The Arts and Older Adults

Janet LeRoy

Literary

Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone needs to feel heard. I love providing a supportive and welcoming space for older adults to create stories sourced from their life experience. Their stories reveal where they have been, what they have done, what they feel, and who they cherish. Their stories acknowledge accomplishments and defeats. Sharing their story can lighten a load, develop deeper understanding, and nurture a sense of belonging. I’ve facilitated workshops in a
senior’s residence, a centre for New Canadians, bereavement support groups, and a group of ex-prisoners. I appreciate how storytelling supports healing and connection.

Sample workshop:

Storytelling is about connection: In this workshop, participants have an opportunity to connect
with special memories and transform them into stories. A prompt begins the process. Example: a basket of objects is passed around or shown. Each participant chooses an object that calls to them. As the person connects with the object a memory is rekindled. The workshop is structured so participants learn how to shape, remember, and tell the story. The storytelling process invites
connection: with self, with others, with story. Prompts, experiential exercises, story games, and a variety of learning techniques support participants with diverse needs.

Materials:

Writing paper, pen

Listed with:

ArtistsInspire

Available for:

In-person workshops

Language(s) of facilitation:

English

Project type:

Older Adults and Intergenerational

Contact:

j.leroy@xittel.ca

https://www.storytellers-conteurs.ca/en/storytellers-directory/Janet-LeRoy.html

Outaouais

Land Acknowledgement

ELAN is an official minority language organization within a country that recognizes two languages as official. ELAN is located in Tiohtià:ke, the original name for Montreal in Kanien’kéha, the language of the Mohawk—also known as Mooniyang, which is the Anishinaabeg name given to the city by the Algonquin. While we are based in this city, our projects have also taken place in many regions across Quebec.

We acknowledge the colonial origin of English and French in Canada, and recognize that both languages benefit from official status throughout the land. The province that we know as Quebec is an amalgamation of the traditional territories of the Innu and Inuit nations, Algonquian nations, as well as the Mohawk nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Kanien’kéha and Anishinaabemowin are but two of the original languages of this province; Atikamekw, Cree, Inuktitut, and Innu-aimun are also among the many Indigenous languages spoken across Quebec as majority languages, all well before French and English.

ELAN acknowledges the important work being done by First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples to revive the traditional languages of these territories, and their advocacy for the official status of Indigenous languages.

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