Facilitating Spiritual Reminiscence for People with Dementia

Elizabeth MacKinlay is a registered nurse and an Anglican priest. She was the inaugural Director of the Centre for Ageing and Pastoral Studies at St Mark's National Theological Centre, Canberra, and is a Professor in the School of Theology, Charles Sturt University. Elizabeth was Chair of the ACT Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing ending her term in 2008 and the ACT Senior Australian of the Year for 2009.Corinne Trevitt is a registered nurse and Academic Associate at the Centre for Ageing and Pastoral Studies in the School of Theology, Charles Sturt University, Australia. Corinne has worked in Australia and the United Kingdom and has a background in nursing, research and teaching with an emphasis on issues of ageing. Corinne has published in the areas of spirituality for older adults with dementia and clinical teaching strategies.Elizabeth and Corinne are co-authors of Finding Meaning in the Experience of Dementia: The Place of Spiritual Reminiscence Work, also published by JKP.

We are the stories we tell and the stories that others tell about us. One of the great fears that surrounds dementia is that in forgetting our stories we somehow forget ourselves. This of course is not the case. God holds our stories even when we no longer can. But it does, at times, feel as if our stories are somehow slipping away. MacKinlay and Trevitt recognise that this is not the case. In this engaging and deeply practical book, they seek to explore creative ways in which the stories of people with dementia can be discovered and narrated well even in the midst of very difficult circumstances. This is a wonderful resource.

• Preface. Part 1. Learning about working with people who have dementia: communicating, story, spirituality and spiritual reminiscence. 1. Spiritual care. 2. Dementia. 3. Communication. 4. Reminiscence work. 5. Spiritual reminiscence. 6. The process of small group spiritual reminiscence. Part 2. The weekly sessions of spiritual reminiscence. 7. Week 1 Life-meaning. 8. Week 2 Relationship, isolation and connecting. 9. Week 3 Hopes, fears and worries. 10. Week 4 Growing older and transcendence. 11. Week 5 Spiritual and religious beliefs. 12. Week 6 Spiritual and religious practice. Appendix 1. Group topics for spiritual reminiscence. Appendix 2. Spiritual reminiscence and older people, a small group process: Information for intending participants, staff and families. References.