The Weight of Care: Stories of Broken Attachments

This workshop, led by writer and filmmaker King Simpson, combines lived experience, narrative film, and reflective practice to explore the long-term impact of broken attachments, care transitions, and trauma.

Designed to bridge the gap between care-experienced individuals and the professionals who support them, it invites participants into a shared space of empathy, learning, and accountability. The workshop will include a film screening of King's film Home and will be supported by writer and poet Akila Richards.

Who's this workshop aimed at?

Social workers, foster carers, young people in care, care leavers, policymakers, narrative/storytellers and social changers.

Location & Access:

The workshop will take place at Jubilee Library, Conference Room 2.

The venue is fully accessible. If you have any access requirements, please let us know by emailing access@writingourlegacy.org.uk

Due to limited capacity, we are only allowing one ticket per booking. If you can no longer attend, please cancel your ticket so that another person can take your place.

Part of WOL@ Family Day Take Part programme.

About the artists

King Simpson is a BAFTA-nominated storyliner and executive producer at the beginning of his career, blending a love of creative narrative with a strong commitment to social values and trauma-responsive impact. With several years’ experience in writing short stories and collaborating with charities, King uses his valuable foster care experience as the driving force behind his advocacy. After shadowing film outlets like Sticker Studios (co-founded by Luke Brookner), King has developed his craft across both creative and social spaces. King uses thought-provoking material/discussion to challenge the status quo of care-experienced people and draw attention to the determinants of broken attachments. His mission is to encourage healing through visual art and storytelling.

Akila Richards is an award winning poet, spoken word artist and fiction writer. Her work is published in Covert Magazines, Mosaic Writers, Penguin, Waterloo Press, Peepal Tree Press and on digital platforms. Her soundscapes and audio work can be listened to at Dulwich Gallery website, Wasafiri Instagram and her own Youtube channel. Her poetry pamphlet Ritual for a Mango was published by Flipped Eye in February 2024.

Akila’s artistic year-long residency at Brighton Dome in 2021 led to the development of The Rest Experience offering a range of participatory activities, events, collaborations and programmes. As a socially engaged artist her belief is that rest is a collective experience which leads us to our purpose and true self, where we are rested and relevant , connected and visionary and the impossible becomes possible, here and for futurity. Akila is a proud member of the Inscribe Group an imprint of Peepal Tree Press whose support and encouragement have also led to her first novel writing. Her poems and stories speak to our humanness, of complex lives and ultimately the deep joy of liberation. https://akilarichards.wordpress.com/

This event is in partnership with Brighton & Hove Fostering Team

Writing Our Legacy is an ACE National Portfolio Organisation 2023-27 funded by Arts Council England.