MyEverLife
A diagnosis does not tell you what someone wants to share or how they prefer to communicate. Start with the person, their comfort, and their choices. MyEverLife can be a place to preserve willingly shared stories; it is not a treatment or an assessment of memory.
ONE SMALL WAY TO BEGIN
Ask whether they would enjoy looking at a familiar photograph together. Keeping a record is optional.
How to use MyEverLife
Ask what feels comfortable
Speak directly to the person and ask whether they want to talk and save anything. Choose a quiet setting, allow time for responses, and avoid turning the conversation into a quiz.
Offer one gentle starting point
Try one familiar topic rather than several questions. Listen without pressing for a correct date or name. Stop or change the activity if it becomes tiring or upsetting.
Keep authorship clear
If they want to use their account, help only as they wish and review what will be saved. If you are writing your own memory in EverJournal, make clear that it is your account of the moment, not their answer.
Keep sharing separate from recording
Saving a story, sharing it, and enabling an AI representation are different decisions. Do not assume agreement to one means agreement to the others. Contact support if permission or account access is unclear.
WORDS TO GET YOU STARTED
Choose a question that feels right.
You can use these prompts in EverJournal or as the start of a conversation.
- Would you like to look at this photograph together?
- Would you like to tell me about this place?
- Shall we talk about a favourite meal?
- Would you like me to keep that story, or just listen?
Connection is enough
A conversation does not need to produce a saved answer to be worthwhile. Avoid correcting details or insisting on finishing a prompt. The Alzheimer’s Association offers communication guidance for different stages of dementia.
Alzheimer’s Association: communication guidance
