Safaplace

Derek Owusu is an award-winning writer and poet from North London. He discovered his passion for literature late in life while studying exercise science at university. Unable to afford a change of degree, he began reading voraciously and sneaking into English Literature lectures at the University of Manchester.

Owusu has written poetry and short stories for the BBC and ITV and regularly features on literary prize judging panels. In 2019, Owusu collated, edited and contributed to SAFE: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space, an anthology exploring the experiences of Black men in Britain. His first novel, That Reminds Me, and the first work of fiction to be published by Stormzy’s Merky Books imprint, won the Desmond Elliott Prize for debut fiction, the judges praising it as a ‘transcendent work of literature.’ In 2020, Owusu was one of the founding members of the Black Writers Guild, whose formation was due to the lack of representation and inequalities that exist within mainstream publishing in the UK. His debut poetry collection Losing the Plot is set to release Summer 2022.

@DerekVsOwusu

Marika Mason of Open Minds Alliance, Courtney Brown of Father2Father and Patricia Lamour MBE of Aspire Education Group work in partnership to address data poverty and co-develop innovation which promote culturally competent and racially equitable mental health and wellbeing services and support for young people and their parents in schools. Their talk and workshop will highlight some of the resilience and protective factors crucial for the mental health and wellbeing of African Caribbean Heritage children and parents, e.g. Super Dads & Men Chat Too; Boy Genius & SPT systems.

Theresa will be providing advice on courses and workshops for parents and carers and their families to develop a knowledge of Eating Disorders and learn how best to support loved ones and find the right language to use. She will lead a discussion on why this is so important and how to look after ourselves.

Theresa has experience of caring for a loved one with an eating disorder. She has been on a number of courses and workshops on the New Maudsley Method Skills Based Learning for Caring for a Loved One with an Eating Disorder. She has recently completed a two-day course on the principles of Emotion Based Family Therapy run by Jennifer Danby. Her experience has led her to realise the importance of supporting parents and carers through what can be extremely difficult and tumultuous times and with this in mind she has worked closely with Safaplace to set up a regular support group for parents and carers.

A talk by Dr. Helen Sharples and Dr. Rachel Lee Jones, Clinical Psychologists with experience of working in CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) and schools.

After a presentation there will be an opportunity to ask questions about good communication with troubled teenagers.

Marika Mason is a social entrepreneur who has worked for over 40 years with community and voluntary sector organisations, public agencies and companies to promote fairness and justice. She has collaborated on numerous local, national and European programmes to create meaningful change in people’s lives.

Marika is the Chair of the Open Minds Alliance (OMA), a network that promotes the mental health and wellbeing of African Caribbean Heritage (ACH) people.

Adisa the Verbaliser exploded onto the spoken word scene in the summer of 1993. He has delivered his work in many arenas from pub basements to Buckingham palace, from primary schools to day centres for senior citizens.

Adisa is on a mission to take poetry to the people wherever he finds them; he has taken his word from continent to continent. Adisa delivers his work in a format known as Edutainment, he believes a good performance should be able to entertain the audience, but at the same time challenge the audience to look again and question what it is they hold to be true.

Adisa frequently visits schools throughout Europe, to deliver performances which have been described as a giant pizza with toppings of African wisdom, observational comedy, life skills, and concert like call and response routines.

In conversation with Safaplace Trustee Tom Moore.

Neal Zetter is an award-winning comedy performance poet, children’s author, entertainer and educator with a 25-year background in communication management and mentoring. Since 1994 he’s been using his interactive rhythmic, rhyming poetry to develop literacy, confidence, creativity and communications skills in 3-103 yr olds, making words and language accessible for the least engaged whilst stretching the most able. He is the author of ten children’s poetry books.