“Knowledge really is power”: Natasha’s Revolving Doors Academy story for Stephen Lawrence Day 2025
Today is Stephen Lawrence Day 2025. This year’s theme is Knowledge Changes Everything.
Following Ayesha and Kelly’s pieces, this is our third and final blog of the day from new lived experience member Natasha. Her story of persistence – continuing to seek opportunities for learning, combining these with her passion for activism and creativity – shows just how full of potential our new cohort of Revolving Doors Academy graduates are:
I found the Academy really insightful. It was great to meet new people, to refresh myself on some skills and to learn new transferable skills. I’m excited to see where that will take me in the future.
Going back into education, I didn’t really attend school. I stopped attending in Y5 and 6 and then we moved a lot so I was out of school for months and months because we had to wait for an appeal to get me into another school. I was in the new school for eight days and then I got run over and was on life support. I had to learn to walk again.
When I went back to school, I had a lot of family issues at home and I had this really impactful trauma, but rather than them looking at this and giving me any therapy, I was just labelled a ‘bad kid’. When it got to GCSEs my mum had parental responsibility and refused to sign for me to do them. Despite my child advocate, social services, everyone else saying this is ridiculous, mum said “I’m not signing for her to do them”, so I left school with no GCSEs.
I was pregnant at 17, gave birth to my daughter when I was just 18 and then I went and did a Health and Social Care Level 2 qualification, where I got a distinction. I then got a Level Three and got distinction the whole way through – I was an outstanding student for two consecutive years. I started a little project, and I got sent to the United Nations’ head office in Geneva and went on to a law degree.
However, I was a single mum. I had zero support, and all of the mental health and childhood trauma issues started to come to the surface. I was trying to self-medicate with marijuana and alcohol and I literally had no support. Then I had one of my first ever major mental health breakdowns and after that I didn’t go back into law. I was just a single at-home mum, and things just started to spiral more and more.
Exploring creativity and combining activism with the arts
It took getting a conviction to get the help that I required. From probation I was referred to Women in Prison and Clean Break, who supported me, and I applied for a bursary placement at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. So I’m now doing an acting diploma on a full bursary. Thank goodness for Clean Break, Women in Prison, my probation officer, everybody that worked together.
Since then, I’ve done further coproduction work with Women in Prison. And then I got to meet [Revolving Doors Involvement Manager] Harriet, which is how I got involved with Revolving Doors and the Academy and did things like round tables and various other projects.
As for what’s next, I’m so in love with the acting world but I’m also really in love with the activism side of stuff. Recently the two got merged when one of the short films I was involved in was shown in the Houses of Parliament which I was super excited about. Hopefully if they can continue to merge, I’ll be over the moon – knowledge really has begotten knowledge. It’s just really cool.
I think knowledge really is power and it also helps you to claim back your narrative. I’m not just this bad person. I’m not worthless. I’m not a defective member of society. I’m just as valuable as other people. I don’t need to feel imposter syndrome just living within society. I am a worthwhile human.
Seeing everybody else’s growth through the Academy, seeing their sense of pride and accomplishment and watching them grow is so beautiful and that inspires me as well.
