Person-centred care (PCC) is the recommended model of dementia care however there are challenges regarding how care staff implement PCC principles in practice. Life story work is one way for care staff to enact the principles of PCC in a structured way with people living with dementia. Life story boards are a less researched method of gathering and recording a life story but may provide a more visual and immediate impact on staff in their everyday clinical practice. Underpinned by elements of technical participatory action research (PAR), this study used life story boards to engage clinical support workers (CSWs) in PCC with people living with dementia in an inpatient dementia care setting. The study explored how these care staff reported their experiences of the process of creating life story boards and experienced PCC via this process. Semi-structured interviews were completed with seven CSWs pre and post-life story implementation to gather this data. Inductive thematic analysis identified four themes: the unit culture as a barrier to valuing PCC and the personhood of patients; ‘Us versus them’: CSWs positioning of their role; an altered view of the patient with dementia; and a sense of hope: getting past the barriers. Implications for clinical practice involve the importance of collaborative input and leadership from services, empowerment and support of CSWs, as well as commitment to PCC values at all levels of organisational structures so that the organisational culture does not impede life story work implementation for care staff such as CSWs. Using PAR elements and practice development approaches encourages these important clinical implications to be achieved. Recommendations for future research include maintaining focus on the more severe end of dementia in inpatient care and more research of the life story board format due to the boards not getting completed and displayed on the unit.