Reading Community Outreach Service hosts Confidence Building Workshop

The session focused on creative expression and was a fantastic opportunity for the people who use our service to share their lived experience through the healing and transformative power of art.

A new workshop is due to start on the 16th of November – Creative Communication & Drama techniques workshop in partnership with Reading Rep Theatre.

We are excited to share with you some of the inspiring work by our service users below.

EH’s (service user) poem :

Looking out over the river,
I feel my lip beginning to quiver,
The moon and the stars so bright make my spine shiver,
I feel so small under the trees so tall,
I feel safe and insignificant at once – all,
I want to run to safety,
Yet I know real safety, lies buried deep, within me.
I sit and think,
I am overcome by familiar feelings,
I hope there is some meaning, even in this dark stage of healing.
There must be hope buried within this darkness,
Like buried treasure, surprising in its starkness!

AB’s (service user) poem:

At the stroke of the brush,
The emotions set in,
Tears falling, long overdue,
But my mind it never had a clue.
For what was to come
Was two years of pain.
Our lives turned upside down.
Homeless and alone
Kids in tow
Wondering next,
Where would we go
The brushes laid dormant,
The canvas in sight,
This wasn’t a painting but a battle I’ll have to fight,
Some battles were won,
Some were lost,
As anger set in
I was determined to win!
After years of fighting,
We finally have a home,
But the paintbrush lays dormant, and the canvas still blank.