Recommended Reading Page 2

  -  John Killick and Myra Schneider

(Published by Continuum International Publishing Group 2010 (ISBN 978-1-8470-6252-9 paperback). The introduction to the book states: “We wrote this book because of our conviction that everyone has people, events, thoughts, feelings ‘buried inside’ and that there are ways of bringing these to the surface so that they can be examined, shaped and perhaps offered to others. In ‘Writing Your Self’ we explore this concept in depth with a wide variety of examples from known and unknown writers illustrating the achievements possible in this area.”

There is a chapter on ‘Spirituality’ and John Burnside, Poet and Reader in Creative Writing, University of St Andrew’s wrote of the book: “Throughout history, communities and individuals have renewed and preserved their sense of identity and shared riches by telling stories. To tell any story is a spiritual act: to tell our own stories is both liberation and challenge, and, at crucial points in our passage through life, words can either magnify or diminish the soul’.

Writing Your Self

Training Manual for Care Homes

For the holistic care of Older People by Gaynor Hammond on behalf of Faith in Elderly People Leeds, in association with Christian Council on Ageing. This is aimed at assisting staff understand the nature of spiritual needs and how to meet them. It arises out of extensive work in the care of older people, including people with dementia. Good quality care takes into account the physical, emotional and spiritual dimensions of health. While most caregivers are familiar with recognising, implementing and evaluating physical and emotional care, the spiritual aspect is more difficult to identify and assess. This guidance given in this booklet is about cultivating an approach to providing care, which weaves spiritual care throughout the whole of care giving. This is one of a series of excellent booklets available from Faith in Elderly People Leeds c/o Gaynor Hammond, 29 Silverdale Ave, GUISELEY LS20 8BD.

Dementia Rights

Alzheimer’s Scotland has produced a Charter of Rights for People with Dementia and their Carers in Scotland. To obtain a copy and to register your support visit www.alzscot.org

Telling Tales about Dementia:

Experiences of Caring edited by Lucy Whitman (Jessica Kingsley: 2010)

Telling Tales about Dementia is a collection of accounts written by people caring for persons with dementia. To me, the foreword by Joanna Trollope sets a rather unfortunate ‘dread’ tone for what follows, but in her editorial role Lucy Whitman provides both an overview of the book, and her concluding thoughts about what we should learn from the individual contributions. Telling Tales should appeal both to those providing support (whether in family or formal capacities) and those who are responsible for making decisions about services. It is more difficult to say how a person who is themselves living with dementia might respond to this material. One of the strengths of the book is its diversity, including stories from people who are in a range of family relationships, friendships and same-sex partnerships, writing about people with dementia who are widely various in their personalities, backgrounds and lifestyles. There are accounts written from different cultural and religious perspectives, as well as situations involving younger persons with dementia. This variety is important as in such a collection there is inevitably a degree of overlap in the shape of many of the contributions, from the appearance of problems, through the process of obtaining help and into the experience of ‘care’. On reading a book like this one learns to brace oneself for raw accounts of the losses which go along with dementia, the hugely difficult and complex situations people have to deal with, and painful examples of lamentably poor care or even abuse. There is a great deal of honesty and directness here, and the very real pain, anger and guilt which those close to the person with dementia experience as a result comes through loud and clear. But there are also examples of highly sensitive and loving interventions, as well as precious and sustaining moments of shared joy, humour and gratitude. These remind us that dementia does not have to be all about deterioration and grief, and there are many opportunities to learn and grow.

Themes which are of particular interest from a spiritual point of view include descriptions of how the continued or renewed practice of faith has been important for both the person at the centre and those who are supporting them. But there are also broader themes which attest to the centrality of spirituality in the experience of dementia. Rosemary Clarke writes of finding ways to connect with her mother in what would seem to many a hopeless situation, and Barbara Pointon describes how she continued to communicate with her husband through music, and other sensory experiences. And Steve Jeffery conveys the humour inherent in his relationship with his mother, and how important it was to write down her words when she was still able to speak.

Dementia is a condition which challenges us to revisit our values about what it is to be human, and Anna Young’s reflections on the nature of personhood and close relationships, and how her ideas about these have changed as a result of supporting her husband, Crispian, through dementia provides one of the most thought-provoking passages in a book

I am glad to have read, and can certainly recommend, this book to others.

Kate Allan

Click on the image below to download our

latest newletter.