All media
The Guardian
‘People’s lives have been changed’: could boxing help child abuse survivors deal with trauma?
Left Write Hook, a unique support group in Melbourne, combines boxing and writing to help survivors feel empowered – and is the subject of a punchy new documentary.
Wag Tails
Dr Donna Lyon, Left Write Hook
In this episode, Megan and Donna talk about what happens in the program and reflect on their own engagement in creative writing practices and their embodied experiences of boxing. Donna shares some of the results of the program so far, seeing benefits like a reduction in PTSD and increases in markers of wellbeing.
The Project
Transforming Trauma: The Boxing Writing Workshop for Survivors
Just a few years ago, Donna Lyons founded Left Write Hook, a boxing and writing workshop, that is helping transform the lives of survivors of complex traumas, empowering them to take back their power.
Wyndham Star Weekly
Program to knock out trauma
There’s plenty of great writing about boxing, and there’s boxers who write, but the two pursuits are usually done independent of one another.
My Body Masterclass by Donna Aston
Donna Lyon PhD: her journey to heal trauma
Left Write Hook isn't your average charity. It stands out with its unique approach, combining physical training and creative expression to help women reclaim their bodies and narratives after sexual abuse. At the heart of this organisation is the indomitable spirit of Donna Lyon, whose own journey of resilience has inspired countless others to embrace their strength and craft their own stories of survival.
Left Write Hook: Boxing with the Boys
Donna Lyon, Claire Gaskin, Gabrielle Everall
Appeared in ‘Intersections of Sport, Society, and Creative Writing’, pp 159–173. Edited by Lee McGowan and Kasey Symons.
What I've Learnt with Donna Lyon
Documentary Left Write Hook follows eight female survivors of childhood sexual abuse who participate in a 2-year experimental recovery program that combines the physicality of boxing with the emotional power of expressive writing.
The program provides survivors of sexual assault a space to release their memories, reclaim their bodies and imagine new lives for themselves.
Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay Star Weekly
Healing with Left Write Hook
Donna Lyon is six weeks into her research-informed program, ‘Left Write Hook’ (LWH), designed to empower adult survivors of child sexual abuse to take back their power through expressive writing and non-contact trauma informed boxing.
Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay Star Weekly
Left Write Hook for trauma survivors
Donna Lyon is the founder of charity ‘Left Write Hook’, a research informed program designed to empower adult survivors of child sexual abuse to take back their power through expressive writing and non-contact trauma informed boxing.
The Trauma Therapist
Left Write Hook with Donna Lyon
Donna Lyon, PhD, is one of the amazing people! She's the founder and CEO of Left Write Hook – an evidence based boxing and creative writing program for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse and trauma.
She is the editor of the book ‘Left / Write // Hook: Survivor Stories from a Creative Arts Boxing and Writing Project’ and producer of a documentary film that is in post production about the program.
University of Melbourne
Enterprising Melbourne
A Melbourne-based survivor-led social venture startup is offering innovative ways to help victim-survivors move beyond the debilitating trauma so many of them face in adulthood.
The Conversation
Boxing empowered me to express my trauma – now, I help other abuse survivors do the same, combining it with creative writing
"I felt drawn to boxing, its visceral nature. The prospect of hitting someone in the face and maybe even knocking them out excited me."
Published... Or Not
Donna Lyon and Fin J Ross
'Left/Write/Hook' is an anthology of works generated in Donna Lyon's writing workshop which is giving voice to victims of abuse.This year Fin J Ross won the highly prized trophy from the Sisters in Crime. Her short story ‘Tuesday Jocks’ is one of the winning stories in ‘Scarlet Stiletto: The Fourteenth Cut’.
Writing + Boxing = Left / Write // Hook
Donna Lyon, Claire Gaskin, and Gabrielle Everall
Published in TEXT 26 (Special 67): 1–18 , 20 August 2022
Roll with the punches
1 in 3 Women, Let's Talk About It
1 in 3 women experience sexual abuse, that's what Dr. Donna Lyon told me in this conversation. (congrats on the shiny new PhD Doc)
Donna and I met recently and in some ways we both felt at times like we were sitting in front of a mirror. Hearing our story relayed to us as someone else told it as their own, in a way. So very similar, so very different.
Conscious Combat Club
Left Write Hook with Donna Lyon
Donna Lyon is the Founder of LEFT / WRITE // HOOK. A multi-modal creative arts research project and documentary designed to help women who have experienced sexual abuse and trauma find a connection to their body, mind and spirit through weekly transformative writing and boxing workshops.
Left / Write // Hook: A mixed method study of a writing and boxing workshop for survivors of childhood sexual abuse and trauma
Donna Lyon, Shannon Owen, Margaret S. Osborne, Khandis Blake, Bruna Andrades
Published in International Journal of Wellbeing 10 (5): 64-82