I am a training consultant represented by Backstop, providing training for Youth Offending Teams, the Youth Service and other organisations on the benefits of using creative writing with vulnerable young people. 

 Getting Started

writing warm ups and exercises 

What's the Story?  

narrative and metaphor

Creating a Character - Writing a Monologue

using photographs, colour, music and memory as stimuli

Behind the Lines

confessional writing: coping with the catharsis   

Making a Scene

     using dialogue to think about conflict 

 Cover to Cover

getting a magazine off the ground

 Participants' Feedback    

              "Really useful for enabling young people to develop emotional literacy" 

Course member Bury YOT

"Inspiring" 

Course member Bolton YOT    

"Brought out the artistic talents I didn't know I had" 

Wigan YOT    

 "A good way for young people to reflect and express themselves - a good tool for basic literacy" 

 Manchester YOT

 

Below, Bury Youth Offending Team

                                                  Young People on Writing   

"If people are bad they are bad for a reason. It's in their childhood. Maybe if they write about it, it might change aspects of their behaviour." 

      Sixteen year old on a Referral Order     

"Writing chills me out and makes me think about what I'm doing. I can tell a good story" 

      Sixteen year old on ISSP Supervision        

 "I wrote poems about my life. It's helping me with my spelling, writing and reading." 

Sixteen year old on Supervision

Helps develop relationships between staff and learners

Improves literacy and concentration

Develops emotional literacy

Improves self esteem

Can be cathartic for writers