Life Story and Preferences Sheet

Who this is for

Who the person is, before anyone gets to what they need. A page of prompts in the first person — where I grew up, my work, my family, the things I am proud of, the music, food and places I like, the things that upset me and how I like to be spoken to — so that whoever comes to help meets a person and not a list of tasks.

People going into a care setting or having care at home for the first time, families who want a new carer to know who they are looking after, carers who have been handed a file with no person in it, and anyone helping somebody write about themselves.

What this helps you track

• Where the person comes from and the life they have led, in their own words
• The people, work and places that have mattered to them
• The things they are proud of, which are the things worth asking about
• What they enjoy and what they would rather avoid
• How they like to be addressed and spoken to, which is the first thing a stranger gets wrong

How to use it

1. Write the person's name, the name they like to be called and the date at the top, with the name of anyone who helped.
2. Go through the prompts together, at a pace that suits, and write in the person's own words wherever you can — a phrase of theirs is worth more than a paragraph of yours.
3. Leave anything blank the person does not want to share. What is written is theirs to choose.
4. Give particular care to the last prompts: what upsets them and how they like to be addressed are the things a new carer most needs on the first day.
5. Keep the sheet at the front of the file, and give a copy to anyone new who is coming to help.
6. Add to it as things come up; the online version saves in your own browser so a line can be added without starting again.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The online version keeps what you enter in your own browser and builds the completed PDF on your device.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

Who is this for — the person or the carer?

Both. The person writes or dictates it, and the carer reads it. It exists so that a conversation can start from something the person cares about rather than from what the care plan says needs doing.

What if the person cannot write it themselves?

Family and friends can write what they know, and say so on the sheet. Write it as the person would say it, not about them, and leave out anything they would not want a stranger to know.

Should it include medical history?

No. That belongs on the medical and care records, and this sheet is deliberately free of it. It is about who the person is, not what they have or what they need.

How much should we write?

Whatever there is room for and no more than the person wants to say. A few lines on each prompt is plenty; the point is to give a stranger something to talk about and something not to get wrong.

Is there anything on the sheet already?

Only the prompts. There are no example answers and no suggested preferences, because every line on it is somebody's own.