I love my room. I designed much of it myself with our artists. This was a horrible social security building before. We only moved in this May. Everything is second hand. And it’s full of the kids’ art. This is exactly how my brain is. I wanted a bit of Persia, a bit of wild.
1. I actually don’t like wearing necklaces, but the kids like buying them for me so that I can hang them on the trunk they also made me. Each necklace has a story.
2. This was painted by a shy girl on my staff who was incredibly hardworking and didn’t say very much. One Christmas this was on my desk with a note from her. I think it’s a statement about the importance of childhood, hers too, and the reason she discovered this talent was due to the therapeutic support she received here.
3. The wishing tree was created by the children for an exhibition three years ago called ‘Demons and Angels’. We put it up so that the public and the kids could put their wishes on it, and it grew throughout the exhibition. I keep it behind me all the time so I’m always propelled by the wishes of children and adults who have an unflourished child within them.
4. I wear scarves because I hate jackets. With my outfits I can go into a crack den in the morning, then to an expensive dinner at night. The kids like my scarves so they’re always disappearing. They sleep with them sometimes. I often have to send word out that I’ve run out of scarves!
5. Candles give you a light that you can never permanently capture. That’s a real lesson in life. They’re very soothing too. The kids like to have something to focus on, especially when they’re talking about very shameful things.
6. You won’t find a single picture of a family here. The children create solitary characters and quite distorted sculptures or, as they get better, decorated boxes like this one.
7. My shopping trolley is significant. The kids here are so materially deprived that to simply give them psychological gifts and ignore the material gifts they require is a mistake. I’m coining a new therapy called psycho-practical therapy because that’s what these kids need.
Kids Company supports vulnerable inner-city children and young people. kidsco.org.uk; kidspeaceofmind.org
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