Reinekke Lengelle, PhD, is associate professor Interdisciplinary Studies with Athabasca University and has been with the MAIS program since 2003. She designed and teaches MAIS 616: Writing the Self and MAIS 621: Narrative Possibilities and also guides students in their MAIS 700/701 final projects.
Reinekke is a senior researcher with The Hague University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands and works in the field of writing for wellbeing. She is the author of the book Jezelf Schrijven [Translation: Writing yourself], published by Gompel & Svacina in 2018, and has written more than 25 scholarly articles and book chapters.
Her career began as a poet, playwright, and writing teacher. In the past 15 years, she has worked as a professor and co-developer of the Career Writing method, which uses creative, expressive, and reflective writing to foster career identity development and agency.
She is a symposium co-editor with the British Journal of Guidance and Counselling and led the development of two issues on the use of Creative Methods in research and professional practice, published in 2018 and 2020, respectively, and is now working on a “Living with Loss” issue with her colleagues Robert Neimeyer and Katrin Den Elzen.
Reinekke’s award-winning book Writing the self in bereavement: a story of love, spousal loss, and resilience was published with Routledge in 2021. Her experience of her husband’s death was the impetus for the book and also inspired the research and revision of the MAIS 662 graduate course on mourning and trauma. In June 2021 Reinekke's book was acknowledged with the Best Book award for ethnography: the H. L. “Bud” Goodall, Jr. / Nick Trujillo “It’s a Way of Life” Award is for work that exemplifies story-telling excellence informed by scholarship and is written for both scholarly and public audiences.
Research interests
Writing for wellbeing
Therapeutic writing
Career writing: creative, reflective & expressive writing for narrative identity formation
Identity development
Creative methods
Global citizenship education
Environmental identity development education
Educational credentials
PhD in Narrative Identity Development (Career Writing) - 2015
MA in Adult Education
Lengelle, R. (2021). Writing the self in bereavement: a story of love, spousal loss, and resilience. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003124009
Lengelle, R. (2021). Portrait of a Scientist: in conversation with Hubert Hermans, founder of the Dialogical Self Theory. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling. DOI: 10.1080/03069885.2021.1900779
Lengelle, R. (2021). Jezelf Schrijven in Rouw. PsychoSociaal Digitaal. June (1) 33-37.
Lengelle, R. (2021). Engaged by not curious: vital reflections for those teaching therapeutic writing online. Clio’s Psyche 27 (3), 338-343.
Lengelle, R. (2020). Writing the Self and Bereavement: dialogical means and markers of moving through grief. In H. Dix (Ed), Career Construction Theory and Life Writing: Narrative and Autobiographical Thinking Across the Professions. Routledge.
Lengelle, R., Hughes, D. & Hambly, L. (2020). The healing muses: research, theory and practice of creative methods in guidance and counselling. [Editorial] British Journal of Guidance and Counselling 48 (1), 1-4.
Lengelle, R. (2020). Writing the Self and Bereavement: dialogical means and markers of moving through grief. Life Writing Journal 17 (1), 103-122.
Lengelle, R. & Meijers, F. (2019). Poetic reflexivity and the birth of career writing: An autoethnographic love story. In K. Maree & C. Wilby (Eds), Innovating career counselling theory, research, and practice. (pp. 539-555). New York, NY: Springer.
Lengelle, R., Meijers, F., & Bonnar, C. (2018). Poetic creativity: the Career Writing method for professional reflexivity in the 21stcentury. In. N. Arthur, R. Neault & M.McMahon (Eds), Career Theory and Models at Work: Ideas for Practice. (pp. 183-193). Toronto: Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling (CERIC).
Lengelle, R. (2018). Jezelf Schrijven. Oud-Turnhout/’s-Hertogenbosch: Gompel & Svacina.
Lengelle, R. (2018). Happy: poems and reflections for writing and healing the self [Syllabus]. Edmonton: Black Tulip Press.
Lengelle, R., Hambly, L., & Hughes, D. (2018). Connecting to the Muses [Editorial]. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling 46 (3), 269-271.
Muijen, H., Lengelle, R., Meijers, F., & Wardekker, W. (2018). The role of imagination in emergent career agency. Australian Journal of Career Development 27 (2), 88-98.
McClocklin, P., & Lengelle, R. (2018). Cures for the heart: A poetic approach to healing after loss. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling 46 (3), 326-339.
Lengelle, R., Jardine, C., & Bonnar, C. (2018). Writing the self for reconciliation and global citizenship: The inner dialogue and creative voices for cultural healing. In F. Meijers, & H.J.M. Hermans (Eds), The Dialogical Self in Education: A multicultural perspective. (pp. 81-96). New York, NY: Springer.
Lengelle, R., Van der Heijden, B., & Meijers, F. (2017). The foundations of career resilience. In K. Maree (Ed.), Psychology of Career Adaptability, Employability and Resilience (p. 29-47). New York, NY: Springer Nature.