The people living at Hunters Down Care Home took a trip down memory lane this week as the team hosted a sensory reminiscence session.
Multisensory sessions are effective ways of unlocking memories from the past, as different sights, smells, tastes and sounds help to bring back connected memories from the past.
For this reminiscence session, the team focussed on the sense of smell. They not only challenged the people living at the home to guess what they were smelling but to share any memories that came to mind.
The first scent for people to smell was that of a freshly cut Lemon. Shirley, who lives at the home, closed her eyes and after smelling it, immediately knew what it was. She told the team about how she used to put a lemon in her front room every evening before she went to bed, so when she came down in the morning it smelt fresh and clean.
Another scent that brought back memories for Shirley was the smell of Aniseed. She said it was a very distinctive smell and reminded her of the sweets she used to eat as a child.
Fresh mint was another of the scents that many people guessed correctly. Everyone really likes the smell of mint and enjoyed rubbing the leaf in their hand to release the aroma.
The team then took round an assortment of candles to see if they spurred any memories. Some of the candle scents included sweet pea, pink peony’s, tropical fruit, watermelon, lilac and jasmine to name a few. People found these slightly trickier to guess but said they all smelt lovely.
After the smells had been revealed, some of the group members shared their knowledge of the scents, whilst others sat and appreciated all the different smells.
It was a wonderful session full of scents and stories! The team look forward to hosting more multisensory sessions in the near future.