I so love these 2 amazing people–and all their stories. I am in the process of getting certified by the Alzheimer’s Association in quality care of dementia and Alzheimer’s patients.ĭad and Z in summer 2013. My 84-year-old dad has lived in a memory unit of an assisted living facility for nearly 3 years, and I’ve enjoyed learning more stories from him, even as some memories fade. I will share art exercises that foster connections and evoke memories. I’ll provide an overview of experience with Alzheimer’s patients in early, middle, and later stages, as well as those with no Alzheimer’s symptoms. The goal is to engage through focused creativity, understanding the realities of the brain’s changes over time. The workshop will help clients reminisce and tell their stories in creative, meaningful ways–maybe not the traditional presentations, but valuable and enduring nonetheless. Some activities are particularly suited for clients in early or later stages of dementia, when getting a sense of personal stories can be difficult yet sought after and still valuable. Activities include writing prompts, color, paints, markers, photos, ephemera, and more. A range of activities and techniques will be shown, tailored to a variety of clients. Here’s the description from my APH proposal: This “hands on” workshop will provide innovative, enjoyable activities related to art, engaging clients in stories and triggering memories. Sometimes we need to look at new ways to re-create and re-frame stories, in a way that honors and respects both the story and the storyteller. I’ve been building a new business model based in helping people tell their stories: even when information is missing, there are wonderful stories to be told, shared, and preserved. While my professional background is in social services advocacy, I have been trained as a facilitator of ethical/spiritual wills, and have presented writing workshops related to personal stories. In recent years, I’ve been working on ways to combine my love of storytelling, writing, and art–both for the sheer joy of it and for income. To anyone thinking about branching into new areas of creativity and work, I say: Go for it. I’m thrilled to share that my workshop “Art-Full Storytelling: Drawing Out Clients” has been selected as one of 25 to be presented at the 2014 conference of the Association of Personal Historians (APH).
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