Memories, stories and identity

David Wilberforce and Kate Mountford

Everything I can remember – as far back as I can remember – is part of my identity. Things I cannot remember are not part of my identity.

John Locke

• Why do we (as staff) remember some service users that we have encountered and not others?
• Why do some episodes (sometimes just moments) from our past seem so much more significant than others, such that we retell these memories again and again to both ourselves and others?
• How do our personal memories contradict or affirm the collective memory of our places of work and the stories told by others?

When we remember any episode in our lives it involves an aspect of the self (doing/being done to/experiencing etc). Thus, we construct our sense of self/identity through narrative – the stories we tell each other and ourselves about our lives.

• Can we truly hear the stories of others' if they seem to challenge our sense of identity – can the hearing of others' stories change our sense of identity?

Memory is not something that 'lies dormant in the past awaiting resurrection' but a collaboration between past and present, contributing to the continuous creation of the self. Do we then choose to remember certain encounters and people because they reflect/possess traits which chime with our own sense of identity as 'staff'?

We (that is, a nurse/psychotherapist and a clinical psychologist) aim to explore some of these questions and ideas through our own stories taken from many years of experience including work in long stay institutions.