Narrative Therapy and Older People: Challenging Stigma, Supporting Connection and Building Hope

Healthcare for older people tends to focus on physical limitations and cognitive decline, and the person’s own perspective and strengths are often overlooked. Narrative therapy centres a person as the expert in their own story, and is particularly effective when combined with an older person’s wealth of life experience. It highlights the way their views have been shaped by their cultural and personal contexts, which allows better understanding and communication, and improves people’s lives.

Written by experienced psychologists, group facilitators and service users, this guide explores how to use narrative therapy with older people, including those with dementia or age-related conditions. From Tree of Life facilitation to ways of approaching loss and trauma, each chapter offers advice and proven strategies for practice for individuals, staff teams, groups and communities. This book helps you to adopt a person-centred approach to narrative therapy that helps service users to lead the life they want to live.

Where ageism and stigma often overwhelm older people and those who work with them, narrative therapy brings the focus back onto the person themselves, in the context of their history, their family and their community - who are they, and what do they have to say?

Rosslyn Offord is an NHS Consultant Clinical Psychologist based in South Wales. She has a special interest in using psychotherapy with people affected by dementia and has found narrative practice transformative.

Elizabeth Field is an NHS Consultant Clinical Psychologist. She enjoys using narrative practices to help older people and those who work with them tell their stories in ways that link lives and challenge stigma.

Polly Kaiser is a semi-retired old age clinical psychologist. She helps support the ’Greater Manchester Mature Minds Matter’. She has always campaigned for age equality and now has skin in the game.