John Killick has been the Writer in Residence and Poet Mentor on several Poetry and Dementia projects over the last 25 years. He currently runs a residential Poetry and Dementia course in Wales.

Described as a practical guide, it is easy to read and yet conveys the complexity of the effects of the condition dementia and ways of using poetry effectively. His understanding and experience of the work gives authority to his explanation and I found it easy to grasp. [...] I felt that Killick summed up what is now the fundament of my practice when working with people of dementia, 'Acts of kindness are what people with dementia need'

• Part One: Introductory. Part Two: Reading Poetry. 2.1 What Poems to Choose. 2.2. Building a Programme. Part Three: Writing Poetry. 3.1. Group-Work and One-to-Ones. 3.2. How to Run Groups. 3.3. Examples of Group-Work Poems. 3.4. Why Do One-to-Ones? 3.5. How to do One-to-Ones? 3.6. The Art of Listening. 3.7. The Art of Transcribing. 3.8. The Art of Editing. 3.9. Ways of Sharing. 3.10. The Present Moment. 3.11. Portraits. Part Four: Issues Arising. 4.1. Ownership of Poems. 4.2. Truth-Telling. 4.3. Aims and Objects. 4.4. Therapeutic Approaches. 4.5. Support for the Poet. 4.6. Evaluation. Part Five: Postscript. Part Six: Resources. 6.1. Recommendations and References. 6.2. Books and Articles. 6.3. Organizations and Websites.