Welcome to the contributor hub for The Health and Healing Narrative. This page contains everything you need to know about writing for the platform, including how to pitch, what to submit, our editorial guidelines, contributor expectations, GDPR commitments, data processing details, and our full terms and conditions.
If you are new to writing for The Health and Healing Narrative, please:
1) Read the categories and choose the most appropriate one
2) Read 2–3 previously published articles to understand tone and complexity level
3) Prepare a 3–5 sentence pitch following the email format provided
4) Wait for editorial approval before writing a full article
Contents
- About The Health and Healing Narrative
- What We Are Looking For
- Categories You Can Write For
- How to Pitch an Article
- Editorial guidance
- Submission Requirements
- Editorial Review
- Contributor Policy
- Privacy
- Ready To Write?
1. About The Health and Healing Narrative
The Health and Healing Narrative is a UK-based medical education blog run by a doctor in GP training, focused on improving health literacy, exploring nuanced topics in healthcare, and sharing meaningful stories of health and healing, aiming to improve communication between people and health practitioners with a focus on primary care.
The blog is written for both clinicians and the general public. Articles should provide insight that healthcare professionals will value while remaining clear and accessible to readers without medical training.
2. What We Are Looking For
We welcome contributions from medical professionals, allied health workers, researchers, students, medical writers, and individuals with lived experience who have relevant insight related to their proposed topic.
We are looking for well-researched, thoughtful medical education content rather than promotional, commercial, or superficial material.
We receive a high volume of submission requests and cannot consider generic or mass-produced outreach content. Contributors are encouraged to demonstrate familiarity with the blog’s existing articles and style before pitching.
3. Categories You Can Write For
1. Let’s Talk About…
Honest conversations about overlooked healthcare topics, including clinician wellbeing and patient-provider communication. Medical or healthcare background preferred.
2. Living Well With…
Translating medical diagnoses into clear, compassionate, and practical guidance relevant to UK healthcare guidance. Medical background preferred.
3. The Science Spotlight
Breaking down new research, medical innovations, and significant scientific updates in an accessible way. We ask that writers for this section have a medical or research background.
4. The Health Literacy Series
Helping readers understand healthcare systems, particularly within the NHS. Medical background preferred.
5. The Patient Portal
A space for patients or family members to share lived experiences to support awareness and understanding. Written consent will be required prior to publication, and you can find this here.
4. How to Pitch an Article
Please fill in the contact form here to submit a pitch idea.
Include:
- Your name
- Your background (medical, non-medical, scientific, or other relevant experience)
- The category you’d like to write for
- A proposed article title
- Proposed article length (short form or long form)
- A 3–5 sentence pitch
Pitches that do not follow this format may not be considered.
5. Editorial guidance
The Health and Healing Narrative aims to inform, educate, and support understanding rather than promote divisive or inflammatory content.
Submissions should be:
• Evidence-informed and balanced, following UK clinical guidance for diagnosis and management
• Compassionate and respectful in tone
• Clear and accessible to a mixed audience of clinicians and the general public
• Free from commercial or promotional material
Opinion pieces intended primarily to provoke controversy will not be accepted.
Artificial intelligence tools may be used to assist writing, but primary authorship must belong to the named contributor. Any use of AI-generated assistance should be disclosed.
Our editorial values ensure accuracy, clarity, and compassion in every published piece. For the full editorial policy, click here.
6. Submission Requirements
Once your pitch is approved, you may be invited to submit a draft article.
Word count:
- Short form: up to approximately 1,000 words
- Long form: approximately 1,000–2,000 words
Tone:
- Warm, reflective, and conversational where appropriate
- Avoid institutional or overly academic language unless clinically necessary
- Translate technical terms into easy to understand language when possible
Structure:
- There should be a short 1 to 2 paragraph introduction at the start of the article, and conclusion at the end
- Use headings and subheadings throughout the article
- Paragraphs should generally be kept under 5–6 sentences
- Bullet points are welcome when they improve clarity, but should not make up the majority of the article
- Introduce bullet lists with a short explanatory sentence
References:
- Include a list of evidence-based sources using the Harvard referencing style
- Hyperlinks will be added for online sources during the editorial review process
About the author:
- We like to include a few sentences at the end about you as a guest writer – who are you, what do you do, what your interests are – whatever you feel like sharing! Please write a few sentences about you at the end of your article that we can include, and if you’d like your social media to be linked, add that too
7. Editorial Review
All submissions are subject to editorial review and may be edited for clarity, structure, accuracy, or tone.
The editor reserves the right to request revisions or decline submissions if the article does not align with the aims and standards of the platform.
8. Contributor Policy
- All work must be original and not previously published elsewhere
- Contributors retain copyright but grant The Health and Healing Narrative a non-exclusive licence to publish and archive the work
- Contributors must disclose conflicts of interest
- Contributors may be asked to sign a consent agreement before publication for articles on The Patient Portal
For the full contributor policy, click here.
9. Privacy
Personal data submitted through pitches or articles is processed in accordance with UK GDPR requirements and will be used only for editorial and administrative purposes.
Full Privacy/GDPR Policy here.
10. Ready to Write?
Fill in the contact form below, and we will get in touch.
The Health and Healing Narrative 