Helping us heal; how creative life story work supports individuals and organisations to recover from trauma

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Rebecca Booth
Keyword(s):  
Life Story ◽  
Story Work ◽  
Work Supports ◽  
Creative Life

scholarly journals Creative life story work with seniors

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-63
Author(s):  
Petra Brandoburová ◽  
Simona Adamovičová
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Older Adult ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Story Work ◽  
Creative Life

We summarize the theoretical background and basis for creative activities focused on the life story work with the seniors as realised in “Centrum MEMORY“, Bratislava, Slovakia. Older adult clients with various levels of cognitive functioning could benefit from the combination of creative and reminiscence activities. The importance of creativity and its benefits in senior life is outlined and emphasized

Case Study: Memory Work with Children Affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Denis
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Narrative Therapy ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Memory Work ◽  
Aids Epidemic ◽  
Story Work ◽  
Oral History Interview ◽  
Hiv Aids

This article focuses on working with children affected by HIV/AIDS in South Arica. In the early years of the AIDS epidemic, relief organizations focused their efforts on the material needs of children, but their psychological and emotional needs are no less important. Recognizing this, the Sinomlando Centre for Oral History and Memory Work in Africa, a research and community development center located at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in Pietermaritzburg South Africa, has pioneered a model of psychosocial intervention for children in grief—particularly but not exclusively in the context of HIV/AIDS. This model uses the methodology of oral history in a novel manner, combined with other techniques such as life story work and narrative therapy. During the early years of the project, the model followed for the family visits was the oral history interview. A discussion on caregiver as the narrator and skills required in memory work especially in these cases concludes this article.

Using life story work to enhance care

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 16-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Life Story ◽  
Story Work

scholarly journals Adopted children’s co-production and use of ‘trove’ (a digitally enhanced memory box) to better understand their care histories through precious objects

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 614-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debbie Watson ◽  
Chloe Meineck ◽  
Beth Lancaster
Keyword(s):  
Radio Frequency Identification ◽  
Current Practice ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Raspberry Pi ◽  
Adopted Children ◽  
Object Attachment ◽  
Frequency Identification ◽  
Electronic Tag ◽  
Digitally Enhanced ◽  
Story Work

This article presents an innovative project to develop and trial a prototype product called ‘trove’ to start to address challenges identified regarding current practice of life story work with children who are looked after and adopted. trove is a digitally enhanced memory box that utilises raspberry pi (a small single board computer) and radio-frequency identification (RFID) technologies to enable children to record their memories and to attach these to their precious objects using an electronic tag: providing a safe ‘container’ for their mementoes and memories. Located in theories of narrative identity and object attachment and drawing on Brodinsky’s concept of communicative openness, we describe the children’s engagements in the design and report the results of a small trial of 10 troves with adopted children in England.

scholarly journals Exploring good practice in life story work with people with dementia: The findings of a qualitative study looking at the multiple views of stakeholders

Dementia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Gridley ◽  
Yvonne Birks ◽  
Gillian Parker
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Family Carers ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
Practice Approach ◽  
Story Work ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Person With Dementia ◽  
Design And Methods

Introduction Despite growing international interest in life story work as a tool for person-centred dementia care, there is little agreement on what constitutes good practice and little evidence from the perspectives of people with dementia or their family carers. Design and methods This paper reports the findings from the qualitative element of a larger study looking at the feasibility of evaluating life story work. Ten focus groups were held with 73 participants: four groups of people with dementia (25 participants); three with family carers (21 participants); and three with staff, professionals and volunteers with experience of life story work (27 participants). Findings: It became apparent through our focus groups that, when people talk about ‘life story work’, different people mean different things. This related to both process and outcomes. In particular, a person with dementia may have very different views from others about what life story work is for and how their life story products should be used. There was general agreement that a good practice approach would be tailored to the individual needs and preferences of the person with dementia. However, in practice many settings used templates and the process was led by staff or completed by family carers. Conclusion We produced nine key features of good practice which could be used to guide the life story work process. Key elements include the recognition that not everyone will want to take part in life story work and that some people may even find it distressing; the importance of being led by the person with dementia themselves; the need for training and support for staff, carers and volunteers; and the potential for life story work to celebrate the person’s life today and look to the future.

Person- and relationship-centred dementia care

2020 ◽  
pp. 233-248
Author(s):  
John Keady ◽  
Mike Nolan
Keyword(s):  
Life Story ◽  
Care Home ◽  
Theoretical Development ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
Global Issue ◽  
Diagnosis Of Dementia ◽  
Working Together ◽  
The Senses ◽  
Story Work ◽  
Person With Dementia

Dementia is a global issue experienced on an individual and relational level. This chapter traces the emergence of both person-centred care and relationship-centred care, with the latter approach expressed through the Senses Framework. The Framework outlines the theoretical development and practical application of the Senses [security, belonging, continuity, purpose, achievement, significance] and highlights the importance of staff, carer, and [in this chapter] person with dementia all working together. This chapter describes the application of the Senses Framework to a recent practice development study set in a care home for people with dementia and shows how the study used a combination of the Senses and life story work to create an ‘enriched’ environment. The chapter concludes with a discussion about how the Senses can be used to facilitate an early diagnosis of dementia and to help people with dementia and their families to engage with a life ‘outside the front door’, termed ‘The Neighbourhood Space’.

Retelling one’s life story—how narratives improve quality of life in chronic language impairment

2018 ◽  
pp. 89-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Corsten ◽  
Friedericke Hardering
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Social Participation ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
Identity Renegotiation ◽  
Story Work

Recent research in the field of narrative-based medicine has investigated the effectiveness of using illness narratives to stimulate coping processes. This chapter examines the utilization of the narrative approach in treating persons with aphasia—a neurological language disorder—many of whom experience reduced social participation and a change in identity. Although life-story work can support processes of sense-making, only a few studies use a biographic–narrative approach in aphasic patients due to their impaired language abilities. The chapter describes an adapted biographic-narrative intervention developed to assist with identity renegotiation and social participation. In order to show the benefits associated with the intervention and how the participants’ sense of self changed through the approach, the chapter examines a study with 27 aphasic people. It covers how the findings provide foundations for future work using biographic–narrative interventions to influence quality of life and identity renegotiation in people with chronic diseases.

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