Writing for caregivers and older adults
The stories nobody has had time to tell.
Two facilitated writing programs. One for the people holding everything together for someone else. One for the people whose lives are full of stories that have never been written down.
Book a single session, a six session block or a twelve session program. Sessions run 60 or 90 minutes, in person or virtually, with all prompts and materials supplied.
How the programs are sold
Option 01
Single session
One workshop, complete in itself. Good for a caregiver support day, a staff wellness hour, a family council meeting or a first look before committing.
60 OR 90 MINUTES
IN PERSON OR VIRTUAL
MATERIALS SUPPLIED
One session, six, or twelve.
Option 02 · Most booked
Six session block
Weekly or biweekly. Long enough for the group to become a group, and for participants to write something they did not expect to write.
6 SESSIONS
60 OR 90 MINUTES EACH
ENDS WITH A SHARING SESSION
Option 03
Twelve session program
A full term, moving from prompts to finished, edited pieces. This is the version that ends in a professionally published anthology.
12 SESSIONS
60 OR 90 MINUTES EACH
PUBLICATION INCLUDED
Caregivers
Writing Through It
Written for the people holding everything together for someone else. Family caregivers, sandwich generation adults caring for a parent while raising children, and the staff who do this work professionally.
The sessions are short by design, because caregivers do not have long. Nothing is assigned between sessions. Missing a week is expected rather than a failure, and anyone can join partway through.
60 MINUTES RECOMMENDED
SINGLE, 6 OR 12 SESSIONS
HOSPICES, CAREGIVER GROUPS,
WORKPLACES AND COMMUNITY
ORGANIZATIONS
How we hold the room
Short expressive bursts. Ten to twelve minutes of continuous writing at a time, which is where most of the relief actually happens.
The unsent letter. Written to a person, to an illness, to a former version of a relationship. It is never sent and never collected.
Small joys inventory. Deliberate attention to what is still good, without ever asking anyone to look on the bright side.
Naming it plainly. Prompts give permission for the anger, the guilt and the grief, which most caregivers have nowhere to put.
Confidentiality stated out loud. Every session opens with it. Nothing is repeated outside the room and nothing is collected.
Take home prompt cards. For the nights when writing helps and there is no group to go to.
What participants tell us
Relief from carrying it alone, from one hour that belongs to them.
Less isolation, because the person across the table is living the same week.
Language for something they have not been able to explain to family or to an employer.
A record of what this time has actually been, which many are glad to have later.
No pressure to be positive, to share, or to perform being fine.
These sessions are facilitated writing, not therapy or counselling, and the facilitator is not a clinician. We work alongside hospice and caregiver organizations that provide clinical support.
Who books this
Hospices and palliative programs, caregiver support organizations, long term care family councils, faith communities, and employers running caregiver resource groups.
What we need from you
A private room where the door can be closed, seating in a circle if possible, and a group of roughly six to fifteen. Larger groups work, smaller groups often work better.
OLDER ADULTS
Memoirs and Memories
Legacy writing for older adults, ending in a professionally published anthology that participants can hand to their families.
The point is not to write a whole life. It is to get one story down properly, then another, until there is a book. Most participants have never called themselves writers, and finish the program correcting anyone who says they are not.
60 OR 90 MINUTES
6 OR 12 SESSIONS
SENIOR CENTRES, LONG TERM CARE,
HOSPICES, LIBRARIES AND
ADULT DAY PROGRAMS
How we run it
One memory per session. A first job, a kitchen, a journey, a hand me down. Small anchors surface far more than asking about a whole decade.
Senses before facts. What it smelled like and sounded like gets people writing when dates and names will not.
Photographs and objects. Participants bring one item and the room writes from it.
Scribing always available. Anyone who cannot write comfortably can tell their story while we take it down. Nobody is excluded by their hands or their eyes.
Read aloud in the room. Hearing the stories is half the value, and it is where the group forms.
Professional editing and publication. We edit, design, typeset and print. Participants hold a real book with their name inside it.
What it leaves behinds
A published anthology for families, grandchildren and the archive of the organization.
Cognitive engagement through recall, sequencing and language, week after week.
Real social connection, in a population where isolation is the underlying problem.
Dignity. Participants are treated as authors, not as an activity to be filled.
A launch event, if your site wants one, with families invited.
Something concrete for your programming report and your funders.
Adapted for the room you have
Large print handouts, seated work throughout, mixed cognitive ability, and shorter blocks where attention is limited. Tell us what your group needs and we will build around it.
Also available
Shared read-aloud sessions, where a facilitator reads and the group discusses. Particularly effective in dementia care settings, where a familiar text can reach someone that a direct question cannot.
BOOKING
Tell us who is in the room.
Send us the group, roughly how many people, and whether you are thinking about a single session, six or twelve. We will reply within one business day with a recommended format, a sample session outline and a quote.