Wordsworth in the Consulting Room

When difference threatens a divide, how can connection be restored? This essay tells the story of reparative action in the therapy setting by reading literature aloud together. The Shared Reading model is experiential; it engages both participants in the language and mind of the author who acts as an intermediary. Mutuality comes into the foreground, the threat of difference is tamed, and the poetry, alive in the moment, allows for different perspectives and expansion instead of division – a way of seeing anew.