Poets from Living Words worked with residents Carlton Dene in one to one sessions to create individual poetry books. This gave the opportunity for staff to witness a highly person-centred approach to working with people with limited expression. As the project progressed, staff were invited to training sessions to support them to continue the work in the home either through reading the poems again to the residents or through create new poems with residents. Some of the staff were invited to have a book made with them to experience the process for themselves. All the participants received their own bound book of poems with their choice of image on the cover. A celebration party took place, where Susanna spoke about the work and some of the residents’ poems were read. A post residency sharing took place with artists/researchers at Wellcome ‘Created Out of Mind’ Hub.

Similar projects have taken place at Forrester Court and Westmead care homes, the Butterworth Centre for Continuing Care and the former Tresham Day Centre; poetry has been presented at the launch of the Westminster Memory Service, the London Arts in Health Forum, the National Dementia Congress, English PEN, in the Journal of Dementia Care calendar and on Resonance FM.
'It was like offering a door onto another way to perceive our relationship with people affected by dementia' care staff member
The Things Between Us, a beautiful anthology of poetry from the residencies is available from Living Words price £10 +pp. We are currently helping Susanna to recruit for podcasts she is making with people living with dementia at the Created out of Mind Hub on a range of interesting subjects dealing with the intimacies and curiosities of life.