Hayley Frances is a poet from Birmingham. Her debut collection Administer the Laughing Gas (VERVE Poetry Press), a navigation of grief and re-encountering life post trauma, is out September 26th.

In 2024 she was appointed the first Poet in Residence for Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Hayley has over 15 years experience delivering creative writing projects, collaborating with communities, organisations and institutions. She writes poems that translate the inner worlds of humanness and our ruptured relationship with ourselves, each other and the earth. Her work explores the psychology of creative writing and its potential as a therapeutic medium.

She’s assistant director for VERVE Poetry Festival, and co-founder of THE COLLECTIVE, a development initiative for rising poets. In 2022 she was awarded ACE Project Grant to run The Right Words, a therapeutic poetry project in partnership with Bedlam Mental Health Festival and Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust, resulting in the curation of an artistic development program that laid the groundwork for a future in poetry therapy.

In her current role as resident poet in rehabilitation settings, Lindale Recovery and Seasons, she leads poetry workshops within twelve-week rehabilitation programs for emotional and relational awareness. she's actively involved in integrating poetry into healthcare settings, focusing on fostering creative expression and providing grief therapy through poetry at Birmingham Children’s and Women’s Hospital.

In addition to her professional pursuits, she’s studying Psychology and Creative Writing while balancing raising two young children. She's committed to remaining engaged in the literary community.

Driven by a deep commitment to using poetry as a tool for healing and self-expression, she is fully immersed in the field of poetry therapy, offering therapeutic sessions, integrations, bibliotherapy, and creative writing for emotional expression and the translation of trauma.