Members Stories, News
Creativity – Lee’s Story
Creativity – Lee’s story
When Lee started attending the weekly IT Classes at The Grassmarket Community Project, he was asked to think of a story to write about.
This one question sparked creativity in a way he couldn’t have imagined.
Lee already had experience working on plays. In 2015, when he first came to Edinburgh, he joined ‘Shared Voices’ and took part in the drama ‘Home’ which won an award at Edinburgh Fringe. Lee knew immediately what he wanted to write about,
‘I knew I had a powerful story to tell, and I knew my story could help others.’
Lee started to write his story, ‘The Darkest Hour of my Life and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.’
Right from the start and over the months to com, Lee loved the process of writing,
‘I just love writing; I just loved writing the book.’
Writing down his memories has helped Lee, but for him it’s really important that the book may help others.
When he was 18, Lee was attacked after a football match in London and was in a coma for 6 months. At first when he came round, all he recognised was his grandfather’s voice.
In his book, Lee documents his long road to recovery. Once his physical injuries healed, he was left with debilitating PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Lee talks about how important it is to find the right professionals to talk to and the right courses to attend, to help you recover and regain confidence,
‘Everyone has had something tragic in their lives that they don’t want to talk about, or they feel that the system pushes them away. But I know how important it is to find help and to talk. That’s why I want to share my story.’
In summer 2022, Lee started with a blank page. Four months later, after hours in GCP’s IT suite, he had 12,000 words and an inspiring story to share with others. He’d also attained his Computing Award Certificate along the way!
Next steps for Lee
Lee is ambitious for the book. His next steps are to get feedback from GCP’s Creative Writing group and to design a book cover in our Art Group. He is also hoping that a group of actors known to GCP will help him transform the book into a play, possibly to premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Lee talks about The Grassmarket Community Project and the support it gives him,
‘GCP has given me options and choices, and opened my eyes more to helping others. Everyone looks after everybody here; I hope my book can help others too.’
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A BIG THANK YOU
The Grassmarket Community Project’s Members Programme relies on the generosity of our customers, funders and donors. Our key funders for this area of our work are Nationwide Community Grants, The Robertson Trust and EVOC/Scottish Government Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund. We thank them for their essential continued support.
