Unique storytelling program helping seniors to expand imagination

(Above) Country Meadow Place Manager and TimeSlips facilitator Kimberly Boyd displays a scrapbook of stories created by residents using the TimeSlips program.

We are all full of stories.  But as the years go by, memory loss can become frustrating and even debilitating. A program aimed to improve the well-being of seniors by infusing creativity into care relationships and systems has been introduced at Country Meadow Place, located just outside of Clear Lake.

TimeSlips, a storytelling program for seniors, is now offered four times each week at the assisted living and memory care community located just off Highway 122 between Clear Lake and Mason City.

Country Meadow Place Manager Kimberly Boyd recently earned certification as a TimeSlips facilitator and she says the program is making a difference in the lives of residents at the facility.

“In a time when we deny aging and isolate our elders, TimeSlips provides hope and improves well-being through creativity and meaningful connection,” explained Boyd.  “Several residents who had shut down and become withdrawn have opened up with the help of this program.”

Participation in the program has grown from five to almost half of the 38 Country Meadow residents daily, she said.

As Boyd explains, TimeSlips opens storytelling to everyone by replacing the pressure to remember with the freedom to imagine.

Those participating in TimeSlips sessions are shown a picture.  Next, the facilitator will ask simple questions designed to prompt responses.  What are the names of the people in the photo?  Where are they going?  As participants offer responses, a storyboard is created and eventually the story which they all helped to create is read back to them.  There are no wrong answers and often the stories get silly, which brings smiles all around.

TimeSlips began in 1998 and became an independent non-profit in 2013.  Based in Milwaukee, Wis., today the program has creative facilitators in 41 states and 12 countries.  Its creative approaches are used in care communities, museums, libraries, senior centers, and individual homes throughout the world.

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TimeSlips founders say the program is developed as a ritual so people with memory loss can learn it through their subconscious or implicit memory.  It is based on shifting the emphasis from memory to imagination. The effect is the creation of a “laboratory” of sorts, where people who have difficulty with communication can experiment with sounds, gestures, word fragments, and whole sentences; make meaning; and have fun at the same time.

Research suggests that TimeSlips increases the quality and quantity of engagement between staff and residents, a claim which Boyd whole-heartedly agrees with.

“The simple kindness of listening and seeing someone as they share their voice, gestures and body language while creating a story, or responding to a creative question is a wonderful gift.  Storytelling opens the imagination in seniors and brings creativity and laughter,” said Boyd.

Boyd is the only certified TimeSlips facilitator in the North Iowa area.  She said she has been asked to share her insight into the program with other facilities and believes the program will grow.

In 2017 Country Meadow Place is expected to expand its 36 apartment facility with 20 more one and two-bedroom apartments.  The entire dementia specific facility is a locked and secure community at 17396 Kingbird Ave., Mason City.

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