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This is The Nocturnous Conversations. I'm Emily Silverman.

Today we're sharing a very special conversation that was originally recorded for the Talking Dementia with Remo Health podcast.

Remo Health is an innovative telehealth company, providing whole person care to people living with dementia and their caregivers.

And we're thrilled to be cross-posting this episode.

Our guest is Dr. Anne Basting, a scholar, writer, MacArthur Fellow, and founder of Time Slips,

a storytelling method that invites people with memory loss to flex their imagination.

For over 25 years, Anne has been using techniques like this

to transform the way we think about dementia, and use creativity and improvisation to foster joy, connection, and dignity.

In my conversation with Anne, we explore how she discovered the power of improvisation and storytelling in dementia care,

the principles of the time slips methodology, including the beautiful question, yes and, and proof of listening,

and practical ways that caregivers and families can weave creativity and curiosity into everyday moments of care.

It's an inspiring conversation about reimagining what care can look like, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

But first, take a listen to Anne reading an excerpt from her book, Creative Care, through the Penn Memory Center.

Here's Anne.

Chapter 1, in which Ruth teaches me what joy looks like. It was opening day. Spirits were

incredibly high. I had walked into Morgantown care and rehabilitation in Morgantown, Kentucky that Saturday morning to a chorus of exuberant greetings, not what you'd usually expect at a nursing home. Now it was just 2 p.m. Showtime. After two weeks of rehearsal and a year of planning,

the elders, local actors, volunteers, and staff were about to perform their version of Peter Pan,

one in which Wendy is in hospice care in her final phase of growing up.

And the audience, rather than clapping to prove their belief in fairies, would meet the

...