About Reminiscence Work  by Pam Schweitzer

Reminiscence is the act or process of recalling and sharing one's memories, and is a normal part of everyday life for most people of all ages. In their later years, however, people often lose those with whom they have most in common, whether through bereavement or geographical separation, leaving them feeling very alone with their memories. It can therefore be very enjoyable and helpful to join in more structured reminiscence sessions with others of a similar age and background to share memories and to make new friendships and connections, stimulated and supported by a group leader.

Over the last twenty-five years, there has been a considerable growth in reminiscence activity with older people. Its benefits in terms of health and social well-being have become more and more valued as it is clearly an effective way of retracing, reviewing and reflecting back over a lifetime's experience in order to achieve a sense of completeness and resolution.

Community building
Sharing memories with others from a similar background generates a strong sense of belonging to a community and having a valued role within it.

Cultural integration
Reminiscence is also a means of celebrating difference, bringing communities with different racial, cultural and religious backgrounds together to exchange life experience.

Combating isolation
Loss of partners and close friends in later life can lead to isolation and withdrawal. Reminiscence offers a means of inclusion in a desirable social group which shares a common life experience.

Friendship
Pleasurable contact through sharing common memories can become the basis for new friendships between participants in the present.

Finding perspective
Having an opportunity to share and reflect on one's experience of life in a supportive atmosphere increases people's sense of identity, their sense of who they are. It helps people to integrate the different parts of their life into a more meaningful whole.

A sense of history
Sharing stories with people of the same generation or with much younger people helps to develop a sense of oneself as a participant in the great social and historical upheavals of the last century.

Respect
In reminiscence everyone is the expert on his or her own life and is recognised as an individual with unique experience to impart.

Stimulation
Being in a group where the memories are shared can stimulate the recall of long-forgotten experiences and put participants back in touch with parts of their lives which are pleasurable to remember.

Psychological support
Where memories are painful, it can be helpful to find others who can relate to one's own past struggles, so one does not have to feel so alone in suffering.

Creativity
Encouraging people to explore their memories through creative activities is pleasurable for participants and entertaining for anyone with whom they may wish to share their results.

Empowerment
Reminiscence work with people with special needs, and especially older people with dementia, can help to build self-confidence and independence by concentrating on strengths and creating opportunities for success.
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Whatever the theme of a reminiscence session, it is important to offer different types of sensory stimulation in order to help people remember. Objects familiar to group members from earlier days are a good starting point and they can stimulate many senses. For example, an old hand-made shopping basket will have a smell, a texture, a design, a weight when empty and full, a physical association with carrying and shopping, and a taste connection with food purchased in the past in markets and shops. Objects also have different associations for different people, so that comparing one person's memory of going shopping with someone else's will be a way of conjuring up their different backgrounds and communities.

Often objects provide a more relaxing starting point than questions, provided they are chosen with care and are culturally appropriate to the group members. Here are some of the sources of stimulation, which can help to make reminiscence sessions varied and enjoyable.

Example of a 'memory box'

Sight
Photos, films, paintings and colours, maps, flags and symbols, diagrams, technical drawings, posters, skies, growing things.

Sounds
Songs, familiar and unfamiliar music, bird and animal sounds, weather (storms, wind, rain), sounds of trains and ships, machinery noise.

Words
Place names, famous people, stories, scandals, proverbs and poems

Tastes
Food, drink, sweets, medicine, cooking and baking, unusual or foreign foods to try, old recipes remembered from childhood.

Smell
Medicine, perfume, make-up, cleaning agents, mothballs, herbs, spices, cooking smells, flowers, trees and countryside smells, coal and wood burning.

Touch
Contrasting textures, contrasting temperatures (warm and cold), different fabrics, human touch, food ingredients, animals to stroke, babies to cuddle, clothes to handle and fold.

Movement
Games, dance, mime, greetings, gestures, work movements such as typing, sewing, lifting, digging, religious rituals.
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Inter-cultural work
Not all elders find themselves spending their later years in the company of people who share their language and culture, especially if their work or their family attachments have involved them in moving away from London, Birmingham or one of the other big cities. They are likely to be sharing a day centre or sheltered house or club room with old people born in Britain, or coming from many different parts of the world. Reminiscence can be very beneficial as a means of bringing out the things these old people have in common with their neighbours, and enjoying some of the special and different stories of their own lives.

A small reminiscence group session

Preparation and background reading
For the reminiscence group leader who wishes to include people from different backgrounds in their sessions it is helpful to have some background to draw on to encourage conversation if the older person needs prompting. It is reassuring too for the older person if they gather that the group leader is genuinely interested in them and their background.

Here are some practical ways for group leaders to prepare:
Find a map (through the local library or off the Internet) that locates the home country of the elder in relation to the rest of the world. Is it an island or part of a mainland? Is it mountainous or flat? What is the nearest big city or landmark which some of the rest of the group might know of?

Find images of the home country, again either through the local library or on the Internet, so the elder has a starting point and the other group members can form a clearer picture of the person's homeland and their journey to Britain.

Find out a little about the history of the country. Does it have historical ties with Britain through a colonial past? Or was there a conflict in the home country that led to the older person seeking refuge in Britain? This does not need to be very detailed information, but enough for the group leader to be able to deal sensitively with issues which may crop up in the group.

Check the religious background of the individuals involved, and find out the key beliefs, observances and festivals of that religion. Again, this knowledge will be helpful in finding common threads, such as festivals of light in the winter months and harvest festivals when the crops are ready.

Try to find a couple of objects which are specific to the culture of the person you wish to introduce to the group, so there is a starting point. Maybe the older person will have something themselves, an object or photo from their homeland or from their early days in Britain, which has a story attached to it. If not, the local museum of cultural centre may be able to help, or you could even find a fruit or vegetable which is grown and cooked in that country.

