Nature in Verse

Direct contact with natural things and being outdoors provides, in my opinion, the best way to connect with nature as well as providing natural, sensory spaces for social interaction.  On occasion, however, that's not always possible.  To help in those instances we provide alternative creative ways in which people with dementia and their carers can access nature through less direct contact.  Not as emotionally connecting but strong enough to allow people to socially connect through conversation.

One example is our nature poetry game in which we use the throw of the dice to determine the choice of a nature-based word.  We have been using this approach in various Memory Cafes in Cornwall. In small groups, people take turns throwing the dice until each group has between 5 - 8 words.  Each group is tasked with creating one verse for the whole poem.  They create 5 or 6 lines for their verse based around the selected words.

It is these nature-based words stimulating people to recollect their memories of nature that help make the connections; not just between people and outdoor places but between individuals, because nature-themed memories help create shared experiences and/or interests.  Memories need not be solely associated with learning about someone's past.  They are an introduction to help  us better understand the life of an individual in the present and from there it's just a step to a conversation about future hopes and dreams.......but that's another post on another day!

Back to connecting with nature through verse.   If you've read previous posts you'll have seen the two poems created by the Bude and St. Austell Memory Cafes (see previous post 'Poetry for the Senses' 4th April 2014).  Truro Memory Cafe members recently joined this list of budding bards.  Their poem is below along with the poems created by Bude and St. Austell Memory Cafes.....just to save you from going back to a previous post!

To see how these poems have been created follow this LINK to our short film of the activity on YouTube.

Poetry for the senses

Bude and St. Austell Memory Cafe members have been showing how creative the brain can be, using mental stimulation within the memory 'landscape' that nature can provide.

I ran a Nature's Poetry activity at both cafes and here are the outstanding finished poems.  Members sat in small groups with one person to scribe and each group developed their own verses which were later put together.  I hope you enjoy reading their creative pieces....they should be proud of their work, it's humerous, reminiscent, creative and hopefully inspiring to other dementia support groups/memory cafes or dementia carers who are looking for new ways to support and stimulate people living with dementia.

Wendy

Creative Spaces in the Community Project Manager

Human connections

In a recent radio interview about Creative Spaces, I related the story of Nancy and the garden urn to Marjorie, the host presenter on Radio St. Austell Bay.  This story is about one of several meaningful moments which led to the creation of the Creative Spaces project.

Seven years ago, we ran an activity afternoon for a group of Cornwall Care residents and staff.  As part of the activity, everyone had selected an image relating to outdoors and was asked to describe why that particular image was important to them. Nancy had chosen an image of a garden urn; she liked the way it had been made and it's shape.  As the conversation progressed she compared it's shape to stages in life. This is what she said:

This is like when you're born (the base of the urn).  As your life fills with friends, husband, children, houses and things it gets fuller (the body of the urn).  Then you grow older; your children leave home, your husband dies, friends move away (the tapering of the urn's neck) and you move to a smaller home and of course this (the open top of the urn) - this is when death releases you.  

Her words demonstrated she had re-connected with her life and made a connection with us....and all through a photograph of a garden urn.  It made me think....if this could happen through a picture, imagine what strong connections people with dementia could make with other people, through meaningful conversations, in outdoor environments where features/landscapes/activities are real, where they can be immersed in sensory and social stimulation? 

Marjorie was moved by Nancy's story and asked if she could write a poem based upon it. She connected with Nancy through hearing the story and strengthened that connection through writing this poem.  In reading it you are also,in a way, connected with these women.   I wonder how far these connections will spread?

THE URN 2nd March by Marjorie Fenston James.

I gaze at photo of Urn.

Is it Greek or Roman

Or modern!

They once made pots to hold wine and oil.

Now I see story of my Life. Birth

in the Base molded by Mother.

Development of Childhood.

Gradually widening in experience.

The child grows, learns each day

Storing facts on the way.

Then teenage years of joy and pain

Memories flood back again.

Marriage, husband and wife

Curve of Pot brings fullness of Life.

Children come as the years progress,

filling the urn with happiness.

Experience and work takes its toll

Like the pot, years pass in a roll.

