Writers’ Nook

The Writers’ Nook – transcript

INTRO: Welcome to Tease Voices, telling the stories of the people in our NHS community.
 
ANDY: Hi, good morning. My name is Andy Tingle and welcome to Tees Voices. Today we have a project that’s been going on for a while within the trust. We’ve got Dr. Jean MacLeod, Mel McEvoy, and Dr. Sally Blackburn-Daniels with us in the studios, and it’s about creative writing. Jean, tell us a little bit more about the project.
 
JEAN:Well, as you know, I chair our arts council and we’re very keen that we explore all of the arts, and think about what we can do to support our staff and our patients.
 
And this is all about the power of words, the power of the written word, the power of the spoken word. And that doesn’t just mean, having the time to sit and read a novel. Actually, what we’re talking about today is the power of poetry.
 
But we are doing quite a lot in the literary scheme within our arts project. Now this is one of the first where we’re actually working with our university colleagues and with Mel – who some of you may know is already a published poet in his own right.
 
So, we’re very keen to support this and it is a bit novel and we’ve got a designated area for the project to be displayed and we’ll touch on that. But we’re doing that within the canteen because there is something about sitting with a coffee and thinking about time to relax, time to think differently – and how many of us sit with a cuppa and a book – whether that be poetry or a novel doesn’t matter it’s escape.
 
So I want Mel and Sally to talk a little bit about this project because it is quite different to other things that we’ve got on the go.
 
ANDY:Well, if I ask Mel or Sally, why creative writing with frontline healthcare professionals?
 
MEL: I know from experience, from personal experience of 40 years in the NHS. I know healthcare is very stressful and it’s a high emotional impact. It has a high emotional impact on staff for the work that they do. And exploring the emotional impact is rarely explored or addressed, not necessarily there are not many forums and work related stress causes sickness and burnout.
 
So this research attempts to explore the difficulty and promote wellbeing. How? Well creative writing improves the ability to self-reflect. It’s self-reflection in action. It helps staff put the emotions into words and as a consequence, they’re able to articulate what they feel.
 
It has a double effect. So it promotes staff wellbeing. Healthier staff deliver better care and it’s undertaken in a sharing, trusting environment. And the trust enables greater  honesty in their work, I think, from the individuals.
 
So through the writing we attempt to find meaning and from all manner of experience and situations. The ability to find meaning in a situation is unique to being human. To find a meaning we can acquire purpose. It’s a life skill. So it’s about taking time for yourself. So I suppose this creative writing process has been like having a spa day but this is for your mind. So some writing can be very beautiful and passionate. Some when done well invites us into the actual experience of another person. So we share a life at a deeper level and so it can bring an inner world out into the open, bearing witness to all our own unique experiences.
 
ANDY: What kind of NHS folk actually come along to the workshops and was there a difference between doing it online and those people doing it in person?
 
MEL: Well, I think many people came. So there were district nurses, there were clinical nurses, there was a consultant pediatrician, there was a person from estates, a person from physiotherapy, there was someone from the canteen. And so it it attracted many people in many of the specialties across the whole of the trust. And your second part of the question was?
 
ANDY: Have you found a difference between those doing it online and those that do it in person?
 
MEL:Yeah, I think when it was in person they sort of had a community and that was a different level of impact in terms of promoting wellbeing. When another individual, when one member of staff would hear the story from another member of staff of what they were trying to say their own experiences sort of got a collective camaraderie. It just felt that you were revealing what it’s like to be working in the NHS at a deeper level and it it just provided real deep support.
 
I think people felt that they developed a community of openness because they were talking about their deepest levels, you know, their deepest experiences. Trying to put it into words on the online was interesting because some people chose not to chose not to show themselves and just stayed in the blank. They it was sort of emotional distance as well as physically different because they were on the zoom. I just thought it did tell you a bit more about maybe some of the difficulties that the people going through if they didn’t show themselves online. They weren’t ready to really open up. So, it actually revealed something else that we weren’t didn’t expect. Yeah. And but it still had the camaraderie. It still had the engagement. And then we heard from them different anecdotes and different stories.
 
Like one element was I had a decision about coming online today and I had the washing to put away and the kids to put to bed and I felt that this was time for me. You know this was someone who felt this discussion was going to be interested in me and it was my time. And so I decided to quickly do that and just take this time out and it was all about the identity of you as an individual and as a professional and how they kind of mix and cross and one affects the other deeply. Yeah. So I would say there were two uniquely different experiences, but in terms of what people produced it was the same outcome but a different process. Would you think I am right in thinking those things Sally?
 
SALLY: I mean I think it’s been a really interesting set of workshops this time round. So we’ve done quite a few series of workshops and we started with North Tees and Hartlepool during covid. So obviously, all our workshops up to this one have been online.
 
