THE FAMILY STORIES WORKSHOP - STORIES FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT REMEMBER

The Family Stories Workshop (FSW) is a process through which family me mbers and friends of persons with dementing disorders living in nursin g homes develop stories of these residents' lives. The stories are mea nt to help staff members to develop a better, more deeply felt underst anding of the lives of the residents, persons who can no longer tell t heir own stories. The workshop is product-oriented and is not meant as a support group and works best in organizations emphasizing individua lized care. This article describes the process of the FSW as well as o utcomes from preliminary implementation. It suggests ways of using ele ments of the process to more broadly accomplish the FSW purposes.