Worcester Life Stories

HACW required a pioneering and media-rich platform which would help health professionals understand and communicate with those living with dementia and other cognitive difficulties and deliver more general applicability.

Writing and sharing our life stories can be therapeutic and enhance wellbeing. Different forms of life stories/life review work have been around for some time and HACW challenged VerseOne to extend the traditional model by pioneering a new digital version with all the additional functionality that comes with that. This new Life Stories platform would act as a framework to capture the major moments in people’s lives within a rich, interactive, ‘digital book’ which needed to be: 

• Easily accessible: To provide a way of collecting thoughts, images, videos, memories and music in one place which could be securely shared with friends, family and carers. In particular, the platform would allow people with dementia and their families to underline who they are, convey important information, and say ‘This is me’ from any location.

• Clinically applicable: Life Stories would provide healthcare professionals with a deeper understanding of a person's needs and identity across integrated care systems, allowing them to communicate with and care for individuals in the best-possible way.  

• Shareable: To help users securely export and share their memory books with family members, friends, carers and clinicians to develop closer bonds, challenge assumptions and enhance relationships.

• Personal: To stimulate memories and support people to capture what’s important to them and live in the here and now by focusing on a new and exciting projects.

We always knew that a digital Life Stories platform was going to make a difference to healthcare, however the pandemic has shown that this is even more necessary. Along with evidence that suggests that digital medium is even more powerful for triggering memories, a further benefit is that families will be able to update and provide valuable information to care in a timely manner when family members coming into hospital or a care home is limited as the platform is web-based. Bringing together mediums such as images, audio and video, potentially offer a more enriched experience and is more inclusive as it allows people who have communication difficulties to use alternative methods to writing memories.

The platform is easily accessible and very intuitive, being developed with people at the heart and enables users to explore as independently as possible or with families or carers. We are already receiving feedback on the potential impact the platform can have and are looking forward to seeing what our research finds.

- Dr Natasha Lord, Lead Older Adults Mental Health Clinical Psychologist at HACW  

Life story work has a significant number of powerful benefits which can be used within reminiscence therapy by health and care professionals or simply to recount and record key experiences with family and friends. 

Historically, such work has been delivered by pen and paper. Now, however, VerseOne and HACW’s digital life story platform allows users to create an even more powerful memory tool and frame the key events in their lives online – chapter by chapter. 

Facts, images, video, and audio can be uploaded to a personalised, unique and secure ‘digital book’ which can be shared safely across generations, improving relationships and promoting a sustained sense of achievement and wellbeing. 

Key benefits also include: 

• Self-identity: Life Stories’ holistic approach helps deliver a sense of identity and personhood 

• A personal challenge: Life Stories offers the opportunity to achieve in the here and now by creating a digital life review 

• Shared memories: Memories are shared with and preserved for others, deepening understanding and enhancing familial and clinical relationships 

• A communication aid: Individuals with cognitive decline can challenge assumptions and communicate who they are and what’s important to them within the ‘This is me’ section, which is based on information developed by the Alzheimer’s Society 

• An evolving and portable platform: Life Stories can be accessed and added to on any digital device anywhere 

• Truly integrated care: The platform will support improved knowledge of and care for service users, wherever they are located 

Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust provides healthcare services for people of all ages experiencing physical and/or mental health conditions across Herefordshire and Worcestershire. HACW is the main provider of mental health and learning disability services in both counties, and also runs community hospitals, neighbourhood teams and community nursing services across Worcestershire. 

The Trust currently employs around 5,000 staff across both counties. In 2017, it was named a Global Digital Exemplar for Mental Health by the Next Steps for the NHS report. HACW is led by Chief Executive Sarah Dugan. 

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