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Timeslips is a project in which people with dementia create a story based on an image. In February 2004, Anne Basting, Director of the project, wrote in Signpost magazine about how she first tried her methods in a nursing home.
“I brought in a picture from a magazine – an image of a cowboy – and invited them to make up a story. I promised to write down anything they said – anything. ‘What should we call the person?’ I asked with great hope. Their response: 45 minutes of laughter, singing and weaving together of sensical and non-sensical responses. The staff, with whom I had had no contact, gathered around our little table in the common room and laughed and sang along with us. The transformation was two-fold: the people with dementia learned that they could exercise their creative voices, and the staff learned that their clients had the capacity to do so."
The American Timeslips Creative Storytelling Project has an excellent website at www.timeslips.org with lots more information and images showing the project in action, as well as newsletters, publications, pictures to download, training opportunities, and an excellent education pack to download. They also have 'Stories of the Month' feature with opportunities to send in your own stories in resonse to an unusual picture. September's picture (of an elephant) is shown left.
Storytelling in the UK
In his work as a Nurse with Oxfordshire Mental Healthcare NHS Trust, Michael Moran saw many benefits of his storytelling sessions. He wrote of his experiences in Signpost magazine (Vol. 8 No. 3 Feb 2004) “Claire was an anxious, cantankerous woman with memory difficulties, who found it almost impossible to settle physically. She loved the stories. Her manner changed as soon as the storytelling started".
In the UK a resource pack written by Ingrid Hesling, Nicola Grove and Paul Sartin and produced by Sedgmoor District Council, explains how storytelling was developed in their project with the use of story circles.
“One or two people take responsibility for setting the circle up and telling 2 or 3 stories, songs or poems.
The chairs are put in a circle so everyone can hear each other speak.
For elderly people, an hour is about right, with a break for refreshments half way through for 10-15 minutes. You can always go on longer if people are enjoying themselves and have stories to tell.”
Find out more at 'Oak Trees resource pack'.
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