Patients on Pond and Shore wards at Park Royal Mental Health Centre have created a collection of poems through a series of groups led by Assistant Psychologist, Minji Kim.

Minji runs psychology groups and wanted to create a space where patients could express themselves in a different way.

She said: "I wanted to create a space where patients didn't have to be literal about what they were going through. For some people, they've had to explain their experiences many times before, while for others, putting those experiences into words can be really difficult."

The groups explored themes such as loneliness, hope, home and asking for help. Patients would read and discuss a poem together before creating one of their own. While the original idea was for everyone to write individually, that quickly changed after one patient said they didn't feel comfortable writing something that could be directly linked to them. Instead, the group decided to write poems together.

The finished poetry collection reflects shared experiences of loss, connection, resilience and recovery. It also highlights how creative activities can support mental health by helping people express difficult feelings, make sense of experiences and connect with others.

For Minji, the poems are about more than the words on the page.

"The poems come from individual experiences, but they speak to something we can all relate to. In sharing them, we hope people can appreciate where the service users stood and remember that some parts of being human are shared by all of us."