How Life Story Can Help Someone Living with Dementia

As a person’s dementia progresses, depending on the type of dementia, their ability to remember things about their life decreases. When a person is unable to remember their life history, their sense of self and well-being can be impaired. People living with dementia may also experience communication difficulties which means they may need help with telling others important things about their lives.

Life story work can help the person feel valued as they chat with someone who is interested in finding out about their life. As well as capturing their personal stories, life story work creates a record of important information which can be shared with the family, friends, professional carers and staff in care homes and hospitals.

Everyone is an individual and capturing a person’s story can be done in a variety of different ways such as through books, scrapbooks, collages, videos, a memory box or downloadable apps. Life story work is not the same as creating a family tree or a historical record, so it does not matter if the chronology is not strictly correct.

Making a start can seem daunting. It can feel like you have reached a significant place in your journey with dementia that you may not feel comfortable with. But it can be a fun activity that all the family can get involved in.

Top tips:

If the person does not seem able to contribute much to their story, try to do everything you can to keep them involved.
Looking at photos, listening to music or watching film clips can help the person to think about their past and you may notice subtle changes in facial expression that can give you clues to how they might be feeling.
If creating a book or a memory box seems like too large a task, you could consider creating a one-page profile. This shorter version of a life story is often used in hospitals, helping staff to understand a person’s needs, allowing them to communicate and care for them in the best way possible.
Try not to focus on creating an end product, instead enjoy the process and above all else have fun!

Further sources of information can be found at the following organisations: