Cecilia Knapp, Spread the Word’s Young People’s Laureate for London, has launched an online campaign #WriteThroughThis to encourage young people to use writing and poetry as a way to help keep positive and connected to others during the current lockdown.
To help find ways through these uncertain times, Cecilia is encouraging young people to use poetry and creative writing as creative outlet during lockdown, and and as a way to find a community with other young people and writers.
Her campaign asks young people to create their own poems in response, and to share them online using the hashtag #WriteThroughThis. The campaign will also feature online poetry workshops, writing prompts and more.
The pandemic has brought with it severe disruptions to young people’s routines, a sense of social isolation, and has prevented some young people from accessing their regular mental health support. A recent survey by mental health charity YoungMinds has shown that 74% of teachers and school staff agreed that schools being closed during national lockdowns has negatively affected young people’s mental health. Meanwhile 80% of young people with a history of mental ill-health have found their conditions have worsened since the coronavirus crisis began in the UK.
Cecilia says: “This is for any young people who might be stuck at home, not able to get to school, and who might want to try writing and see it as something they can enjoy. I’m hoping to support people through this lockdown using poetry to express themselves, and maybe even to try something new.”
Cecilia launches her campaign in a short captioned video:
Get involved
Cecilia is running three free online workshops, for young people aged 16 – 25. Cecilia invites you to join her in a low-pressure, safe, creative environment to begin writing. Take some time for yourself to experience the fun, discovery and connection with yourself that a writing workshop can allow. Whether you’re new to writing or more experienced, there’ll be something for you to try to help you out in this strange time. Just bring a something to write with and join in. We have put in place autocaptions for one of the workshops and BSL Interpretation for two of the workshops. Please get in touch if you need any additional support in order to access the workshops.
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#WriteThroughThis Workshop 1 – Getting Into Writing
10 Feb 6.30 – 7.30pm
Access provision: auto-captioned
Sign up here: http://bit.ly/WriteThroughThisWorkshop1
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#WriteThroughThis Workshop 2 – Demystifying Poetry
24 Feb 6.30 – 7.30pm
Access provision: BSL Interpreted
Sign up here: http://bit.ly/WriteThroughThisWorkshop2
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#WriteThroughThis Workshop 3 – Drawing Inspiration from Great Poems
3 March 6.30 – 7.30pmAccess provision: BSL Interpreted
Sign up here:http://bit.ly/writethroughthisworkshop3
Young people can take part by either sharing poems on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #WriteThroughThis. Find out more at: spreadtheword.org.uk/writethroughthis
Published 28 January 2021
Edited 4 February 2021