Poetry by Matthew McKenzie — exploring caring, identity, belonging and the need to be heard.
Welcome to my PCREF poetry project. Through poetry and filmed readings, I explore the experiences of unpaid carers, particularly Black and other ethnic minority carers supporting someone with mental ill health.
The poems open conversations about racism, cultural understanding, trust and the relationships between families and mental health services. They also celebrate creativity, community and the people behind the caring role.
Why PCREF and Poetry?
PCREF stands for the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework.
For me, connecting poetry with PCREF means making space for experiences that can be difficult to express in meetings, assessments or formal feedback. A poem offers another way to speak about feeling excluded, finding support or wanting services to understand your family.
These are personal and creative contributions to conversations about race equality and carer inclusion. My hope is that they encourage people to listen, reflect and consider what needs to change.
Start Here: A Featured Poem
Creativity as the Expression — Poem 41
How do we explain our caring experiences when the words used in meetings, assessments and care plans do not quite capture what we want to say?
This poem explores creativity as a way of finding a voice and sharing experiences of caring.
Reflect: How can we make more room for carers to express themselves in their own way?
Explore the PCREF Poetry Collection
Explore my published poetry about race, mental health and unpaid caring. Click a poem’s title to watch it on YouTube.
The poem numbers identify pieces within the collection. More video links will be added as this page develops.
More Poetry
Unpaid, Unseen and Yet Unbroken
Explore another spoken-word reading from my wider poetry project recognising ethnic mental health carers’ experiences.
Poetry in Action
Voices & Verses — PCREF Carer Poetry Event
See how poetry brings carers together through creativity, shared experiences and conversation.
Browse more videos on A Caring Mind
Visit A Caring Mind on YouTube to explore the poems
You can find a particular reading by searching for its title within my channel.
More Poetry and Shared Readings
Alongside the numbered poems above, you can also find:
- Unpaid, Unseen and Yet Unbroken
- The Carer They Didn’t See
- Hope That Feels Real — Poem 80, performed by Matthew McKenzie and Jo Lambert
These readings form part of my wider work using poetry to recognise unpaid carers’ experiences and create opportunities for expression.
Poetry in Action: Voices & Verses
Poetry can bring carers together as well as help individuals find their voice.
My channel also includes poetry event recordings and community activities, including Voices & Verses — Carers Poetry Event: PCREF in Action.
If you would like to find out about joining a carer poetry group or referring carers to a session, please get in touch.
Use a Poem to Begin a Conversation
Carer groups, PCREF networks, staff teams, libraries and community organisations may find these poems useful as starting points for reflection.
Choose a poem, watch or listen together, and consider:
- What words or images stayed with you?
- What does the poem prompt you to consider about carers’ experiences?
- Whose voices might be missing from your service or group?
- What practical change could help carers feel heard and included?
Allow people to choose whether to share their own experiences. Listening is a valuable form of participation too.
Further Learning
For those interested in exploring the wider issues, my YouTube channel also includes:
- Listening Differently to Black Carers with Poetry, and PCREF
- Putting the C (Carer) into PCREF — Triangle of Care & Racial Equity in NHS Mental Health
- Triangle of Care Through an Anti-Racist Lens: Are All Carers Equally Heard?
- Hard to Reach or Easy to Ignore — Ethnic Mental Health Carers
- Why Black Carers Struggle to Access Mental Health Support
These presentations offer further opportunities to consider race equality, lived experience and meaningful carer involvement.
About Matthew McKenzie
I am Matthew McKenzie, an unpaid carer, carer advocate, author and poet.
My work draws on my lived experience of supporting family members and my commitment to improving recognition and inclusion for unpaid carers. Through A Caring Mind, I bring together caring, mental health, race equality and creative expression.
Poetry gives me another way to raise questions, share experiences and encourage conversations that might otherwise remain unheard.
Sharing, Enquiries and Getting Involved
You can support the project by sharing this page or links to the original videos with carers, colleagues and community networks.
Please credit Matthew McKenzie / A Caring Mind when sharing links. For permission to reproduce poems, include them in publications or training materials, or arrange a reading or workshop, please contact me through this website.
I welcome enquiries from carer centres, NHS teams, PCREF leads, libraries, arts organisations and others interested in creating more space for carers’ voices.
Watch and subscribe to A Caring Mind on YouTube
Carers’ experiences deserve to be heard. Poetry offers another way to listen.
