Background
Whilst Life Story work began over 20 years ago and there are
acknowledged areas of innovative practice, there is no single
repository for sharing knowledge and best practice for individuals,
families / carers or front line staff.
At the national faculty of
old age psychology (PSIGE) 2008 annual conference in York,
there was much interest in the symposium on "Life Stories - turning
theory into practice, getting it into services". It featured carer Ken
Holt (pictured opposite), who initiated the life story work steering
group in Oldham in 2003 after he produced his wife's life story as she
was admitted to residential care. He explained, via a recorded
interview, how he mobilised local agencies to work together to deliver
a joint approach. When asked what his vision for the future of life
story work was, he replied, without hesitation, that there should be a
national network for all those people using Life Stories or developing
such services to share experiences and learn from each other. This
suggestion was warmly received and taken up by CSIP's National Lead for
Older People at the time.
With this leadership some initial resources were identified
within the three northern regions - North West, North East and
Yorkshire and Humberside - and small group of people met to explore the
ways in which to take this work forward. Initial scoping work
undertaken to look at existing good practice in this area generated a
tremendous response, with many people asking to be further involved in
any future work, the idea to host an event was born. The aim of the
event was to raise awareness around the current Life Story work and
illicit whether there was interest from across the disciplines in the
proposal to develop a network on a more formal basis. The ‘Life Story
Network' event took place on 17th November 2008 and attracted
over 80 delegates from across the northern regions.
Outcomes
of the event
The
feedback from the delegates was very enthusiastic and confirmed a focus
on the following key areas in order to develop and sustain the valuable
work encompassed by Life Stories:
1. Continue to gather and
collate information on current activity around Life Stories;
2.
Establish an electronic network;
3.
Integrate the work and innovative practice on Life Stories into an
existing relevant website and ensure integration with other associated
websites;
4. Organise a national launch event.
