A good day reinforces our sense of who we are.

Our life history is an important part of our identity: Where we grew up, where we worked, our families, our hobbies and so on. These details helped make us the person that we are and help people to understand who we are. Sometimes the changes that come with dementia can make people at risk of losing the clarity of their own life story. It is easy for them to be defined by their dementia. We can help support them to maintain and celebrate their life stories. (Gridley, 2016, SCIE, 2020).

This month's big idea is life story work. Life story work involves helping people to make a record of some parts of their life, with photos and information. This might be in a book, a collage in a picture frame, or in an app. If you are just starting out, we have a selection of four great free resources that you may find useful.

An introduction and some tips

The University of York has produced a short film about life story work and dementia.


The researchers say that "Everybody has a life story. These are rich and varied and can be used to communicate who we are to the people around us. People with dementia sometimes need help to communicate their histories and identities, and 'life story work' might provide a way for them to do this more easily."

The five-minute film is based on the research findings of a project exploring good practice in life story work from the perspectives of people with dementia, family supporters and professionals.

Watch film

 

Getting started with Life Story Work

A rather special group from the UK called "Told in South Yorkshire", a Life Story Work and People with Dementia Advisory Group, have produced an information pack. It's a great guide to getting started with life story work.

Read the resource

A template for a memory book

Dementia UK offers a downloadable template for a simple memory book, with a series of prompt questions. You can use the template in Microsoft Word.

Go to template

A kiwi phone app

The founder of My Life's Journey app lives with dementia himself. This free app provide a set of question prompts to gather memories, and allows you to put together text, photos, and even sound clips to create a digital memory book. You can browse the memories by life stage or by topic.

Find out more