What is Kick Off With a Verse and how did it come to be?
Kick Off With a Verse is a group program supporting caregivers. The program uses poetry as a springboard for sharing, leading participants to find their own words to describe the experience of caregiving. Informing Kick Off With a Verse are my professional background as a psychological counselor, the experience of caring for my husband who lived with dementia, and my habit of writing to get things off my chest.
To stay well enough to do the job, unpaid carers need:
- a community
- a time to ground themselves and relax
- a confidential place to talk about the feelings and challenges of the care partnership
- the space to remember they are more than just carers.
Kick Off With a Verse provides a safe place where all above can happen.
The online sessions can be accessed by any unpaid carer wherever they live—time zone and internet connection permitting. There are sessions on Thursday afternoons at 14:00 to 15:30 GMT and on Wednesday evenings from 19:00 to 20:30 GMT. (That’s a start time of 2 pm GMT, 9 am EST, and 6 am PST as well as 7 pm GMT, 2 pm EST, and 11 am PST, respectively.) It doesn’t matter if the person you care for is at home, living independently or in residential care, or recently departed. All are welcome!
The sessions are free to attend until mid-August 2025 in the first instance. I am in the process of writing a handbook that will allow psychologists, counselors, activity coordinators in care homes, and other professionals facilitating unpaid carer support groups, to run sessions in the future.
How did you find yourself grappling with dementia in your work?
Caring for my husband came first; then the discovery of my inner poet as I wrote about the strong feelings experienced on both sides of the care partnership. The poetry collection Closing Time at the Kings Head followed. (Read more about Karin’s work in a previous Spotlight on her poetry collection, Closing Time at the Kings Head.)
The response from the public at readings led me to understand the potential therapeutic value of the poems; especially in facilitating conversations about feelings less often expressed.
I am honored when participants of Kick Off With a Verse share personal stories. The experience of people—family members and friends—when someone close to them lives with dementia is a difficult subject but, given a safe place, it can be spoken about.
How has working on dementia-related art changed you?
Dementia was the midwife for much distress, but also for my writing today. I have learned it is never too late in life to be creative. When the opportunity is given, creativity flows from often long-stopped sources. This has been my own experience, and what I observe among carer participants of Kick Off With a Verse.
I have facilitated sessions in-person at Park Theatre, in Finsbury Park, North London. “Together in Time Singing Group” for people living with dementia runs in parallel, facilitated by Gareth John, from Chiltern Music Therapy, who has set some of our writing to music for his group to learn and ultimately perform.
How validating is that for unpaid carers, whether lyricists or singers, bowed down by the weight of caring? To discover a corner of creativity through the written word, which is then expressed through musical performance. Pure joy!
Did you take inspiration from any other creative experiences?
Another creative outlet for caregivers is the Unpaid Carer Shanty Crew a group of unpaid carers who somehow found the time to get together and discover they were creatives and singers of sorts. In the United Kingdom, the Alzheimer Society promotes Singing for the Brain sessions for those living with dementia and their care partners. Sea shanties (sailors’ work songs), are often sung at these sessions. A group of intrepid carers changed the words of those familiar tunes to reflect the work of the unpaid carer. I would encourage every community to create a “Crew,” write your own words to shanties, and sing them lustily to tell ‘em how it is.
What are some of the benefits reported by caregivers who have participated in Kick Off With a Verse?
Kick Off With a Verse is a resource for the caregiver, to improve wellbeing and support a healthy dynamic in the care partnership. A less stressed caregiver is able to provide a better quality of care.
Below, past group members speak of the benefits they took from the group:
“You feel you are not on your own and that your experience is normal.”
“It was good to relax and get grounded at the beginning of the session.”
“You can lose yourself doing something creative.”
This work is dedicated to: If my husband and I had not shared the ups and downs of a dementia care partnership, I would not have had the knowledge and experience to write the poems at the core of Kick Off With a Verse. My own creativity and work is his legacy.
Fellow unpaid carers, whom I met while a caregiver myself and since, have been instrumental in testing my ideas as they develop. In particular, I would like to recognize the “pioneers” who first attended Kick Off With a Verse before it was known as such. Their feedback was an essential part of making the sessions what they are today. Indeed, as I continue to fine-tune content for the handbook, every person who joins a session is contributing to making the resource the best it can be. Thank you. I am indebted to you all.
A special thanks to Helen, Jacqui, Jeanne, and Susie who agreed to be filmed and gave permission for the clips to be shared on Dementia Spring.
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