What is poemRENOVATION, and how did it come to be?
poemRENOVATION is an award-winning, arts-based word challenge that promotes creativity, connection and self-expression. Players rearrange a snippet of literature to create something new. There are no rules. The sole aim is to create.
The activity emerged in digital form, which is free to play and updated daily, and has grown to include tactile word blocks that make the challenge accessible to more people, including those living with dementia and their caregivers. Individuals who’d like to play for free may print the daily word bank on sticker paper and place it on foam core or print it onto cardstock. Premium versions are also available digitally to expand the options for users and as tactile sets for purchase.
Played tactilely, poemRENOVATION removes the barrier of having to find the right words and invites participants to recognize words, choose them and arrange them into something that feels like their own. No intimidating blank page. No wrong answers. Just small moments of agency, creativity, connection and joy!
I’m a poet and former journalist. Words have always been my go-to art form and a therapeutic means of self-expression. I turned to writing poetry in my teen years, and poemRENOVATION has its roots in that time. During the pandemic, I found new meaning in my old poems by rearranging the words. That experience became the scaffolding for poemRENOVATION.
What inspired you to bring poemRENOVATION to memory care units?
When I began doing presentations about poemRENOVATION for activities professionals and others working in elder care, I discovered words are rarely used in these spaces as a creative medium. Activities professionals told me they offer word searches, crossword puzzles and games of hangman, but I heard little about creative writing.
Since then, poemRENOVATIon has been offered in dementia-friendly settings, including United Church Homes memory care communities throughout Ohio, various Respite for All communities, and Blooming Connections Memory Cafe in Indiana.
Engaging people living with dementia through open-ended creative word play, poemRENOVATION removes the pressure and invites possibility to those living with dementia. The words are provided, and participants are free to explore language without fear of failure.
What benefits do you see from those living with dementia and their families when playing poemRENOVATION?
The activity puts creativity on full display and offers gateways to conversation. Programs can be offered in small-group creative word play sessions or 1:1, typically a half-hour in length.
A key part of this activity is choice. Participants decide which words draw them in, how to arrange them, and what meaning they want to create. The chance to exercise personal choice can be especially meaningful in settings where opportunities for self-direction may be limited.
The tactile process of selecting, moving and arranging words can be inherently engaging, while familiar language drawn from poetry, songs and literature have the potential to spark memory, association and conversation. The activity often results in storytelling, laughter and collaboration.
Part of what makes poemRENOVATION effective is that it draws on preserved strengths, such as imagination, emotional resonance and rhythm to make meaning without emphasizing deficits. The activity is accessible to people at many ability levels and offers a great balance of cognitive stimulation, social connection, creative play and personal expression.
While I have facilitated some programs myself, an important aspect of the model is that it may be led independently by activity professionals and other facilitators. It is accessible and adaptable to the setting and level of brain change, and its open-ended, rule-free structure supports reminiscence and creative self-expression.
Helpful tips on how to use poemRENOVATION, specific to those living with dementia, can be found on our website.
How has working on dementia-related art changed you?
Working in settings where people are living with dementia has made me even more motivated to find ways to help individuals of all abilities express themselves. The resulting epiphanies, laughter, sharing and feelings of accomplishment are magical to witness. It has been inspirational for me to use my talent as a writer to tell the stories of those I’ve worked with.
How has poemRENOVATION been received?
When I started bringing poemRENOVATION word blocks into memory care communities, the benefits showed themselves right away, including this feedback from a daughter who was there visiting her mom: “My mom was connecting words that made sense together. I didn’t think she could do that anymore.”
I can say with certainty that although our abilities change, creativity never leaves us. Neither does the desire to express and to be seen. poemRENOVATION is a wonderful tool to support that.
This work is dedicated to: My younger self, who found her way thanks to words, and to my future self, whom I know will do the same.
Find more from Kelly de la Rocha and poemRENOVATION on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
