Social Work student turns new page on poetry journey
A GCU student has transformed a lockdown hobby into a personal passion and is reaping the rewards after having their work published in a book.
Third year Social Work student David Grimm recently had five poems and a reflective essay featured as part of Insiders Outsiders: Hidden Narratives of Care Experienced Social Workers.
David, who comes from a care-experienced background, explained more about his introduction to the world of poetry. He said: “I’d done a bit of it when I was younger during my own experience of social work and I hated it!
"I think lockdown gave me more time to appreciate it and it was something I could really focus on. Poetry has all these different avenues that you can find yourself lost in, so I decided to just give it a go and I now love it.”
Having applied his creative expertise to a number of projects during the pandemic, David was given the opportunity to take his talent to a new level by reflecting on both his personal and professional life.
He explained: “During the pandemic, I got in touch with a social worker from England, who organised a number of webinars on YouTube. After the George Floyd murder, they wrote a book in conjunction with black and minority social workers, around the different adversities they faced. It got a lot of uptake from social workers and people around the profession in general. The discussion then shifted towards how care experience is never really reflected upon within social work and I was then approached by the two authors, Mary and Siobhan, to get involved and share my experience of the care system.
When asked, I initially thought that it would all be a bit too raw for me, but I then thought, if I don’t take the opportunity to say what I’m thinking, then how am I ever going to talk openly about it – this was a way of doing it.”
David added: “The topics I cover in this book are quite intense. It’s about how I felt when I was in children’s homes but I’ve also looked at love, adventure and the future in other poems.
"The reason I write poetry is the exact same reason I chose to do social work; it’s about giving back. Talking about my past allows other people to see that a life beyond care is possible.”
With only one year left of his undergraduate degree remaining, David is already planning how he can combine poetry with a career in social work.
He said: “I’d like to develop my poetry professionally myself but I’d also like to use it to help support individuals. Creative writing is tricky to do and it’s not necessarily comfortable, but I’d like to find a way to make it more accessible for people to deal with their issues – especially those in the care system.”
By Ross Clark
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