WORKSHOPS & TALKS
Connecting face-to-face is where I come alive. With my background as a teacher, working with groups and sharing in real time is my natural medium, and a source of energy and inspiration for me.
As a therapeutic writing facilitator and teacher, I love creating experiences that welcome everyone to explore, reflect, and connect, whether in person, online, or at events across all kinds of communities. Sharing what I know and guiding others in expressive writing isn’t just my work, it’s my passion.
Ready to bring a workshop or talk to your group, venue, or event? Let’s connect and co-create something meaningful, together.
Writing as natural medicine
Discover transformative experiences in therapeutic writing through a diverse offering of workshops, events, talks, and speaking engagements. Whether building community, fostering individual healing, or inspiring new approaches in education and leadership, these sessions open doors to creativity, connection, and resilience.
Workshops for every setting
Experience the power of words in community spaces, online, or your organisation. My therapeutic writing workshops blend poetry, storytelling, and expressive writing to support well-being, self-understanding, and personal growth.
⋙ Expressive writing workshops: For libraries, bookshops, and community venues, bring people together to discover and share their stories in a supportive, welcoming environment.
⋙ Online Writing Circle: Join The Listening Room, a virtual espace for self-discovery, inner clarity, and group connection, open to all backgrounds and experience levels.
Talks & Speaking Engagements
Bring the transformative benefits of expressive writing to your event, organization, or institution. My talks and keynotes cover topics such as:
- ● The science and spirit of therapeutic writing
● Modalities of poetry therapy in practice
● Healing language in education and community care
● Trauma-informed approaches for educators, facilitators, and leaders
- ● The science and spirit of therapeutic writing
Available for festivals, conferences, universities, schools, and private organizations, each engagement is tailored to uplift, educate, and spark meaningful conversation.
Have a look at the upcoming engagements. See you there?
Book or Invite
Ready to host a workshop, invite a speaker, or bring therapeutic writing to your community?
Get in touch to book a session, request a keynote, or design a custom event for your venue or audience.
Booking now for libraries, organizations, festivals, academic institutions, and online events.
Let’s co-create spaces where everyone’s story is heard.
About
Speaker's bio
María Ortega García is an embodied language coach, a certified Spanish as a foreign language teacher, writer and poetry therapy practitioner, with a background in Humanities and applied languages.
She has over 15 years of experience teaching languages and 10 running her own education business. This business has pushed her to keep growing and acquiring skills in the realm of personal development, embodiment, creativity, leadership and business.
She believes the current language learning world is lacking heart, what is more, it’s lacking body and the experiential expression that comes with it. She believes language is cultural and social, but also personal and political.
She is an advocate for facilitating a language that fosters empathy, connection and understanding, rather than separation.
My speaking experience includes:
● Appearance on multiple podcasts internationally.
● Public speaking experience in English and Spanish, both in online and in-person events and conferences. See full list below.
● 10 years of experience in speaking and lecturing for groups.
Whether it’s talking about language learning, education, poetry, creativity, mental health, or creating intimate workshops, there is something so enriching about group connection.
If you’d like me to speak at your event, I’d love to hear from you. Please, use the contact form to send across details for your event.
Speaker's fees
Speaking fees for schools, organisations or corporates are charged on a case-by-case basis.
Reduced or negotiable rates are available for sole traders, community organisations, charities, and organisations focused on social change and impact.
Portfolio of past events
Academic & Institutional Talks
● ” Una revolución de dentro afuera: redefinición del aprendizaje de idiomas” – Universidad de Burgos (Burgos, Spain), September 2024
● “Educación informada sobre el trauma: herramientas para la acción tutorial y la orientación” (4 horas dentro de la Acción Tutorial y Orientación al estudiante del Plan de Formación de Docentes y Personal Investigador (PFDI)) – Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 2026
Community & Private Workshops
Past In-Person Talks & Events
● “Is it happening again?” A poetry Workshop. Part of the poetry workshop series “Remaking of Life” organised by Mother Tongues. (Ireland) April 2021.
● “Multilingual Poetry Creation: Connect with your inner polyglot” – Mother Tongues Festival (Ireland), 2020
● “Creative Writing, Performance, and Public Speaking” in collaboration with Kerstin Cable. – Langfest (Canada), 2019
● “Enseñar español a través de la poesía” – CREA (Spain), 2018
This talk was addressed to teachers of Spanish as a foreign language and was part of the project CREA – El profesor como creativo (The teacher as a creative person). I talked about resorting to poetry to teach Spanish.
Past Online Talks & Events
● “Present Poetry Workshop” – The Polyglot Magazine, November 2024.
● “Realizations of the heart: Haibun” A poetry therapy workshop – Irish Poetry Therapy Network, August 2024
● “Shaping into acceptance” A poetry therapy workshop – Irish Poetry Therapy Network 11 February 2023.
● “How to lead an ethical, conscious, holistic and embodied language business” – Language Career Summit by Actual Fluency 2022, 12 – 16 September 2022.
● “From internalising to fully integrating the language” – New Year, New Language Summit 2022, 3 – 7 January 2022.
● “The healing power of multilingual poetry” – Language & Mental Wellbeing Conference, 18 – 21 March 2021.
● “Awakening to yourself through languages” with Jessica Tefengki Ruelle– Women in Language, 2020
● “Creative Writing for Rhythm and Intonation in the target language” – Women in Language 2019
● “Cracking the Language Code Through Art and Self-Expression” – Women In Language 2018
● Emprender como profesor online – Conferencia de Profesores Online (Online Teacher Summit), 2018.
Talks about art, feminism, creativity
My brainchild, “Awakened Creatress,” was born in 2016 after a period of deep healing that involved therapy and countless hours spent in the creative fire. I transmuted my anger for inequality into a passion for feminism and fierce self-expression, and from that place, Awakened Creatress was born.
We had a two-year run (2016 and 2017) in Dublin, Ireland. A gathering and celebration of women, creativity and balance through art and self-expression.