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Archive Number 26 | ||
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Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 19:04:07 -0400
I have used the ball of yarn with agitated Alzheimer patients,something I= learned from a women at a Alzheimer support group meeting. By giving each= person apart of the yarn to hold on to as we told a story ,we became a= unit and no one left the group and they seemed more content at the time. I have done several programs with Parkinson patients. Using a small= unobtrusive speaker with a collar mic it was possible to keep the attention= of each person because they could hear better and used the ball of yarn= also,some family members thought they had less tremors. At 05:46 PM 4/13/01 -0500, you wrote: >Gail wrote: >That would be helping the patient to integrate this experience into her/his >life story, in other words, to make or find meaning in this part of his/her >story. > >Andre hear@MR.NET writes: > >=B7 enables the stroke survivor to integrate their experience in a= meaningful >way. > >Gail and All, > >Your words are exactly the point. Your language is the language of story= but >we are saying exactly the same thing. I have an example from a hospice >situation, how story can help individuals integrate their experiences >through the use of story into the story of their life. > >For the last year I was hired as a consultant to run a support group for a >staff of a hospice. The previous facilitator was a psychotherapist and ran >it like a therapy group. The staff in general were very negative. I changed >the format with their help. It started with quiet meditative time and a >reflection. However, I was aware of how resistent they were to a check in. >Further, they shared how the staff memorial services once a quarter were= not >well attended. I suggested that at our weekly gathering we would read the >names of the persons who died that week. They agreed. > >Well as they read the names off I would say does anyone have a good story >about that person. At first they looked at me like "Are You Crazy?" But >eventually one person told a story and then another and ever since they= have >not stopped. Further the satisfaction scores for the group went from a mean >of 1.78 to a 4.03 out of five. Where as only a few thought that the support >group was a good idea at last count 85% felt that it was valuable. Also the >staff reported a greater sense of belonging primarily due to the sharing in >the support group. In other words there was a complete turn around and most >reported it was because they had an opportunity to share the story of their >patients with each other. > >One of the activities I did with them was to use a ball of yarn and each >time a patient was mentioned the ball of yarn was unraveled and given to >each person who had worked with the patient and they told a story about= that >person. Wehn we were done the whole room was tied together. They then cut >pieces of the yarn and created story bundles to remind them that they were >all in this together. This excercise was the clincher and from that day on >the stories have rolled and their spirits were lifted. > >thanks, >Andre > > > > > > >=B7 enhances cognitive skills including organizational, decision-making, > >and > >concentration skills. > >=B7 supports patients in learning verbal and written skills. > >=B7 develops inter-personal and intra-personal skills > >=B7 improves perceptional and interpretative skills. | ||