Children's Poetry from the Psych Hospital

Steve Scher
04/01/2008 at 9:00 a.m.

Somewhere near Tacoma, a few dozen kids live in garden cottages that are locked from the outside. Most of them have tried to take their own lives or hurt others, and they've all got disabling psychiatric conditions. They live apart from their families, many of them for more than a year, in Washington's only children's psychiatric long term care center. Everything, from the basketballs and bicycles to the isolation room, is part of the treatment. So is the poetry. Today we'll tag along while children at the treatment center write poems, and we'll talk about how writing works as therapy.

Guests:
Dr. Mick Storck is attending psychiatrist at the Child Study and Treatment Center and at Children's Hospital in Seattle. He is assistant professor at the University of Washington's medical school. One of his research interests is narrative therapy.
Richard Gold founded the Pongo Teen Writing Project in 1992. Pongo volunteers help teens in jail, psychiatric confinement and other difficult conditions write poetry. Richard is also a published poet.
Colby is a former resident a the Child Study and Treatment Center. His poem appeared in Pongo's book No More Me.