Friendship Storybook

Find the Friendship Storybook template here

Friendships are one way in which we build community. These voluntary connections can help to provide self worth, a sense of belonging, compassion, and encouragement to keep going when things are hard. For many people, our friends are chosen family and our bonds with them have majorly shaped our life experiences and identities. 

For a person living with dementia, the histories of these important relationships may become increasingly difficult to access. So, how can friends help to bolster their bonds and use reminiscence tools to help maintain these connections? 

In this post we will discuss how the Life Story Book tool can be adapted to create a Friendship Story Book. A fun project for the here and now, a Friendship Story Book can have lasting impacts – becoming more useful as time goes on and the person living with dementia experiences changes to their ability to recall the details of your relationship. 

What is a Life Story Book? 

Life Story Books are a reminiscence tool that records important information about a person living with dementia in a sort of personal inventory – to help others understand and relate to them better, collecting information about who they are and what matters to them.  

A person living with dementia, and a care partner will work together to collect information on their background, interests, hobbies, beliefs, and values. This document can then be shared with others, such as friends, family, paid care partners, and health care professionals to help them get to know the person living with dementia better.  

To learn more about Life Story Books please visit the Dementia UK page Creating a life story for a person with dementia. 

How can friends adapt the Life Story Book? 

The Life Story Book can be adapted by friends into a Friendship Story Book. The Friendship Story Book focuses not just on the person living with dementia but on their friend and the relationship between the two of them.  

This involves the friend answering the same sort of personal inventory as the person living with dementia, as well as the pair working together to answer questions specifically about their relationship. 

Who is a Friendship Story Book appropriate for? 

The creation of a Friendship Story Book will be best carried out while a person living with dementia is in the early stages of the condition andmore easily able to recall details of their relationships. 

Once the Friendship Story Book has been created, it can serve as a meaningful bonding activity the contributors can use to reminisce together as the person living with dementia progresses in their condition. It can also be used by the person living with dementia and any care partners as a reminiscence tool. 

The Friendship Story Book can be created in person, or by friends who are connecting from a distance – with the information gathering taking place over the phone, via video chat, text message, or even letter writing. 

How do you make a Friendship Story Book? 

Making a Friendship Story Book can be as simple as taking a pen and paper and answering a series of questions. But you can also get creative with it. Your Friendship Story Book could consist of a series of video or audio recordings, a scrapbook, a shared diary, or anything else you’re inspired to create.  

Regardless of what format you use, photographs can be great to include in your story book, as they can help your friend trace the progression of your friendship and connect it to written memories. 

We’ve created a simple template you can fill out or pull questions from along with two story book mock-ups for reference. 

Things to keep in mind 

If you decide to embark on the journey of making a Friendship Story Book with your friend who is living with dementia it is important that you ensure the experience is engaging, low pressure, and supportive. 

Even in early stages, your friend may not fully be able to recall all of the details needed to fully answer the questions. If this occurs, practice patience, try to gently guide them, and fill in the blanks yourself where necessary. You can also simply skip over questions that are presenting issues or may be upsetting for your friend to try and answer. 

Go with the flow as you gather information, you don’t need to tell the story in order or stick to your initial list of questions. Flexibility will help make this a positive experience. 

We hope you find the creation of a Friendship Storybook to be a pleasant, meaningful reminiscence activity.