to hand. 

During the evening meals, discussions crossed within and beyond the research areas of all participants, including the relationship between stress and self-efficacy and whether cold water swimming might be a good topic for our ASM this year!  Watch this space for that one.  

We hope to make these writing retreats a yearly event, so please do email me ([email protected]) if you have any ideas as to how we might make this work best for our members and to express interest in joining our next one (funding permitting!).  Happy new year everyone.