The Reminiscence Project
Participating families, staff and volunteers gathered together to launch the Collected Stories from The Reminiscence Project book at Carefor Carling Day Program.
The Reminiscence Project is an action learning program that took place at Carefor Health & Community Services Carling Day Program in Ottawa during the winter months of 2014-2015. The project brought together staff, volunteers, participants at the day program who are living with dementia, and their families.
During The Reminiscence Project nine program participants were each joined by a staff member or volunteer to record a story featuring a special time, place or person from their past. In their evaluation of the project, all of the participating staff and volunteers, without exception, highlighted this very special relationship and what they gained from it.
Here are some of their highlights!
An experience of camaraderie
Doug's story took us to his family's hunting camp in Hearst, Ontario, where, on one famous occasion, his pastry chef dad baked an upside-down cake. Dave, Program Staff at Carling Day Program, explains the camaraderie that he and Doug shared:
“I mean when you said choose first love or baking, did you imagine a hunting trip coming out of that? I wouldn’t have. Of all things, right! And I guarantee his dad wasn’t feeling well that day. That’s why he stayed home to bake. Because you don’t go to the bush, to a hunting camp, to bake.. Well, although.. he must have brought the ingredients, now that I think about it. It’s a great story and I saw the look on Doug’s face. He was digging it.
I guess what surprised me was Doug’s recall and fondness for the hunting camp. He had some very specific memories: the picnic table, the bunk beds, the Russian carpenter, even his dad cooking that day. The picnic table - I thought that was real cool. He built it too big to fit out the door or window. Smart! Because I can tell you first hand, if you leave a picnic table out in the middle of the bush during hunting season, it’s gone.
I think Doug knew he was talking to another hunter. So there was a camaraderie there.”
A sense of accomplishment
Mary became the first woman to graduate in mechanical engineering at McGill University. Here, Angela and Mary look through the 1946 McGill Yearbook downloaded from the Internet.
“Just to see how everything came together and how the family reacted to Mary telling her story. It was wonderful to see how happy and proud she was. I couldn’t help thinking, ‘I helped make that happen!’”
Truly uplifting!
During her teen years, Shirley was a majorette for the Orange Order of Canada. Here she shows Shirley (Program Staff) how to twirl a baton!
“I very much appreciated the time spent ‘one-on-one’ with Shirley. It was wonderful seeing her eyes light up when memories were brought back. The visits with each other were truly uplifting.”
The same background and lifestyle
“We have the same background. It’s rural and its farming. My grandparents and my parents were farmers. My father was just a bit older than Eli. I grew up on the farm. I didn’t leave home until I was 18. That was my life. Like Eli, I remember the hobos coming off the train. Working with him we had that connection: a shared understanding of our background and lifestyle.”
A 'community of memory'
Pam Schweitzer writes about a 'community of memory' that arises in reminiscence work, in which people speak of 'we' rather than 'I' (Schweitzer, 2007). This was certainly our experience during The Reminiscence Project. On one memorable occasion, as Eli was describing life on the farm, Thelma asked, 'Are we related? We lived the same way!"
Collected Stories from The Reminiscence Project
Thelma and Eli's stories are just two of the nine life stories assembled into a collected volume, Collected Stories from The Reminiscence Project. The volume includes photographs from the project as well as guidelines for using the stories in a recreational setting.
Bibliography
Schweitzer, P. (2007) Reminiscence Theatre: Making Theatre from Memories. London: Jessica Kingsley.