BLOGS
Life Lessons
I notice that I have been thinking a lot about ageing: How will I age? And the people I love? I notice this is confronting, uncomfortable, but I value it, as one of the lessons of this work. I worry about being more settled after my second visit to the care home. If I am…
Read MoreQuick, quick, quick, quick, quick
Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick. I am sitting in the corridor of the care home, after talking to D, who has been telling me about sitting with the coffin of his mother in Guyana when he was fourteen, to make sure that no-one stole it. You are a man now, his father told him. You…
Read MoreNew. Beginning.
I am new to the group. On my first day, I mostly listen and soak everything in, having to remind myself that Peter, Pippa and Shazea have known each other for just over a week. They talk of their experiences in the home, forging relationships, of taking care of themselves and of questions… Question after…
Read MoreThe story of ageing
Ageing is a project, a work of existential art, a story that one continues to write until one can write it no more – it does not end when one is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s by a doctor. Peter Whitehouse said this, in his book The Myth of Alzheimer’s where he urges us to change the…
Read MoreThoughts as they come…
Training four new Living Words team members gives me a gift I wasn’t expecting. I am witnessing the work in action on mass and it enables me to see its corners. I see the trust in the process that the writer has to ‘hand over’ to sit with a person. I see how speedily connections…
Read MoreSome first impressions…
I’m struck by what a complete world the care home is. That it has a culture of it’s own. When we walk into the first room the TV is on and four people sit very close but quite separate from one another. Three of them are sleeping. It strikes me how isolated this feels. I…
Read MoreFirst day in the care home…
“My mother’s name was Maria. My father’s name was Landert Adrianus. I have no sisters, only brothers, Willem, Johan, Hank, Piet, Klaus and Adrian. I love my brothers, they are good boys. I’m not a youngster anymore. I don’t even remember my age. But I do remember my name…”. I am sitting with A–, at…
Read MoreRe:New beginnings…
Yesterday we started Re:New – the first part of our ACE funded project Re:Generation. Re:New is our first group training. The team are being trained on site in the care home, alongside workshops and personal reflection in the rehearsal room. From a humbling 325 applicants, the 4 new Living Wordies are: Katherine Orr, Peter Salmon,…
Read MoreAging Care Blog
This month’s blog about what makes a care home ‘open’ – by Susanna for caregivers in the USA. Can be seen by clicking on the logo below:
Read MoreDes Kelly, National Care Forum
Des Kelly, Executive Director of National Care Forum wrote his blog this month with particular mention and endorsement of Living Words and Susanna. He also read one of the poems from THE THINGS BETWEEN US at the University of Kent’s Personhood and Dementia conference. Click here to see the full blog post.
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