Dementia Carer Voices is proud to be able to work with Jane Joy (Nursing & Health Care Lecturer at the University of Glasgow) and Dr Diane Willis (Senior Lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University) to collect poetry from people living with dementia, their carers and loved ones.
Please send your poems to us at dementiacarervoices@alliance-scotland.org.uk by the end of April. We would absolutely love to hear your own lived experiences in your own words!
ALLIANCE Director Irene Oldfather and UK Lead Tommy Whitelaw previously worked together in partnership with Jane and Diane collecting letters from carers. These were then published as a part of Letters, Life and Love Stories – A Celebration of Caring in Scotland and in the below publication, which Irene and Tommy co-authored:
Joy J, Whitelaw TJ, Oldfather I, Willis D (2016) Examining dementia Caregivers’ Experiences. The International Journal of Aging and Society 1 (2) pp 59-72
At this time, we also received some very moving poetry. However, we felt these poems should be analysed in their own right as a separate project. We wanted to make sure they were given the attention they deserved.
It is the intention of Diane and Jane to examine the poems from this time up to the present day and share their content for educational and publication purposes. This will help to inform carers and health providers on the needs of individuals living and caring for people with dementia.
Irene had this to say on our new project:
“The letters we received touched people’s hearts. Caring is a very emotional experience which lends itself well to creative expression and our latest venture is to ask people to capture their individual experience whether that is joy, sadness, or love and laughter of what caring meant for you through the medium of poetry.”
Tommy agreed, adding that he is ‘very proud to continue our great working relationship with Jane, Diane and the University of Glasgow. It is important that we keep people’s voices and experiences at the heart of what we do.’
Dementia Carer Voices is committed to giving you a voice. This project gives you the opportunity to give that voice a creative outlet.
We will not publish any poems received on our website without your permission. These poems will be used to support research and education. Have a look at some of the other poetry we’ve been sent in the meantime, to give you a bit of inspiration.
(These links will take you away from our website)
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