The Urn narrows.

Children flee the nest.

Time for more peace and rest.

Of feeding bird, watch flowers in garden.

Funneling back to Spiritual realms

The Urn..symbolic of Life's rich pattern.

Wendy

Creative Spaces Project Manager

To Brighton and beyond

The UK Dementia Congress begins in Brighton tomorrow evening and I'll be making my way there to give a presentation on the project on Wednesday afternoon; specifically the use of the poems and their digital representations as methods of evaluation.

Karen Hayes, the poet involved will be there to talk about the process that she uses and we'll also be showing 2 of the films during our session.

The full show reel of all 6 short films will be on view during the lunchtime period.

This is a great opportunity to get the Creative Spaces message to a wider audience and I hope it leads to more conversations with care professionals about the use of outdoor spaces as places to connect people.

I'll let you know how it all went next week.

Wendy

Project Manager

National Lottery Awards - vote now!

There's a mixture of mayhem and jubilation in the office at the moment.  Creative Spaces has been short-listed for a National Lottery Award!  Along with 9 other projects we are in the semi finals for the Best Health  Project category and up for public voting.

This means that from yesterday until midnight on the 22nd July we need your help to get this project through to the final and to have the opportunity to raise awareness on a national scale of all that the project has achieved.

And by that I mean the achievements by everyone involved; the people with dementia, the young people, carers (professional and non-professional), volunteers, community members and health and social care professionals in Cornwall who have all contributed to the success of the project, as well as our combined team of the Sensory Trust and Cornwall Care.


Please support us and help us to highlight this project and the importance of outdoor environments in reconnecting people with dementia with their communities and increasing public understanding.


You can vote through the National Lottery Awards website or phone 0844 836 9705


Thank you for your support; fingers crossed!








Wendy
Creative Spaces Project Manager

Nuns and neighbourhoods

A couple of snippets of information that I'd like to share today; otherwise I'll forget and it'll be weeks before I remember again!

The first is all about the Big Care Home Conversation.  This is an opportunity for you to provide your thoughts on what's great about living in a care home today, what could make it better and how that could be achieved.   The information is being gathered on the My Home Life website. Their aim is to use the comments provided by people with dementia, carers, relatives, friends etc to influence our government in the decision-making process of delivering good quality care in residential care/nursing homes.  Click the link HERE and follow the instructions. Take some time whilst you're there to read the leaves already on the tree; there are many that talk about providing residents with increased, meaningful social interaction and greater involvement in decision-making within the home, better training for staff and making the most of volunteers.  Sounds similar to our aims in Creative Spaces to me!

Whilst you're here, take a moment to read this e-newsletter from Richard Taylor.  I heard him talk at the ADI Conference in London earlier in March.  He's a straight talker and very passionate about raising awareness of dementia, of sharing information and ideas globally. In this e-newsletter Richard has included several interesting articles. Not that he hasn't in previous e-newsletters, but there were several articles in this one that I found particularly relevant to this project and the work of the Sensory Trust.

There's the research previously undertaken of a group of nuns living in a convent in Minnesota; many living into their 90s and even 100s+  (I'm just off to find a local convent); an award-winning poetry project used to facilitate the creativity of people with dementia (that sounds familiar) and finally a piece about poor design principles that have negative impacts on neighbourhoods, isolating older people in their communities and reducing opportunities for social interaction (a topic very close to the hearts of everyone here at the Sensory Trust).


Wendy
Creative Spaces Project Manager

Dementia Uncovered

Over the past few weeks we've been working with Karen Hayes; a poet with particular experience in working with people with dementia and creating poems using their own words.  Karen's been spending time at Trevarna nursing home, having conversations with the residents about the garden and recording every word. Think of it as the individuals being the authors and Karen their scribe and editor. From all this work she'll create poems that will show us how increased access to outdoor spaces and the community has impacted on them.

Out of this work has arisen an exciting new project in which we're looking for digital media artists, based in Cornwall, to represent a selection of Karen's poems in various formats.  Interested?  Then check out more information on our website HERE where you can also download the full brief and details on how to apply.


Wendy
Creative Spaces Project Manager