Kathryn Gilfoy, Westminster Arts Susanna Howard, Living Words

1. Resonate
Poetry interventions for people living with
a dementia in different settings
with Kathryn Gilfoy, Westminster Arts
and Susanna Howard, Living Words
• Paint me a Poem – for people in their own homes at risk of
isolation
• Come into the Garden – for people attending Memory Cafes
• Living Words – one to one work in care homes

2. Resonate
Resonate:
• for people at all stages of care
• links with other professionals
• hands on arts projects
• supported visits to arts events
• staff, artist and volunteer
training
• advice on arts based practice

3. v
Resonate
Paint me a Poem
Befriending partners
• Abbey Community Centre
• Volunteer Centre Westminster
• Octavia Housing
• Westminster Mind
Arts partners
• Royal Academy of Arts
Access Officer
• Poet in residence Pele Cox Edgar Degas [1870]
The Orchestra at the Opera

4. Resonate
Process
• Befrienders visited the Degas
and Impressionist exhibitions at
the Royal Academy of Arts
• They created poetry based on
the pictures using a simple formula
created by the poet in residence
• Given copies of their chosen
pictures to use at the homes of
their befriendees
• Created poetry with them using
the same process
• Poetry collated into a booklet

5. Resonate
‘I felt a though I wanted to do it with all of the pictures’
‘It’s a brilliant idea!’
‘The location really helped to get us in the right mood,
wonderful guidance put us in the right direction and we
just had a wonderful time – I could do this every Friday
evening! I told my befriendee Marina about it – she smiled
– it amused her!’
‘An excellent evening, very entertaining, very educational.
I think Eva will benefit from this more than a district nurse
any day of the week – It’s just her bag’

6. v
Resonate
Memory of silence – after Edouard Manet, Interior at Arcachon
Silence, time, memory.
A young man listens to the story of his
mother’s past life
It reminds me of the days I spent listening
to my grandmother,
listening to the story of her childhood,
her love, her dreams
The door of the room is opened,
a beautiful landscape is revealed:
the mountains and the sea
The colours and lights and dark
A feeling of calm, silence
Maybe the feeling of freedom
And life,
Not to be forgotten
The papers, books and pictures
– these things
Can save our precious memories - Dilya and Gillian

7. Resonate
Claude Monet, The Cliffs at Etretat [1885]

8. Resonate
Paint me a Poem poetry exercise: looking at the previous slide, Claude Monet, The Cliffs
at Etretat :
Line 1 Think of three words or short phrases that describe the atmosphere in the picture
Line 2 What do you think is happening in the picture?
Line 3 Describe one detail in the picture (colours, textures, what someone is doing, what
you imagine they are saying/thinking)
Line 4 What does the picture make you think of? Maybe something in your own life or
someone you know, or something that happened
Line 5 Describe another detail in the picture
Line 6 How do you feel about the picture, do you like it?
Line 7 Choose one strong word from your last line and use the same word again in
another sentence
Line 8 Is there anything in your own life/house that you can connect with the picture?
Line 9 And/or is there anything that you see a bit differently now you have looked at this
picture?

9. Resonate
Come into the Garden
• poet Di Sherlock
• Memory Café Westminster
• My Memories Café, Kensington
& Chelsea
• Event at Victoria library
• Reading and poetry workshop
at My Memories Café
• Book created
• Reading at Kensington & Chelsea
Age UK health fair

10. Resonate

11. Resonate

12. Resonate
Questions to ask your partner
• what do you most like to do in a garden?
• have you ever had a garden or looked after one?
• have you ever eaten something you have grown?
• what is your favourite green space?
• what do you most like about going there?
• what sort of things grew where you grew up?
• what are your favourite fruit and vegetables now?

13. Resonate
Living Words
• we are writers and actors
• we run care and nursing home residencies
• we respond with publications, readings & performances
RESIDENCIES
• one-to-one interventions with people with a dementia
• minimum of 8 – 12 weeks
• creation of individual Living Words wordbooks
• staff training & development
• celebration event
• whole care/nursing home approach
In partnership with Resonate, residencies incl. Westmead, Carlton
Dene, Forrester Court care homes; Butterworth Centre for Continuing
care; & Meadows House, Kidbrooke.

14. Resonate
• ‘Listen Out Loud’ methodology
quality of attention: silence; eye contact; validation
• practical concerns
management support; supervision; evaluation
• artist training programme
‘It’s not an exaggeration to say that this work has changed my life.
Being trained in a well honed & ethical process means this field
can expand, rather than us artists reinventing the wheel. Without
the structure & support (going in blind) I would have felt out of
my depth, & that’s not fair on me or the participants’
Shazea Quraishi, poet & Living Words artist
You listen - at a different level
Cos we happen - on a different level
Christine, participant

15. Resonate
Publications and performances www.livingwords.org.uk/visuals/

16. Resonate
King Or Queen
It’s called ‘Patient Condition’
You must not just say
‘Good morning’, ‘Goodbye’
It minimizes the relationship
Try and appraise, interest
Tenderness, consciousness, confidence
The fact you are sharing with them
Uplift the feeling
‘Feel better already’,
Make us feel human
Not just a dummy.
Pretend you have all the time
In the world
We will feel like King or Queen

17. Resonate
Read the poem in your pairs and then discuss your responses to the
following questions:
1. What is the person saying?
2. Do you notice anything unusual or
interesting in the language used?
3. What can you take from it and use in your daily practice?

18. Resonate
‘How did we not know these emotions of our residents? We are
using their word books to help their care planning’. Isabel
Nyirenda, Manager, Meadows House, Kidbrooke, London.

19. Resonate

20. Resonate
PARTICIPANTS
• ‘We got to be a goldmine practically -
of words!’
• ‘You listen to me. I don’t feel so mad’
• ‘She got me, the book is me’
• ‘This is like medicine for me’
RELATIVES
• ‘I can’t tell you how much Dad’s book
of words about how he is feeling means to
me…I thought this communication would
have been beyond him!’
• ‘[my mum] carries it [her book] with her
all the time and it brings her comfort.’

21. Resonate
With thanks to our funders
• City Bridge Trust
• Central London Clinical Commissioning Group
• West London Clinical Commissioning Group
• Hammersmith & Fulham Clinical Commissioning Group

22. Resonate
Kathryn Gilfoy
Director, Westminster Arts
kathryn@westminsterarts.org.uk
www.westminsterarts.org.uk
020 7321 2702
Susanna Howard
Director, Living Words
info@livingwords.org.uk
www.livingwords.org.uk
@LivingWordsUK