Molly Case
Writer in Residence
"Poetry comes from human experience. As a nurse we encounter people at their most vulnerable, people experiencing times that are traumatic, life-changing, life-a rming, and memorable. We look after people all over the world, in hospitals, in their homes, in prisons and mental health settings, we meet people that have experienced the rawest layers of human experience and all with a story to tell. Writing poetry can improve mood, reduce stress, help people to explore life events, express and resolve painful feelings or simply act as a distraction to the mundanity or worries of daily life.
In my role as writer in residence I have been running a poetry workshop for nurses, the public and children exploring the theme of 'Place'.
In the workshop we examined places that meant something to us. Using the familiar nursing assessment, ABCDE, we used all our senses and skills in examination, Look, Listen and Feel, to bring to life homes we had known, places we had passed through and landscapes that have meant something to us, taking time to craft them into poems.
The Service Scrapbooks we have at the RCN speak of home, both the nurses and the soldiers long for familiarity and draw on memories and anecdotes from places they hold close in their hearts."
Molly Case