“One day when I went to visit her during her final months, she just came out with this question: ‘What is to become of me?’. It was a hard question to ask and even harder to answer. It was clear she was in distress and wrestling with this very deep question.”
It was this very personal and poignant moment and the anticipation of the 20thanniversary of St Christopher’s founder, Dame Cicely Saunders, that was the inspiration for a two-day learning event on 9 and 10 July ‘What is to become of me?’.
Andrew hopes delegates, who can attend in person or online, will appreciate the opportunity to revisit and reimagine Dame Cicely’s ‘Total Pain’ concept – covering the social, spiritual, emotional and physical.
“I think it’s as pressing now as it was back in 1967. It’s just the context of the work has developed and there are possibly greater challenges like climate change and inclusion, affecting the world that cause people distress. We want people to reassess ‘Total Pain’ and our response to it in the light of this contemporary suffering.”
In practical terms, delegates will be fully engaged in the conference programme of day one and asked to keep a personal journal. Their responses and reflections will be compiled, alongside the input from the speakers, to form a critical essay.
Among those speakers will be contributors providing different cultural perspectives from around the world, including from Rwanda and India, as well as an assessment from Canada of the role of assisted dying as it relates to ‘Total Pain’.
Freelance researcher and writer, Dr Joe Wood, will draw on his book Cicely Saunders and Total Pain to challenge people to consider both her legacy and its limitations.
Andrew is excited by potential for learning from developing countries as well as the experts by experience who will relate the experience of what it is like to die in south London in 2025.
Day two of the event will see Dr Ros Taylor and Dr Justin Sanders introduce three case studies which will be analysed by an expert panel and provide delegates with the opportunity to offer their understanding gleaned from personal and professional experience.
Andrew is adamant that the most important qualification for attendance is an open mind.
“Medicine can just be a deductive process and there is increasing pressure on professionals to ‘do something’. People expect things to be treated and sorted. We need to be inquisitive, to allow people to talk and to provide narrative support.
“We won’t be providing people with a definitive response but something that is the start of a conversation, and an admission that we don’t have all the answers, but collectively sharing the ones we do have, so that we can all build on them.”
Bookings are now open to attend the two-day event – “What is to become of me?”
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