Who am I? A project working with older people

I have designed a portable life story for participants with dementia, which combines personal photographs and songs from their past which can trigger memory. This process requires the support of the participants carer to research 8 songs and 8 photographs that help to tell the participants story.

Before we met Dougie, he was convinced that music played no part in his life, he also has difficulty in hearing, he wears two hearing aids which tend to isolate him. Colette the day centre manager, went to great trouble to get Dougie a special set of headphones so that he could engage fully with his music. 

The life story box and especially the music are a valuable asset and which has helped Dougie engage with others.  And more importantly the box will give other’s clues to Dougie’s past, it will present an opportunity for him to talk about his life.  The box provides clues and questions, Dougie has the answers. When he can no longer answer the questions, he has his music to comfort him. 

On watching a presentation which charted the process of making the life story box a carer stated ‘On seeing the art work and the engagement my mother had participated in, I cried, the memory box, the cards and the music will be treasured by our family’. 

Geraldine Gallagher RNNI Reminiscence Worker

To find out more contact Geraldine on [email protected]