Life story books for your residents

Why families need a nudge at admission

You already know that knowing a resident's history, routines, likes and dislikes makes person-centred care easier. NICE's dementia guideline (NG97) recommends that staff training covers understanding the person as an individual and their life story, and suggests using a structured way to record a person's likes, dislikes, routines and personal history.

Families usually want to help, but at admission they are tired, busy and often feel guilty. "Could you put together a life story for us?" can become one more job that never gets done. Treasurefold gives them a simple way to do it together, without design skills or a printer.

What the home receives

• An A4 life story book with a 300gsm card cover and 100gsm inside pages, ready for the bedside, the lounge or a reminiscence session
• A one-page "About me" sheet for the care file: six short answers the family chooses from our questions or writes themselves, such as the name they like to be called, what they enjoy talking about, food and drink, what helps them feel calm and the important people in their life
• Consistent, clear pages with one photo and a short first-person caption, following published dementia-friendly design guidance

Families pay from £29.97 per book, including UK delivery (stapled £29.97, laminated and comb bound £34.97, or perfect bound £39.97; the laminated, comb-bound book wipes clean, which suits a busy lounge), and the book usually arrives within 5 to 7 working days of the family approving the proof. There is nothing for the home to pay or manage.

There are no medical questions anywhere: the book is about the person's life, not their condition. Families keep control of what goes in.

How to recommend Treasurefold

1. Mention it in your admission pack or at a pre-admission visit, alongside any life history form you already use.
2. Point families to this website. They order and build the book themselves, and relatives anywhere can add photos through a shared link.
3. The finished book and "About me" sheet are posted to the family to bring in.

We're happy to send a short leaflet you can give families. We're a small, independent business: we don't pay commission or ask homes to sell anything, and we never contact residents directly.

Already using "This is me" or your own form?

Keep using it. Alzheimer's Society's free "This is me" leaflet and in-house life history forms are valuable records. Our "About me" sheet is a printed companion, and the book gives residents and visitors something to look through together. Many homes use both.

Get in touch

If you'd like leaflets, or want to talk about how a book could work for a resident, email [email protected]. We read every message.