Book review: Reminiscence and Life Story Work: A Practice Guide

Reminiscence and Life Story Work: A Practice Guide
★★★★★

Faith Gibson
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
ISBN 9781849051514

This book would prove to be an invaluable tool to anyone involved in reminiscence work, from paid carers or family members to trained professionals, writes Ian Taylor.

There is a natural flow to the chapters, making it easy to follow, and each chapter takes you through specific learning outcomes, key points and application exercises along with well-referenced further reading topics.

I found there was a strong focus on the benefits of reminiscence work, looking at different client groups and group dynamics and working with couples and clients from different cultural backgrounds.

One of the key issues for me was the need to pre-plan sessions, not to carry them out ad hoc, and to vector into the plan any expected outcomes; however, if the opportunity does arise then an unprompted spontaneous session must be seized “as the moment may not come again”.

The chapters are very diverse, covering reminiscence work with many client groups including people who are depressed, those with learning disabilities and people with sensory impairments.  One of the areas covered that I found particularly interesting was carrying out reminiscence work with people who are coming to the end of their life and those recently bereaved, and how this helps to celebrate their life and also helps to deal with the loss and grief process.

Finally the instructions relating to staff training and the forms provided to document sessions will prove invaluable to anyone with supervisory responsibility for staff teams currently or wanting to engage in any form of reminiscence work.
 
Ian Taylor is a day centre manager for older people and people experiencing dementia.