17 Feb 2025

Left Write Hook: How a boxing and writing programme helps

From Nine To Noon, 10:05 am on 17 February 2025
Left Write Hook is a trauma informed boxing programme for women who are survivors of sexual abuse, founded by Donna Lyon.

Photo: Supplied

A trauma-informed boxing course in Melbourne is helping women who've survived sexual abuse reclaim their bodies and rewrite their stories.

Left Write Hook was founded by Donna Lyon - who was herself a survivor of abuse.

She'd turned to boxing as a way to channel her anger - but instead discovered its power as a mindfulness practice.

She gets participants in the programme to write about their trauma and how it affects them, read to each other in a group before they dive into boxing with a qualified coach.

Left Write Hook is now the subject of a documentary of the same name, following one group through the life-changing programme.

As well as starring in the documentary, Donna also produced it --she's a filmmaker and academic at the University of Melbourne's Victorian College of the Arts. She tells Kathryn it's been a long journey to the premiere of the film.