Lizzie Salter, House of Memories Programme Manager, Liverpool Museums
Lizzie Salter, Programme Manager at House of Memories at Liverpool Museums, discusses how the their bespoke app package, initially designed for individuals living with dementia, has since been developed for use by members of the LGBTQ+ community.
House of Memories was launched in 2012 as a museum-led dementia awareness programme from National Museums Liverpool. As a museum we wanted to explore the barriers to accessing museums and found the value in social history collections with people living with dementia.
The programme features several strands including in-person and online training aimed at carers, family and friends and an app, My House of Memories, that is used as a social cohesion tool in connecting people living with dementia to their families, friends and carers within the UK and beyond.
It is estimated that 61% of those with a dementia diagnosis do not feel connected within their community. We have responded to this need by co-creating programmes which stimulates memories and empowers people living with dementia to connect with their passions.
As part of LGBTQ+ History Month, we have worked with LGBT+ charity Switchboard, to explore community memories within a global context and created a virtual library of LGBTQ+ memories to be included as a section in the award-winning My House of Memories app.
Memories have been collected through online workshops with Switchboard’s Bereavement, Older People, and Dementia (BOLD) group made up of older LGBTQ+ community members, some who are themselves living with dementia.
Conversations were based around memories people had of events like Pride, nightclubs and social spaces. The sessions did not shy away from honest memories around key moments in queer history, including the global HV/AIDS epidemic and section 28 which had influenced and shaped people’s lives.
One thing I always stress when developing any app package is that the process is just as important as the final product. From the conversations and stories gathered in sessions with Switchboard, participants were able to select objects from their own memories, such as clothes, photographs and memorabilia that held a strong significance to them. We also included items from Sheffield Museums Trust, The Keep archive in Brighton, Drag King History, The Hall-Carpenter Archives at the London School of Economics library, and Bishopsgate Institute Special Collections and Archives.
During the time working with the group, video interviews were recorded with the BOLD members to discuss the items they had selected and to speak about why these were important to them. This video recording element is a new feature within the My House of Memories app and not something we had explored before.
The My House of Memories app is a free to download app via any smartphone and iPad and was co-designed with those living with dementia. Containing items from collections internationally, it uses multimedia as a way of connecting elders to their memories. We wanted a programme that works with cultural organisations, community settings and museums to explore items of living memory and to use these as a conversation starter to meet the person living with dementia where they are. The app is co-created throughout its development process and workshops are conducted throughout the process to ensure that each item has a story.
Co-creating this app package with people living with dementia within the LGBTQ+ community has been a delight. It has really shown the potential of the My House of Memories app in connecting people through memories.
For more information visit www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/houseofmemories
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