Providing people with dementia with opportunities to engage in creative activity can play a crucial role in maintaining and enhancing communication, and in reinforcing personhood and identity. This thoughtful book describes how people with dementia, and the people who work with and care for them, can foster and develop a creative approach, and provides rich and varied ideas for creative activities.

The authors explore the concept of creativity - what exactly it is, its particular relevance for people with dementia and how to get into the creative 'flow'. They introduce a range of creative art forms, including poetry and story-telling, collage, drama, music-making, photography, textiles and working with wood and metal, and suggest possibilities for employing them in a range of settings, and with people of all abilities. Consideration is given to the practicalities of facilitating such creative work, including how to organise and run sessions, how to involve people with dementia and their carers, and how to reflect upon the experience. Practice examples are included throughout the book, as well as the comments and observations of people with dementia, and many examples of the artwork and poetry the authors have created with people with dementia over the years.

Brimming with ideas, suggestions and helpful guidance, this is an essential resource for all those who work with people with dementia, and an inspiring read for people with dementia and their families.

John Killick has 16 years' experience of direct work with people with dementia in nursing homes, day centres, hospital wards, and in people's own homes. His pioneering poetry work is well-known internationally, but he has also explored the possibilities of using a variety of other art-forms to enhance communication. He has lectured, written, broadcasted and run training sessions in a variety of countries and is passionately committed to increasing opportunities for people with the condition everywhere to take part in creative activities. John is currently Writer in Residence for Alzheimer Scotland and runs an improvised drama project for Scottish Dementia Working Group. Claire Craig is a qualified occupational therapist living in Yorkshire. The main focus of her work is the relationship between creativity and well-being, particularly in relation to people with dementia. She currently holds the ROMPA quality of Life Award for research focusing on creativity and spirituality in care homes and she gained the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre Learning& Teaching Award in 2010 in recognition for her innovative approaches to education. Claire works as a Senior Lecturer and Researcher in the Art and Design Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University.

Introduction. Part I: Why the Arts? 1. What is Creativity? 2. What the Arts Can Do. 3. Getting in the Flow. Part II: What's on Offer. 4. The Food of Love: The Language of Music. 5. Moving in the Moment: Dance. 6. Giving Voice: Writing Poetry. 7. Making it all up: Improvisation and Other Dramas. 8. Telling Stories. 9. Conversations in Paint. 10. Playing with Mud: Ceramics and Clay. 11. Working with the Hard Stuff: Wood, Metal and Glass. 12. Textured Journeys: Exploring the Potential of Textiles. 13. Between Memory and Imagination: Collage and Life-Story Work. 14. Further than the Eye can See: Photography. 15. Putting the IT into Creativity. 16. Space and Place. 17. Taking it all in: Audience Involvement. Part III: Making Things Happen. 18. Getting Real. 19. Starting Out. 20. Drilling Down to the Detail. 21. Giving Creativity a Shape. 22. Measuring Success. 23. Making Space for your own Creativity. Part IV: Living it Out. 24. All Together: The Arts as Identity. 25. Beyond Grass. 26. Two Residencies. 27. Putting on the Ritz. 28. Ian and Me-ness. 29. Alan: Quick-change Artist. 30. Painting with Olivia. Conclusion. Further Reading. Index.