"Does
life story
work really make any difference to how we feel about ourselves and
others?"
Re: Essential information
for
doing memory work.
From the desk of: Geraldine
Jozefiak
The Craft Teacher
Life
story work really can help others through life
experiences and challenges.
Yet why is it that some life story sessions work better than others,
despite all your
efforts?
If you were to tell me the
most difficult problem facing you in your work, which
of the
following would you choose?
- I'm new to
running memory sessions and grateful for some ideas on things that
work, written by someone who's done it
- As a practised
reminiscence worker I've made story books before but am
always
interested in new ideas and ways of working
- I want to run a
project at school and need some practical background material
to help
me plan some activities
- I'm looking for information about working with memories
and some craft projects that are easy to follow
- I've never done
a
project like this before and I don't know where to start
- I run
reminiscence sessions, and I need ideas on what to do with all the
shared stories
- I want to create
some books with one of my groups and I'm not creative
I'm sure there will
be others too. Finding solutions isn't always easy.
There are many reminiscence books, magazines and activity packs that
might just
work. But ...
where do you find practical
life story
project ideas together with suggestions on
how to encourage
sharing,
note taking and creativity?
Sometimes you find all these things, but is it in
down-to-earth language and
in a book that won't close-up when
you put it down? And is it set in a tiny,
too small to read 'font'?
What you
need in challenging moments is knowing that you can easily
read
the material without the aid of a magnifying glass!
Let me tell you how I came to be
involved in memory work.
Over the course of
a year, I trained volunteers in Life Story Work. Following their
training, the volunteers were placed with families
who cared for a
dementia sufferer
in their own home.
It was a new and exciting project;
the first of its kind in England at the time (1999).
Based in
Norwich, Norfolk, UK it was called The Pabulum Project, (latin: mental
nourishment). The project gave me first hand
experience of volunteers,
training,
dementia and life story work.
It
encouraged me to find
ways to help sometimes uncreative people to work
towards something unique that could be shared by others.
Note: (The Project's story was written up for my
Bachelor of Arts
dissertation that followed, gaining
me a 1st Class Honours degree in Post Compulsory
Education).
The project offered
reminiscence training in creative memory work It was
hoped
that this knowledge would help
volunteers to work with the dementia sufferers to
encourage the sharing of memories.
These stories
were then, in agreement, re-created in words, sentences, pictures,
paper and pen. They were then made into
a variety of books,
loose-leaf papers,
portfolios
and albums. The choice of materials used was left to
individuals.
The craft workshops that were
an important part of the training and
gave the
volunteers some
ideas in how to make a book for those
they
worked with. Some
had no experience, or interest in creative
activities yet were happy to help
individuals and families to put their
stories onto paper.
As Dementia
generally has a 7 year lifespan, it is likely that some of this period
may
well be spent in care, and amongst unfamiliar people.
The purpose of the
project was to help our volunteers to work with
those with dementia
to commit shared stories to paper,
whilst memories could
still be verbally shared
The
life story approaches that became the Pabulum Project helped us to:
- Reduce
the need for medication
- Raise
interest in surroundings
- Keep
individuals more alert and interested
- Provide
a talking point
- Help
family members to get closer to loved ones
- Recreate
often lost memories for wider appreciation
- Turn
difficult 'remembering/talking' into a visual experience
- Cut
down the stress on continued remembering
- Enable
others to share stories and experiences
- Provide
a visual trigger for further reminiscence work
It
was obvious that the project had wider value
and the challenge was to create a
book that
would help others to
get similar results.
As the Creative Activity Trainer with
the programme I decided to turn this knowledge
and experience into an A4 book - "
Working with memories" . Based on our
successful practices, the book contains the
following sections:
- Notes
- The visual part
- Creative writing
-
Practical
projects
- Album ideas
Click here for a Contents
list.
Background
information on why to do memory work is a
valuable part of the book.
It's important that we understand something of the
background to
memory work
before trying to encourage the sharing of stories.
There's
a useful introduction
on the historical context at the beginning that
''sets the scene' for your future
work.
Imagine having
practical ideas on how to use materials, what to record, and how to
begin sharing
stories.
And what about having 10 different types of
life-story books that you could use as a
starting point - covers and
albums that you adapt to suit different individuals and their
interests.
How
would that help you with your memory work?
Take a look at the Folio
life story craft project here. - Just one of 10 practical 'book'
projects that you can use to help you record those visual
memories.
When working with vulnerable
people it's important to understand the hows and whys
of
developing personal qualities, as much as 'doing' practical exercises.
Beginning to
establish rapport and appreciating the importance of talking, helps us
to create the a trusting environment.
The visual part
of Working with Memories gives you ideas on using memory tools
and materials, basic page layout
ideas and essentials for beginning. There's a full
section of what you
might include in your pages, and tip on some basic journalling
techniques borrowed from Scrapbooking.
I've also included a number
of Creative
writing exercises. This
section looks at a
range of
activities to encourage the senses: drawing projects, poetry and the
value
of art and picture triggers in life story work.
Every session leads
towards the creation of a personal story book - helping others to share
memories before it's too late,
or the memory is lost.
Working with
memories encourages you to develop personal approaches to your
work. This will help you to
create truly original and personal
story books that
celebrate
individual experience.
Having 10
step-by-step projects alone is worth £30. Add on 2 years
research time,
15 years of teaching experience, the cost of training
and teaching qualifications and
you begin to see how the price of such
of book might be £100 plus.
But it's not! For less than the price of 1 hour of
a qualified
teacher's time you get 5
sections of condensed reminiscence experience
that can save you many hours of
planning and preparation.
At £29.95, this
book will help you
to run one-to-one and group reminiscence
sessions, and to begin the
process of turning stories into a permanent, sharable
document.
You decide how to turn them onto the
page, once you've developed trust
and respect
with the story-teller.
Order your copy now and
begin planning your
creative memory sessions.
I'll
also send you the following bonus Craft Teacher goodies:
- Bonus #1:
Double page activity project: Giftwrap Frame
- Bonus #2
Double
page activity project: Stencilled Album
You can't lose
with my 100%,
money-back
guarantee
Each and every Craft Teacher purchase comes with a 100%,
no-questions-asked,
money-back guarantee. I want to be sure that
you
like what you get and that it
doesn’t disappoint you.
If for any reason it fails to live up to your expectation, just
contact me within 56 days
(8 weeks) of purchase and I'll refund you
your money. So your purchase is risk free.
I'm confident that you'll find "Working with
Memories" an invaluable help in planning
your life story
and reminiscence programme. However, if you feel it doesn't
then
I’ll
be happy to
refund you what you paid.
Go ahead and order now and help others to share their
stories.
Geraldine
Jozefiak
The Craft Teacher
