Veins and verse: Local families find their voice through poetry

The 2026 season of Haemcast features a special family-focused series in collaboration with Local families with bleeding disorders. In the first episode, Local families members discuss how online poetry workshops helped them give voice to their experiences of family life with a rare bleeding disorder. The Chair of Local families, Lisa Steadman, explains the power of access to a creative safe space.

Local families 

Living with a bleeding disorder isn’t just a medical experience — it affects how you think, feel and navigate life. But it’s the everyday parts of this story that are often the hardest to explain. The hardest to talk about and share. The parts that often remain unspoken.

Local families with bleeding disorders (LFWBD) is a community-led charity for people affected by inherited bleeding disorders and their families. With nearly 300 members from across the UK, the charity’s purpose is not only to offer practical help, but to reduce isolation, build confidence and create spaces where people feel understood. Most often, these spaces are social, family-friendly events, maybe a picnic or a day out. Importantly, they’re always with people who understand the ups and downs of family life with a bleeding disorder.

Finding the muse

Last summer, we found a way to offer something that would complement our social events but provide support in a different way – through poetry.

Seven LFWBD members took part in an online poetry workshop designed to help us find new ways to express what living with a bleeding disorder really means. The sessions were open to everyone, whether or not they had any experience of writing poetry, and were led by professional poet Dawn Gorman. 

Dawn was very skilled in coaxing poems from us, encouraging a focus on real, true feelings rather than technique. Using short writing exercises and prompts, we explored themes in our everyday lives with a bleeding disorder in the family. We also shared our work with each other – in a safe, supportive space where nothing had to be polished or perfect. What mattered was that our writing reflected something true. 

We were then able to craft our poems with Dawn’s coaching. We kept focus on the essence of what we wanted to communicate, continued to develop our own personal writing styles, and gave voice to how we live and how we feel.

The power of creative spaces

For people living with a bleeding disorder, that kind of creative space is powerful. So much of our lives is shaped by hospital visits, treatment routines, uncertainty, and the impact of our condition on school, studying, work, relationships and confidence. These experiences are not always easy to talk about, even with those closest to us. Poetry gave us another way in — a way to say things that often remain unspoken.

Being part of this workshop was not just about writing. It was about being heard, understood and valued — and that’s exactly what LFWBD aims to create for everyone in its community. 

I’m so glad that we were able to take part in something that gave us all the opportunity to connect over shared experiences in a new and different way.

Further information

Bleeding and Belonging, a collection of the poems written during the workshops, is now available online as an eBook.

You can hear more about the poetry workshop, including readings of some of the poems, in the Haemcast episode ‘Veins, verse and voices: How poetry helped Local families with bleeding disorders be heard’.

Local families with bleeding disorders offers support to families affected by a bleeding disorder throughout the UK.

About the author

Lisa Steadman is Chair of Local families with bleeding disorders.