Dementia Care

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Vol 5 No 6 December 2016/January 2017 Australian Journal of Dementia Care 9
a campaign to encourage people
to set up a ‘Small Acts of Love’
wall in their organisation to
document the ways inwhich
staff recognise and support the
importance of love in the lives of
people with dementia.
Mahatma Gandhi famously
said “Where there is love there is
life”. Recognising the
importance of love in the lives of
people living with dementia
provides us with an important
opportunity to build quality of
life.
Symposium details
Date: 14-15 February, 2017.
Venue: Mechanics Institute Ballarat,
Victoria.
Presented by: The OPAL Institute.
Speakers: All the speakers are either
people with dementia, their family
members or friends/supporters, and
include Anne Tudor, Edie Mayhew,
John Quinn, Glenys Petrie, Helen
Diamond, Anne Zuberick, Joan Brick,
Mari and Jac, Teresa
Chorazyczewski, Douglas Taylor and
Virginia Sampson
),
a US author who writes on the
subject of compassion.
Registration now open:
a-and-love.html
Dr Catherine Barrett is the Director
of Celebrate Ageing, a national
program building respect for older
people. The program includes: the
OPAL Institute, promoting older
people’s sexual rights; The Tea Cosy
Project, using art and story to engage
the community in addressing ageism;
and Alice’s Garage, empowering
older LGBTI Australians. Catherine
began working with older people over
30 years ago as a nurse in residential
aged care and has spent most of the
past decade undertaking research on
sexuality and ageing. She left
academia in 2016 to establish the
self-funded Celebrate Ageing
Program. Contact her at:
References
Department of Health (2015) National
framework for action on dementia
2015-2019. Available at:
Alzheimer’s Australia NSW (2014) A
guide to becoming a dementia-
friendly community. Available at:
Alzheimer’s Australia (2014)Living
with dementia in the community:
challenges and opportunities. A
report of national survey findings.
Available at:
Of the many ways in
which people with
dementia can be offered
opportunities to maintain and
even enhance their
functioning, creative
expression through the arts
has increasingly come to be
seen as a significant one.
Not only does it tap into the
emotional side of people’s
natures, still relatively
untouched by the condition,
but it offers a wide choice of
communicative approaches,
verbal and non-verbal, and
often in symbolic form,
increasing the chances of
finding a medium to suit the
individual. Amongst its
positives are: giving pleasure,
providing occupation,
developing a sense of flow,
achievement through the
process, and satisfaction if
there is an end-product. One
of the most important
characteristics is the process of
taking the personal and giving
it objective form, so that
experience can be looked at
and evaluated. The need for
this in people who are coming
to terms with changes in their
psyches and in their
circumstances cannot be
overestimated.
Small and large projects
specifically designed for
people with dementia are
proliferating, some traditional,
others experimental in
approach. It is difficult to
choose one person to embody
activity across the field, but I
have settled on an artist,
proficient in storytelling and
drama, who has also made a
contribution to the theoretical
development of the subject.
Anne Basting is Professor of
Theatre at the University of
Wisconsin, Milwaukee, in the
US. As an educator, scholar
and artist for nearly 20 years,
she has developed and
researched methods for
embedding the arts into long-
term care, especially for
people with cognitive
disabilities.
The TimeSlips program
One of Anne’s major
achievements is creating the
TimeSlips Creative
Storytelling program
( . This
stems from a recognition that
we all need to tell our own,
and share others’, stories, none
more than the elderly
experiencing memory-loss.
Primarily, though, TimeSlips is
not about reminiscence,
though memory may play a
part. It harnesses imagination
in the moment – stories,
individual or group, just take
off and soar. The process is a
basic one: a prompt is
provided, often a picture or an
object, and participants are
asked a series of open-ended
questions; all responses are
entered on a flipchart or
board. These form the basis for
a narrative that can go in any
direction. An important rule is
that no contribution offered
can be rejected; all are
absorbed into the whole.
Anne claims that research
shows this simple formula
can:
• Increase the quality and
quantity of interaction
between staff and residents
in care settings.
• Improve staff and student
attitudes to people with
dementia.
• Improve affect with and
between people with
dementia.
• Reduce medication use.
• Decrease distressed
behaviours.
• Reduce stigma.
The TimeSlips technique has
been promulgated by means
of videos, manuals and
training, and is now used
throughout the US and nine
other countries, including
Australia.
One activities coordinator
sums up the achievement in
the following words: “I am
thrilled that storytelling can be an
outlet for one resident’s fears and
frustrations, and that it gives
them a voice! It is just an
incredible way to boost self-
esteem and build meaningful
relationships”.
The Penelope Project
One of the great virtues of
Anne’s approach is the
consistency of development
that she has shown over a
considerable period of time:
from the original formulation
The story of dementia:
Anne Basting John Killick continues
his series of articles
exploring the history of
dementia through the
stories of individuals
Professor Anne Basting
and TimeSlips participants.
Photo: John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation