CONTENTS


OPINION


with a learning disability, their family members and other carers. We may think of reminiscence as a


pleasurable opportunity to share memories, but such work equips practitioners with the skills to address troubled and painful memories that may emerge. It also suggests the value of using multisensory triggers to assist recall – sounds, smell, taste and touch. Prompts such as photographs, personal belongings, media, music or sound recordings may be used – and are available for diff erent cohorts from local or national sources. One of these is Untold Stories, a project that captures the lives and experiences of black and minority ethnic communities in Cambridgeshire. A major resource that has been active for more than 30 years is the charity Age Exchange in south London, whose most recent research is piloting a new form of reminiscence and arts practice for people receiving end-of-life care. Such resources are adding to the volume of


practical advice, suggestions, guidelines and evaluation techniques to assist reminiscence practice. The Social Care Institute for Excellence has produced ideas on this subject related to activity for people with dementia. Other authors are adding new thinking to the fi eld by suggesting the potential of technology to augment the repertoire of resources available to practitioners, such as the use of personal computers. Lloyd-Yeates (2012), for example, explains the potential of using iPads to provide visual cues. With this expansion of creativity it may be thought that reminiscence is secure in its position as a way to improve the quality of life for people who are fi nding it diffi cult to engage in other activities or who are experiencing distress. But its use of everyday materials and


communications means that it risks being seen as simply part of ordinary conversation, listening and communication. Some practitioners have found that constructing one session of activity as ‘reminiscence’ places it apart from ordinary communication, where references to the past and to memories may emerge naturally.


Points for practice


UPDATE


INTERVIEW


BOOKS Ways of handling such tensions are


illustrated by Thorne (2012), who describes how tea-time in a care home can be used as a relaxing opportunity to engage with residents about previous similar encounters and to draw them into social interaction. Thorne provides some practical tips, such as capitalising on the location, its lighting, heating and seating arrangements, and sets out topics that may be introduced, as well as making suggestions about resolving diffi culties between group members. Whether this is a therapy or a skilled handling of a social encounter depends on your defi nition and whether you believe that people with profound disabilities benefi t from skilled assistance to be included in activities and to have their identity confi rmed. Although much of the practice evidence


Social workers may want to


promote reminiscence therapy as part of a package of care and support


comes from work with people with dementia and with learning disabilities, a fi nal observation is that reminiscence is showing promise as part of narrative healing (see Androff (2012)). While we may be more familiar with this activity under the heading of truth and reconciliation work, Androff argues that the healing process draws on remembering the past and that skilled facilitation is needed to assist with trauma and confl ict that may emerge.


These issues may also arise in other forms


of reminiscence work and practitioners should draw on the resources that are now available to them in this work and should assist other providers to ensure that they enhance its benefi ts to people who lack abilities to engage in more general forms of reminiscence.


Setting down roots for


reminiscence in future


Jill Manthorpe is director of the Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King’s College London


THECOLLEGEOFSOCIALWORKMAGAZINE


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