How our young people are ‘Taking Back the Narrative’ of their past, present and future 

On National Poetry Day,  Five Rivers is proud to share a collection of amazing poems written by our young people in care. The book, ‘Taking Back the Narrative’ features poems that express the children’s journey from the past before care into the future beyond, following the theme: “I was, I am, I will’:

The children wrote the poems at a session led by a care experienced artists group, Artifacts. Working with the young people at the poetry sessions was extremely rewarding for our participation team. It really helped that our workshop leaders, Paul Yusuf McCormack and Saira-Jayne Jones were care-experienced. This meant they were able to relate to the young people to help them open up.

Olivia, our participation lead says, 

“What you read is not edited – it’s raw and true. It’s a real reflection of how far these children have come in their care journey. They express a huge amount of optimism for a brighter future.  

“Giving our young people the chance to speak is important: our foster carers and support teams have listened to recordings of the young people reciting their own poems. As a result of this, they sent messages saying how much this has affected them. We feel more committed to helping children recover from traumatic experiences, and moreover, encouraged and inspired to help them achieve their ambitions.”   

To find out more about Artifacts’ multimedia arts residential course, ‘Taking Back the Narrative’ read this blog:  https://five-rivers.org/news/young-peoples-future-reimagined-with-art/