Recently, unpaid carers, professionals and people with lived experience came together at Cygnet Churchill for the second Voices and Verses Carers Poetry Event.
The event formed part of Cygnet’s ongoing commitment to the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF), exploring how creativity, culture and storytelling can strengthen co-production and improve relationships between carers and services. The afternoon was designed around inclusion, psychological safety and optional participation, allowing people to contribute in whatever way felt comfortable to them.
As someone who has cared for family members affected by severe mental illness for many years, I continue to believe that poetry allows carers to communicate emotions that ordinary conversations often fail to capture. Statistics tell us what is happening, but poetry often explains how it feels.
The event opened with readings from my forthcoming collection of PCREF poems, including ‘Change is Possible’. Rather than focusing solely on racism, the discussion explored hope, community, partnership, co-production and carers becoming recognised as equal partners within mental health care.
Participants reflected that although change often feels slow, meaningful progress can still occur when carers are given opportunities to influence services. One participant commented that the poem should never have needed to exist because carers should already be recognised and listened to. These discussions reminded everyone that poetry can stimulate conversations which may never emerge during formal meetings or consultations.
Creativity, hope and reflection
One of the highlights of the afternoon was a collaborative workshop led by Jo Lambert, introducing participants to the ‘Hold the Hope’ project through art, colour and reflection.
Rather than asking carers to simply colour a picture, participants explored what hope, equality, dignity and belonging meant to them personally. Some chose calming blues to represent peace and trust, while others used brighter colours to symbolise recovery, resilience and optimism.
Several carers explained that colouring became a form of mindfulness, allowing them to process difficult emotions whilst talking with others.
The activity also highlighted something particularly important from a lived experience perspective. Carers frequently spend years speaking on behalf of others. Opportunities to express their own feelings are much rarer. Through art and poetry, carers were able to focus on themselves without feeling they had to justify or defend their experiences.
This reinforced one of the strongest messages of the day: Creative expression is not simply an enjoyable activity, it is another form of lived experience evidence.
The power of shared lived experience
Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the event was the conversation that developed naturally between carers.
Discussions included:
- feeling excluded because of confidentiality
- racial inequality within services
- the emotional burden of long-term caring
- recognition of carers as equal partners
- loss of identity through caring
- maintaining hope during crisis
- the importance of community support
Many participants reflected that carers often possess significant practical knowledge but are still not viewed as equal partners within clinical decision making.
One participant explained that carers are frequently expected to educate professionals whilst simultaneously managing the emotional impact of supporting someone in crisis. Others spoke about the exhaustion of constantly advocating for loved ones whilst trying to maintain their own wellbeing.
These conversations demonstrated exactly why creative events have an important place within PCREF. Rather than collecting another questionnaire, participants were able to describe experiences in their own words, using poetry, storytelling and discussion. Importantly, professionals attending the session also listened, helping create genuine dialogue.
For many attendees, simply meeting other carers who understood their experiences reduced feelings of isolation.
Celebrating culture and creativity
The second half of the afternoon celebrated cultural diversity through music, spoken word and performance.
Faith shared “Soothing Blue”, a poem that had been transformed into music. Participants reflected on themes of healing, identity and rediscovering themselves beyond their caring role.
Brenda then performed traditional Jamaican folk songs, including “Chi-Chi Bud Oh” and “By the Rivers of Babylon”. These performances reminded everyone that culture forms an important part of identity and wellbeing.
The PCREF word search and poetry activity further encouraged participants to explore words such as community, dignity, inclusion, hope, equality and compassion before creating short poems of their own.
Throughout the afternoon there was laughter, encouragement and mutual support, reinforcing that everyone had something valuable to contribute.
By combining poetry, visual art, music and conversation, the event demonstrated that creativity can become a powerful vehicle for engagement with carers who may not usually participate in traditional consultation events.
Reflections and looking ahead
I believe this event demonstrated several important lessons. Firstly, carers do not simply want to be consulted, they want to be heard. Secondly, creative approaches allow conversations to emerge that formal meetings often miss. Thirdly, culture matters.
The Voices and Verses programme is gradually becoming more than a poetry group. It is developing into a community where carers can connect, learn from one another and influence future mental health services through creativity.
Future events will continue to develop this approach by:
- expanding hybrid participation so more carers can join remotely
- increasing opportunities for cultural storytelling
- creating more collaborative art and poetry projects
- transforming poems into music and other creative media
- strengthening links between PCREF, Triangle of Care and co-production
Most importantly, the event reminded us that lived experience should never be viewed as an optional extra.
Every poem, every conversation and every shared story represented expertise developed through years of caring. This event showed that when carers are given the right environment, they do not simply speak, they inspire, educate and help shape better mental health services for everyone.