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Nic Golightly is a graphic artist and part of the Creative Life Story Work team. She’s created many of the bitesize creative activities you’ll find on the site and delivers training that helps people discover their own creativity – even if they think they’re not a creative person! Here are some tips from Nic on how you can add creativity into your work with care-experienced children and young people.
When people find out I make my living from designing and creating as a freelance artist, they might say things like ‘Oh wow, I’d love to be creative’ ‘What a dream job!’. They assume it’s really freeing and every day is inspiring.
But keeping inspired and producing new fresh ideas is a job in itself.
So, how can you bring creativity into the work you do?
We often hold this strange notion that everyone is either ‘creative’ or ‘absolutely not creative whatsoever’.
In many of your roles as social workers, team leaders, family workers etc you may find yourself doing work which requires creativity, even though you might be firmly in the ‘absolutely not creative whatsoever’ group.
I’m not here to magically transform everyone into a freelance artist, but what I do want to address is the way in which practitioners in all walks of life can bring creative elements into their work, which benefits both them and (most importantly) the care-experienced children and young people they’re working with.
So, I’ll begin with some questions for you, dear reader.
Yes? Then you are creative.
Creativity – it’s a complicated thing to describe – and that’s coming from an artist who’s had a practice for the last two decades! But Google is at hand… (other search engines are available).
Q: Dear Google, what is creativity?
A: Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others. Simply put, creativity involves transforming your ideas, imagination, and dreams into reality.
Q: Dear Google, what defines someone as creative?
A: If you are willing to take risks in the hope to receive the best outcome with a new idea, you are a true creative. You are persistent in all your efforts to make an idea become a reality and are willing to cross fragile bridges; ready to tackle any obstacles along the way.
The nature of our jobs is problem solving, isn’t it? So perhaps the problem isn’t creativity at all, it’s our perception of creativity.
Creativity can be folding a piece of paper into a paper plan and flying it across a room at a target.
Creativity can be planning and cooking a meal, writing or dancing to your favourite song, putting together a playlist, designing a pair of sneakers that reflect what you like.
It may well be in the realms of possibility that we are all creative in our own ways.
Working together with young people and problem solving together is a creative task. Showing that you are not an accomplished artist, is also creative. Being inquisitive, experimenting and figuring out how to make it work are creative activities.
So we’ve established you’re all creative practitioners – or can be. But the next step is finding further inspiration.
As a creative practitioner it is a battle to find and continue to feed your store of inspiration. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time though.
Firstly, you could book onto my live classroom on Thursday 13 November. You will have the opportunity to discover creative ways to work with care-experienced children and young people. There will be practical advice and guidance, along with tried and tested take-away activities.
You will learn:
Secondly, I’d recommend speaking to the young people you work with and finding out what they’re into. Do they want to draw, make or design things with their own ideas? Here are some of my takeaways from similar conversations:
There are some fantastic resources right here on the Creative Life Story Work site. A couple of examples include…
Places I Have Lived bitesize activity: Mapping
This activity will help children and young people make a map which is personal to them. It can help prompt conversations and understanding of where they have lived and their journey to where they are now. See the activity.
My Future bitesize activity: Manifesto
In this activity you will write your own manifesto, with aspirations for the future. See the activity.
Podcast episode: How to add creativity into life story work
Listen to our conversation about how everyone can add creativity into their work with children and young people. Listen now.
Thank you Nic for sharing these brilliant ideas on how to be creative.
Creative inspiration for life story work
Thursday 13 November 2025, 10am – 1pm
Online
Join Nic Golightly to discover creative ways to work with care experienced children and young people during life story work.
Nic Golightly is a graphic artist based in the North East of England. She collaborates with people from all walks of life and specialises in work with care-experienced children and young people.
Her work utilises the principles of graphic design – working with text, image, shape and colour. Nic produces all sorts of work, from artist books, prints, gifs to larger scale public artworks.
Nic has been a Blue Cabin Associate Artist since 2018. In this time she has led Creative Life Story Work sessions both online and in person, been an artist in residence for Creative Aid (co-creating with care-experienced young men in HMP Deerbolt) and collaborated with fellow artists on The Studio of Fostered Heroes and All About Adoption films (to name a few!).
