The prompts will come each week and cover 52 themes/topics. We have made them as general as possible so that there will be something there for everybody.
 The prompts are addressed to the person whose life story it is about. It will also include anyone else you have enlisted to help you in recording your life story.
 Although you may arrange special times to meet when you work on the life story, there will often be times when things come to you unexpectedly. Try and get it down as you go.
 You will usually have quite strong feelings about the things you remember and these are more important than always having correct facts.
 People have a fear that they will dredge up sad/traumatic memories when they are working on their life story. This is a hard one and it will be good to tell whoever is working with you what subjects you want to avoid. If things come up unexpectedly, it may be helpful to talk it through with the person you are working with or ask them to find someone appropriate.
 
Each prompt is divided into 4 sections
 
1. Exploration
 
Here you will find a list of topics related to the theme of the week. You can choose to talk about the ones that you have strong memories about. This is preferable to direct questions which can often put us on the spot.
 
2. Triggers
 
Triggers, such as photos, music, fragrant flowers, newspaper cuttings etc will be listed which will help prompt your memories on the chosen theme. It is helpful to work out what senses are strongest for you. Is it your hearing, sense of smell, touch or taste or your visual sense? This will give a useful clue as to how you process information and therefore which sensory triggers will work for you. We know that both music and smell can be very effective in jogging memories.
 
3. Activities
 
Each week there will be suggestions of activities connected to the theme. Some will be quick and easy and some will need a bit of planning.
 
4. Special Thoughts
 
This will be a chance to think a bit outside the box and go a bit deeper.