Resonate

Poetry interventions for people living with a dementia in different settings

with Kathryn Gilfoy, Westminster Arts and Susanna Howard, Living Words

• Paint me a Poem – for people in their own homes at risk of isolation

• Come into the Garden – for people attending Memory Cafes• Living Words – one to one work in care homes

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• for people at all stages of care• links with other professionals • hands on arts projects• supported visits to arts events• staff, artist and volunteer

training• advice on arts based practice

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Paint me a Poem Befriending partners • Abbey Community Centre• Volunteer Centre Westminster• Octavia Housing• Westminster Mind

Arts partners• Royal Academy of Arts Access Officer• Poet in residence Pele Cox Edgar Degas [1870]

The Orchestra at the Opera

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Process • Befrienders visited the Degas

and Impressionist exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Arts

• They created poetry based on the pictures using a simple formula created by the poet in residence

• Given copies of their chosen pictures to use at the homes of their befriendees

• Created poetry with them using the same process

• Poetry collated into a booklet

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‘I felt a though I wanted to do it with all of the pictures’

‘It’s a brilliant idea!’ ‘The location really helped to get us in the right mood, wonderful guidance put us in the right direction and we just had a wonderful time – I could do this every Friday evening! I told my befriendee Marina about it – she smiled – it amused her!’ ‘An excellent evening, very entertaining, very educational. I think Eva will benefit from this more than a district nurse any day of the week – It’s just her bag’

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Memory of silence – after Edouard Manet, Interior at Arcachon

Silence, time, memory.A young man listens to the story of his mother’s past lifeIt reminds me of the days I spent listeningto my grandmother,listening to the story of her childhood,her love, her dreamsThe door of the room is opened,a beautiful landscape is revealed:the mountains and the seaThe colours and lights and darkA feeling of calm, silenceMaybe the feeling of freedomAnd life,Not to be forgottenThe papers, books and pictures – these thingsCan save our precious memories - Dilya and Gillian

ResonateClaude Monet, The Cliffs at Etretat [1885]

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Paint me a Poem poetry exercise: looking at the previous slide, Claude Monet, The Cliffs at Etretat :

Line 1 Think of three words or short phrases that describe the atmosphere in the picture Line 2 What do you think is happening in the picture? Line 3 Describe one detail in the picture (colours, textures, what someone is doing, what you imagine they are saying/thinking)Line 4 What does the picture make you think of? Maybe something in your own life or someone you know, or something that happened Line 5 Describe another detail in the picture Line 6 How do you feel about the picture, do you like it? Line 7 Choose one strong word from your last line and use the same word again in another sentence Line 8 Is there anything in your own life/house that you can connect with the picture? Line 9 And/or is there anything that you see a bit differently now you have looked at this picture?

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Come into the Garden • poet Di Sherlock• Memory Café Westminster• My Memories Café, Kensington

& Chelsea• Event at Victoria library• Reading and poetry workshop at My Memories Café• Book created• Reading at Kensington &

Chelsea Age UK health fair

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Questions to ask your partner • what do you most like to do in a garden?• have you ever had a garden or looked after one?• have you ever eaten something you have grown?• what is your favourite green space?• what do you most like about going there?• what sort of things grew where you grew up?• what are your favourite fruit and vegetables now?

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Living Words

• we are writers and actors• we run care and nursing home residencies• we respond with publications, readings & performances

RESIDENCIES• one-to-one interventions with people with a dementia• minimum of 8 – 12 weeks• creation of individual Living Words wordbooks• staff training & development• celebration event• whole care/nursing home approach

In partnership with Resonate, residencies incl. Westmead, Carlton Dene, Forrester Court care homes; Butterworth Centre for Continuing care; & Meadows House, Kidbrooke.

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• ‘Listen Out Loud’ methodologyquality of attention: silence; eye contact; validation

• practical concernsmanagement support; supervision; evaluation

• artist training programme‘It’s not an exaggeration to say that this work has changed my life. Being trained in a well honed & ethical process means this field

can expand, rather than us artists reinventing the wheel. Without the structure & support (going in blind) I would have felt out of my depth, & that’s not fair on me or the participants’

Shazea Quraishi, poet & Living Words artist

You listen - at a different levelCos we happen - on a different level

Christine, participant

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Publications and performances www.livingwords.org.uk/visuals/

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King Or Queen

It’s called ‘Patient Condition’You must not just say ‘Good morning’, ‘Goodbye’It minimizes the relationshipTry and appraise, interestTenderness, consciousness, confidence The fact you are sharing with them Uplift the feeling ‘Feel better already’,Make us feel humanNot just a dummy.Pretend you have all the timeIn the worldWe will feel like King or Queen

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Read the poem in your pairs and then discuss your responses to the following questions:

1. What is the person saying?

2. Do you notice anything unusual or interesting in the language used?

3. What can you take from it and use in your daily practice?

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‘How did we not know these emotions of our residents? We are using their word books to help their care planning’. Isabel Nyirenda, Manager, Meadows House, Kidbrooke, London.

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PARTICIPANTS• ‘We got to be a goldmine practically - of words!’ • ‘You listen to me. I don’t feel so mad’• ‘She got me, the book is me’• ‘This is like medicine for me’

RELATIVES• ‘I can’t tell you how much Dad’s book of words about how he is feeling means to me…I thought this communication would have been beyond him!’

• ‘[my mum] carries it [her book] with her all the time and it brings her comfort.’

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With thanks to our funders

• City Bridge Trust• Central London Clinical Commissioning Group• West London Clinical Commissioning Group• Hammersmith & Fulham Clinical Commissioning Group

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Kathryn Gilfoy Director, Westminster Artskathryn@westminsterarts.org.ukwww.westminsterarts.org.uk020 7321 2702

Susanna Howard Director, Living Wordsinfo@livingwords.org.ukwww.livingwords.org.uk@LivingWordsUK