I am going to run a few free workshops locally on memory consolidation and sharing. This is based on some 2018 work in dementia support and memorability. I have left the topic alone for a while but realised I want to do some more work on it.
DIVE
DIVE was a workshop methodology that came out of some project work on memory. It’s an acronym for a process of Describe, Imagine, Viewpoint and Experiences.
This is the underlying process that is practiced in the workshops. Remembering events, attaching sensory meanings to them, pulling in other perspectives and consolidating all that into shared stories.
It’s not about dementia
Though this process came out of a period when I was working on dementia and old age, the key discovery is that it is not about ageing or dementia.
Memory and reminiscing changes as we live. How we remember and what we remember shifts. Developing healthy memory habits is valuable in any time of life.
Partially that is because it’s good to know how much memory of past is informed by sensory experiences in the present.
Partially that is because memory should not be thought of something that is always individual. The communal and familial nature of memory matters.
Sometimes I hold your memories for you
What we can recall changes as our brains and perceptual capacities grow and as those capacities become impaired.
This is why the way in which people share stories of what happened to themselves or what they witnessed happening to friends and family is important.
Individually, we cannot hold all our life’s events. Communally we can hold more than we can personally.
The other perspectives and the other stories are how we share and hold memories together. It’s healthy for all of us. It’s part of the community of wellbeing we try to create.
Social media has attached to this sharing of stories of memory. In pictures and text, we have offloaded the long-term effort.
Humans have been offloading memory and cognition to technologies for centuries so that is not major concern
Losing the presence of sharing and recalling memories together and inter-generationally is more the issue I care about. The physicality of being in a group, sharing l details and opinions about what happened that was fun or sad. The texture of that connection matters.
Come along or invite me along
The events I hope to run locally will be free.
They are for all ages. Older people and carers and parents and children. I suspect I will get more of the former than the latter but that is part of the problem this post is about.
I will start and, hopefully, over time find ways of working with more generations of people.
If you’re interested in this idea or trying a workshop, do contact me.