TimeSlips
Welcome to a world of imagination!
Initially designed as an improvisational storytelling process for people experiencing memory loss, TimeSlips has expanded since its creation by Anne Basting, Ph.D., 25 years ago. It now encompasses a diverse range of creative engagement practices, all of which free participants from any pressure to remember.
TimeSlips Creative Storytelling encourages spontaneous responses from participants to open-ended questions based on a photograph or other prompt. There are no right or wrong answers; all responses are woven into the narrative. As facilitator, I echo and write down all responses verbatim, reading them back as the improvisational story grows. Wherever possible, we embellish the story with sounds, movement, and music. For participants who may have difficulty verbalizing, even a smile or a laugh can be incorporated into the text of the story.
I was certified as a TimeSlips facilitator by TimeSlips founder Anne Basting at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, in 2014. Since then, I’ve led TimeSlips storytelling groups in residential care communities, senior centers, senior housing, and adult day programs, and worked with individual clients in their homes. I am also a Certified TimeSlips Trainer, coaching a roster of international trainees through the process of becoming a Certified TimeSlips Facilitator. I headed up a year-long TimeSlips project in 2019 to certify 10 Los Angeles County residential care communities and organizations serving elders as “Creative Communities of Care.”
When in-person creative engagement became impossible with the COVID-19 shutdown in early 2020, I began to explore remote delivery of TimeSlips, facilitating a virtual TimeSlips group on Zoom through Alzheimer’s Los Angeles. As a volunteer with the phone reassurance program of Meals on Wheels, making weekly supportive calls to homebound clients, I introduced the TimeSlips concept of “beautiful questions”--open-ended questions with no right or wrong answers--into my calls.
These questions yielded a richness of stories, reinvigorated the calls, and deepened my rapport with clients. The agency embraced the concept of beautiful questions and integrated them into each weekly call script. A colleague and I have offered a series of training webinars for other volunteers on ways to use them in their calls.
These TimeSlips Storytellers
at the Israel Levin Senior Center at Venice Beach recorded story excerpts for this short video, which was shown to senior center patrons and staff.
at the Freda Mohr Senior Center of Jewish Family Service-Los Angeles created a play, using improvisations to develop the script from a TimeSlips story. The group performed “Ladies’ Choice,” a veritable soap opera set at a casino, at the center’s annual Hanukkah party and later recorded it as a podcast.
My TimeSlips group
The cast runs lines in rehearsal
The premiere performance of “Ladies’ Choice”
Over 100 elders gather in the senior center courtyard for the performance
As a teaching artist with EngAGE
at the Park Plaza senior apartments in North Hollywood, I led a bilingual TimeSlips group of Armenian speakers with the invaluable partnership and translation of Tanya Kutukdjian, an EngAGE staff person. The year-long group culminated in an exhibit of photos and stories in Armenian and English and an opening reception for all residents that honored the storytellers.
Testimonials
“TimeSlips allows our residents to express their creativity in the most unadulterated way. I am so impressed with the way Sarah engages even the most inhibited residents. Her patience and reassuring words give them the confidence and encouragement they need to express their ideas without fear of judgment. I have been astounded session after session as Sarah brings out the creative sides of our residents.”
— Allamary Moore
Memory Care Director
“I enjoy this group because of the spontaneity. Sarah does a wonderful job of encouraging people to express themselves. And I've seen a near miracle. People who weren’t talking too much are beginning to speak more..”
— Lorraine
Storyteller
“I look forward to it, because I can come in and relax and have fun and use my imagination and feel free. I just react to the picture, using my imagination. There’s no right, there’s no wrong, it can go anywhere. It’s just a lot of fun.”
— Charlotte
Storyteller