The University of Warwick is offering free online course on Literature and Mental Health: Reading for Wellbeing. This course is open to anyone with an interest in literature or mental health.
In this six week course, applicants will find out how poems, plays and novels can help us understand and cope with deep emotional strain. This course will start on October 30, 2017.
Course At Glance
Length: 6 weeks
Effort: 4 hours/week
Subject: Literature and Mental Health
Institution: University of Warwick and Future learn
Languages: English
Price: Free
Certificate Available: Yes
Session: Course starts on October 30, 2017
Providers’ Details
The University of Warwick is globally connected, forward-looking and entrepreneurial. It creates new ways of thinking and achieving, making it stand out from its competitors and the more ‘traditional universities’ and creating an inspiring place to study and undertake research.
About This Course
The great 18th century writer Dr Samuel Johnson, who suffered from severe bouts of depression, said “the only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life or better to endure it.”
Taking Johnson’s phrase as a starting point, this course considers how poems, plays and novels can help us understand and cope with times of deep emotional strain.
Along the way, you’ll hear from doctors, who offer a medical perspective, and from people who have turned to literature at moments of crisis, including such well-known figures as Melvyn Bragg, Mark Haddon, Sir Ian McKellen and Stephen Fry.
Why Take This Course?
This is a free online course. This MOOC will be offered with Video Transcripts in English. Applicants can get a verified certificate.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, you’ll be able to…
- Explore how poems, plays and novels can help us understand and cope with times of deep emotional strain.
- Engage in leading research into mental health and wellbeing.
- Develop confidence in exploring the different forms of literature and their impact on wellbeing.
Requirements
This course is open to anyone with an interest in literature or mental health. No previous experience or qualifications are required. The reading load will be flexible, and you will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and feelings via the online discussions with other learners.
Instructors
Jonathan Bate
Shakespearean, biographer and critic, I am an Honorary Fellow at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Honorary Fellow in Creativity at Warwick Business School, and Provost of Worcester College Oxford.
Paula Byrne
Author of 5 Top Ten bestsellers: *Perdita*, *Mad World: Evelyn Waugh & the Secrets of Brideshead, The Real Jane Austen*, *Belle* & *Kick* (JFK’s sister). Founder of ReLit bibliotherapy foundation.
How To Join This Course
- Go to the course website link
- Sign Up At FutureLearn
- Select a course and Join
- Once a course has started, applicant will be able to access the course material
- After the start date, students will be able to access the course by following the Go To Course link on My Courses page.
- Applicants can buy, to show that they have completed a FutureLearn course.
- On some FutureLearn courses, learners will be able to pay to take an exam to qualify for a Statement of Attainment. (These are university-branded, printed certificates that provide proof of learning on the course topic(s)).