Conversation to Connection: How St Christopher’s Is Listening to South East London’s Communities

Partnering with groups like the Pineapple Club, the hospice’s Community Action team is opening up honest conversations about culture, spirituality, and end-of-life care

A brand-new project designed to deepen communities’ understanding of St Christopher’s and its awareness and consideration of their cultural needs and wishes, and a newly formed relationship with a local community group, are just the latest illustrations of the hospice’s commitment to achieve these goals through the ongoing work of its Community Action team.

Developing close ties with Pineapple Club, a Black Caribbean/Africancommunity group in nearby Anerley, and running the first of what they hope will be many community-based conversations addressing cultural and religious rituals and traditions, the Community Action team hope they’re on the way to better reflecting the needs of the diverse population of South East London.

Busara Drezgic, Community Engagement Programme Manager, explains what the team is hoping to achieve both with these two projects and more widely:

Some backgrounds maybe don’t want to talk about death and dying – we need to know what kind of language to use and how best to care and support people in the community.” says Busara.

Busara and her colleague Jarmila Whitely were invited to visit Pineapple.

An initial meeting with about 80 of the club’s retiree members was an opportunity for Busara and Jarmila to share some information about St Christopher’s and gauge understanding of what the hospice is and does.

“It’s all part of our commitment to attend to the priority populations that we’re not seeing enough of, understanding who’s not aware of us and appreciating what St Christopher’s looks like to them. We’re looking to send out a picture that this is a place where everyone can feel welcome and comfortable.”

On 6 August, Jarmila and Busara joined Pineapple Club’s celebration of Jamaica Independence Day and the club’s CEO has subsequently been in touch to say they’d like to host an event for St Christopher’s.

As well as potential visits to the hospice, the Community Action team has offered Pineapple Club members the chance to engage in the second recently launched project – Spiritual Life and Intercultural Exchange or SLICE. This three-part series of two-hour community-based, facilitated conversations gives groups of eight to 10 people the chance to explore what cultural and spiritual needs at the end of life really mean, to share what feels relevant from their own backgrounds, and to consider what matters most to them while learning from one another.

“It’s about really unpacking people’s understanding of and relationship with culture, religion and spirituality when it comes to end of life,” says Busara.

“We want to understand what really matters to people from a non-medical point of view and we’re also going to invite members of the clinical teams here at St Christopher’s so that we can better inform the end of life care we provide.”

SLICE has launched in Southwark and there are plans to initiate sessions in Croydon and Lewisham shortly.

Busara is keen to emphasise that it’s early days for SLICE and the relationship with Pineapple Club and both represent work in progress.

“Success is continuing to raise awareness, to reassure those people who’ve previously felt underserved that we are working to the future and making positive changes and providing them with quality care that resonates with them as individuals, culturally and spiritually.

If we get it right, then that will have a positive impact on the next generation too.”