And so this gave us a really great opportunity, to kind of, see what worked best and what suited different writers best. So yeah, I think you’re completely right, Mel. There was something really magical about the way that both communities of writers came together, but to be there in person and to be in situ in the hospital and to hear those stories and to hear their work was a real privilege.
 
So we’re really grateful to North Tees and Hartlepool for having us.
 
ANDY: So what have you found the effects of doing creative writing with this group is?
 
SALLY: We’ve had so much anecdotal feedback, but the main thing is that they implied that writing was an antidote to the prescribed way of form-filling that they have to do each day.
 
So there’s a certain type of language that they have to use when they’re at work and this was kind of escape from that. They were able to engage their creativity. And I think they also – while some of them felt apprehensive at first – they enjoyed the sessions more and more as they went through the workshops and many of them have gone on to publish pieces elsewhere. Not only in the writer nook, but with other journals and magazines – which is really exciting.
 
MEL: Yeah, I think there’s an element where you carry around with us all our experiences and all our feelings and emotions and the situations that we have been in.
 
And then when we’re given an opportunity to put that in words, we do get a bit more control over it. Do you know? So if we’re struggling with emotions and anxiety and even depression, when we’re able to put on words, we can see it in a slightly different light.
 
And you could see a lot of people just, sort of flowering, because they’ve been heard, I think – from stories that they were told or they were telling from their childhood. And I think that gave them a deeper sense of strength, I think, and they appreciated the group more. And people were surprised by the creativity of individuals – how they put words together – how they expressed themselves. Some of the stuff that they’ve been carrying around with them for years, you know, suddenly put out onto the table. Some experiences that they were struggling with, you know, just again just spoken. They felt it was, healing, I think. It was very beneficial to them and they felt that, and I met one individual on the corridor, and she said: “The work you’ve been doing is different and it feels as if you’re on our side really.”
 
ANDY: So, what kind of writing do they come up with?
 
SALLY: Oh, we’ve had so many different types of writing. I mean, so much of it is really inventive. Some of it is creative. Some of it is expressive. It’s more from kind of the heart. We’ve had a poem about a piece of prose about a rolling pin, another about a mouth guard, things about the everyday objects that gather meaning for us in our lives. We also have had pieces of memoir, some really tough pieces about working during the COVID-19 pandemic and others that have been honest about the pressures of working in healthcare. I think we’ve had all kinds of writing really, haven’t we, Mel?
 
And you’ve managed to kind of sum it up in one great poem that’s going to be on the wall in the Nook.
 
MEL: Yeah. So the poem that’s going to be on the Nook is – I actually listened in on the process – I listened to all the stories and and facilitated through particular prompts for people to do bits of work. But actually there was an organic thing that was going on about the things that they were involved in, or things that were going on in their lives  and so I tried to sort of capture that within the home.
 
So I found for during this session what kind of thing represented that individual? What was the core emotion that they were feeling? So I’ve just found a list of about 12 core emotions that were all about individual identity to experiences that had previously happened, in you know 20 to 30 years ago and I think I’ve tried to just capture that because that itself was a poem just listening in on the individuals and listening to their conversation. But I did ask permission – said this is what I want to do are you happy with this-  just in case it was just too much.
 
ANDY: Are there any other effects of doing creative writing in a a medical setting?
 
SALLY: We know that there can be a reduction in anxiety and stress levels and we have new ideas about how using the arts in health can be really important for staff morale and support a sense of staff community.
 
You know the project has been funded by a knowledge exchange project with the Open University. We’ve had support from Northern Cancer Care Alliance, North and South Tees NHS Trusts, Newcastle.
 
We’ve had GP trainees from the Royal College involved in these workshops. So, people are really finding them important, useful to staff morale and to creating a sense of staff community.
 
MEL: Yeah, I think it’s it’s a sort of a different way of well, I think it’s more about your own personal identity. You know, you come to work, you’ve got a major emotional challenge, probably after each shift because of all of the people that you meet, the very sick, the emotional impact of those.
 
And so often the NHS in its care of the staff will just focus on their ability to be fit in order to do that care. Whereas, this sort of just taps into who they are. Like I said in that initial piece that if they’re able to reflect, if they’re able to put their emotions into words, you get a healthier staff. You get a staff who’s more resilient. Because why? Because I can put what I’m feeling into words and I can express myself to my manager about what I’m going through, you know, because somebody’s given me the opportunity to put it in words.
 
So I would say that is an outcome that is significant. And I suppose an individual who’s able to be in touch with themselves, able to express themselves. You can imagine that when they’re in a conflict situation or a difficult circumstance, they’re going to have a bit more gravitas. Why? Because, you know, I know who I am, I suppose.
 
ANDY: So tell us about the writer’s nook and what’s it all about, basically.
 
JEAN: So, I’ve got to acknowledge the support of our estates team here because they have decorated an area within the canteen for us. And I did say that it was about sitting and reflecting and being able to see some of the output of this project.
 