Try to have some one-to-one communication with the older person before working with the group. If there is some connection and relationship established it will ease introduction to the group and help to create confidence and trust all round.

Same language groups
Even in a group where all the members share a faith or a language, it is likely that they will come from many different regions and very varied social and educational backgrounds. The reminiscence process highlights the uniqueness of each member's experience and generates mutual interest and appreciation. There will also be knowledge and experience in common, and group leaders can call on this to develop feelings of group solidarity.

Singing and dancing together to the music of the home country is an obvious bonding activity, with the added power of bringing a remembered faraway place alive in a very different present.

Preparation and sharing of traditional foods can be particularly successful reminiscence activities, as smells and tastes are powerful means of evoking memories.

Wearing traditional costumes can stimulate discussion about the important people and occasions in each person's life and about the special designs and fabrics associated with the places where they grew up.

Some reminiscence sessions should have a quieter atmosphere, with people sharing memories with just one other person in a confidential way, sympathising with and understanding one another's more painful feelings and memories. They can then decide, perhaps selectively, to share what they have been remembering with the whole group, and begin to explore their stories creatively together. However, it is important to remind people that it is up to them to decide what to share, and that personal privacy will be respected.
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Reminiscence sessions often lead into more wide-ranging discussions concerning how people's past decisions are now affecting their lives, often in ways they had not wished or expected. Feelings of pain, displacement and loss will surface, anxieties concerning citizenship and security, fears for health and welfare in the future, and unresolved family problems and conflicts. Fear of raising these issues can inhibit workers who may wish to undertake reminiscence work. They may feel that they are not adequately prepared to deal with the "fall-out" from such discussions and that it is safer to avoid them. However, reminiscence sessions can provide a valuable opportunity for group members to share some of these painful feelings with others who are familiar with them and who can empathise. This sharing often helps to reduce the burden for the elders of coping with such feelings alone and provides much-needed support for individuals. In this sense, reminiscence is not just about sharing the past, but very much about coping with the present and facing the future.

One of the main motivators for ethnic minority elders is the desire to pass on their own culture and life experience to younger people from their own background. It is therefore important to offer this possibility to elders who express an interest in reminiscence, as well as providing them with the pleasurable opportunity of talking to others of their own generation.

Recording memories with Mr Ke Wing Pang

If a reminiscence group is being recorded, it is important to ask people to speak one at a time, and to say their names before speaking. This avoids a lot of confusion for the person transcribing the tape, but it also creates the right atmosphere of respectful listening which is essential if the speaker is going to feel that the effort is worthwhile. People must be asked if they are content to have the session recorded, and the reasons for doing so should be explained. No individual should be obliged to speak or made to feel bad if they decide just to listen.
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It often happens that people who start to record their stories become much more confident and outward-looking as a consequence. They might well start wondering how can they explore further their own creativity as a group, and who else would be interested in what they have to say and show. A natural development from the sessions is to make a small exhibition including memories, photos (both past and present), drawings produced during the sessions and perhaps some objects that the elders have brought in to share. It is an enjoyable creating an exhibition together and can develop the group's confidence and sense of achievement.

Some groups enjoy making improvised scenes from the stories they have told, and these can be threaded together into an informal piece of theatre to share with others. This approach is becoming more popular as groups realise what fun this can be, and that no previous acting experience is required. The scenes can remain improvised, so that people do not get nervous about learning lines and so that the spontaneity of the performance is preserved. There is scope for comedy here, and also for moments of sadness as people convey more complex memories. Songs can be interspersed to help the group move easily from one scene and one mood to another.

There are many benefits to both generations in inter-generational work. Older people enjoy the energy, enthusiasm and playfulness of children, and often reconnect with these qualities in themselves. When teachers and children use these inter-generational encounters as a basis for creative work in the classroom, the resulting displays of art, drama and creative writing are extremely gratifying for the older people involved, who feel that their lives are being recognised and celebrated.

Passing memories across generations and cultures

Young people's understanding of life in the past, and the changes that have occurred, can be deepened by listening to the first hand testimony of older people. These accounts can be verified and expanded through curriculum work in geography and history, including information searches through libraries and on the Internet.

There can be further educational, social and cultural benefits when the stories of these "time witnesses" are explored in the classroom through drama, art and creative writing. These creative approaches help the children to relate what they have heard to their own experience of life, and make greater sense of it.

When ethnic minority elders tell their stories in a classroom with children from different cultures and racial backgrounds they often help to create inter-cultural and inter-generational understanding. It is very important in such meetings that the older person is well prepared and supported, and that the teacher has done some background work with the children and created a respectful atmosphere.

For children and grandchildren of immigrants, a sense of personal and community history is especially important in building self-esteem. Older people have a very positive role to play here, re-enforcing a cultural legacy, passing on personal stories and customs, and stimulating children in their communities to be interested in their own families' histories.

It is important that all our children have some understanding of why Britain is a multicultural society today. When older people from the Caribbean, for example, explain to children how they came in the post-war years to work in nursing or public transport or heavy industry when the 'mother country' was crying out for help, it assists children to understand the bigger changes in society and how they are affected by them. They can see history as something that happens to 'ordinary' people as well as great leaders, and indeed that it is 'ordinary' people who can make history.

Note on the CD which is available with the 'Mapping Memories' publication
The CD contains two videos which were filmed during a period when groups of ethnic minority elders in the London Borough of Greenwich were preparing for a festival of reminiscence arts. "Long Ago and Faraway" by Jean Valsler shows examples of creative activities sessions in progress. "Life Portraits" by Lotta Petronella presents the stories of six ethnic minority elders as told by themselves, with music and images chosen by them.

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© Age Exchange 2006