Reminiscence is the practice of improving communication with older people by engaging them in conversation using sensory stimuli as triggers to spark memories. Talking about the present can be very stressful for people with short term memory loss. Reminiscence is a way to comfortably travel back to the older person’s past and allows them to share their memories of life when they were younger.
It is widely recognised that older people, particularly those affected by memory loss, can engage and communicate very successfully if the conversation sparks a memory from their past and they are given the opportunity to recall the details of that memory.
Finding the Fun in Dementia
How reminiscence can be a shared activity at home
This resource has been written by Karen Meenan in collaboration with Engaging Dementia. In it Karen shares her experience of reminiscence and how it enabled her family to help her mother experience fun and joy in the years following a diagnosis with Alzheimer’s.
It will be available as a free downloadable booklet
It has been produced thanks to sponsorship from Home Instead Senior Care Ballsbridge
Spirituality Sessions
Meeting the spiritual needs of the older person is an intrinsic part of holistic, person-centred care.
Engaging Dementia seeks to enable care providers to develop a more enriched spiritual care environment in which older dependent people have their spiritual needs met.
Spirituality is highly individual and so spiritual care delivery must be tailored to the needs of each person.
Our goals are:
- To create within the care environment a raised consciousness and an informed sense of responsiveness to the spiritual needs of the older dependent adult.
- To provide resources, training and events that will facilitate the creation and maintenance of service responses and environments where carers engage from the first point of contact, and subsequently in all interactions, with the older person about those intangible elements of their lives which are hugely meaningful to them.
- The development of an approach to facilitate recognition and response to the unique spiritual needs of older people at end of life that acknowledges diversity and values the right to access (or receive) spiritual supports.
Resources
Serenity Spirituality Sessions is a 7-piece box-set of CDs and materials that has been designed to support and enhance older people’s Christian spiritual wellbeing. The first of its kind, Serenity is a tool that carers can use to provide care that encompasses the spirit of the older person.
The Ciúnas Collection is a series of traditional Catholic hymns and prayers. The collection includes a double CD, DVD and two booklets.