So, we have an area in the canteen. It’s a little corner and they decorated it in a slightly different way. It’s distinctly orange, so you can’t miss the area. It’s behind where the serving area is.
 
And obviously, we’ve got some chairs there. We’re going to have a bookcase there. And we’re going to have this work on show. That’s the most important thing. So, it lets people see what others have produced. Break down that barrier of ‘I could never do this’. Of course, we can. We’ve all got what Mel and Sally have described within us.
 
It’s articulating it that can sometimes be that first step. And we’re hoping that as people see the output that they’re encouraged to think of it either through reflecting and reading or actually picking up a pen or a pencil and going off and doing it themselves.
 
Clearly computers are available but I’m old school. It would be a pencil. So it’s thinking about how we let people see what’s happened and then having an area where going forward we’re going to think of that as an area where we can think about the power of words and our library team are setting up a book club. We might use that area as well.
 
The bookcase is there so that we can exchange books. We’ve got different areas in the organization where we can exchange books and that will include poetry as well as other books. So it’s thinking about an area that of focus really, where we think right this is a nook and we very deliberately came up with that word because there’s something comfortable about that word.
 
And so the writer’s nook you will find it in the canteen in north tees. If it works, we’ll think about other little nooks and I might need to think of different words. Mel can help me with that. But the writer’s nook is what the estates team have helped us develop as a physical space to represent and host some of the work that’s been done.
 
ANDY: And Mel, you mentioned a piece of writing or peom that you’ve done. Give us an insight or would you like to read it out to us? ]
 
MEL: Yeah, I’m happy to read it. But I think that just to add something from the nook, I think we offered this particular project, this particular research and and they wrote it, you know, put their words, their emotions into words and brought it and fashioned it and shaped it and then to find it on the wall sort of said you were genuine, you were sincere, you really wanted us to do this work and now you want us to share it with the rest of the staff.
 
So you actually, you know, you’re giving us a particular voice and that voice is there because it’s a deeper level, you know it’s a kind of more reflective level when people are having their coffee and their their meals right?
 
Okay so I have a fascination with the hospital lift – when I go in I always think if this had a voice. If this really had a voice and because it sees everybody. It sees the relatives coming leaving with babies. It sees sad people even after a bereavement. It sees the staff on the morning and early and so in a number of poems I’ve given it a voice. In a sense connected to the creative writing process. It’s called ‘the hospital lift’.
 
The weight of words,
I daily surround the thoughts in people’s minds,
staff enter into my den in main,
numerous times during their shift,
some uneasy about starting one,
others drained from just finishing.
Everyone carries around their own weight of narratives,
adding to it continuously.
 
If I listen attentively,
I can hear laughter from joyful moments,
 the slow whale of sorrow still lingering,
the excitement of achievement,
the harmony from choices made
and regrets over others not taken.
 
Over the last few months,
something different has been happening to the raw material of internal dialogues of some who have entered into here.
My metal sheets feel some are distinctly lighter, even rising unaided.
Some staff have revisited their own past and are wrestling with their present.
 
Running again on the sands of childhood, barely touching my floors.
Others with a pen for a torch have explored darker corners
and found meaning waiting for the opportunity to whisper quietly.
 
They become familiar with certain buttons on their own lifts,
traveling up and down the floors of their own lives,
triggered by prompts of sentences to reflect on who they are.
 
Their doors hesitate,
come reluctant, close at times,
 particular memories make them nervous,
 almost closing, but then suddenly opening again without warning,
and finally easing together by the choice of compassionate words.
 
I wanted her to find some space between emotions.
But someone she knew opened me up and stepped out.
And she stepped out.
I caught a few squashed words as my doors closed.
 
She couldn’t talk.
She was late for the creative writing workshop.
She had to stay in endoscopy because of a sudden death of her patient.
 
In her hand, on a page,
feelings found friends with certain phrases.
And seeing her truth united her, making her feel much lighter.
 
ANDY:
Jean, I believe we’ve got a launch coming up. Can you tell us some details on that?
 
JEAN: Yes, we wanted to make a bit of a splurge really and launch this and give it the publicity. So, our communications team will be sending round information, but Sally, you’ve got the date to hand. When are we doing this?
 
SALLY: It’ll be on the 14 of October at 3p.m. So, both myself, Mel, and Siobhan Campbell, who’s the project lead for the Open University, will be coming to celebrate people’s work at the Nook.
 
And hopefully you can join us for a cup of tea and to read the work that’s on the wall and meet everybody. It would be great to see you down there.
 
Please do come along if you can spare five minutes. Even that would be worth coming to meet the team.
 
ANDY: And thank you all for joining me in the Tees Voices studio and I hope to hear from you again and see what the progression is of the Nook and if we open any more in any of the other departments and hospitals. Thank you again, Jean, Sally, and Mel.
 
OUTRO: Thank you for joining us. Till next time, you’ve been listening to Tees voices.