Come along to this conference to explore how we can work together to demystify death and build more compassionate communities in Scotland.
Book your place here.
Who is the conference for?
If you are interested in any of the topics below, this conference is for you:
- Building compassionate communities where people can help each other with death, dying, loss and care.
- Demystifying death – increasing knowledge, skills and information around caring, dying and grieving.
- Public health palliative care – influencing social and structural factors that affect people’s experiences of death, dying, loss and care.
- Improving planning ahead for future declining health and dying.
- Creating more supportive environments and opportunities – for communities to share solace and provide practical support around death, dying, loss and care.
- Death Literacy and Grief Literacy – the skills, knowledge, information, opportunities and environments people need to be able to navigate the ‘death system’ and provide informal support to each other.
- Culture change – making Scotland a place where people can help each other through the difficult times that can come with death, dying, loss and care.
We welcome volunteers, community members, social care staff, nurses, doctors, funeral directors, death doulas, academics, policy makers, community development practitioners, teachers, service planners/managers and everyone else who is interested.
Outline programme
Keynote Speaker – Allan Kellehear
Professor Allan Kellehear is a medical and public health sociologist widely
recognised as founder and one of the leading advocates of the international public health movement in palliative care, also known as the ‘compassionate community’ or the ‘health promoting palliative care’ approach.
Different approaches to getting stuff done – Scottish communities taking action
Creating more ‘grief aware’ schools – piloting a Bereavement Charter Mark for Primary Schools in Scotland
With Donna Hastings, St Columba’s Hospice Care
Runforever, humanising responses to grief and loss in a prison environment
With Paolo Maccagno, Runforever
Exploring and addressing the impact of financial hardship on experiences of dying and bereavement.
A selection of plenary speakers will look at how poverty, illness and bereavement become intertwined, and what we can do as a society to try to change things for the better. Speakers to be confirmed.
Arts and culture: creating compassionate communities in which to live, die and grieve.
Speakers from different backgrounds will explore how the Arts and art-making can support people and communities coping with death, dying and loss, and how this can help to create wider cultures where caring, dying and grieving are openly supported and acknowledged. Speakers will include:
Dominic Campbell, Irish Hospice Foundation
Dominic Campbell is a cultural producer interested in the effects of creativity on society. He specialises in the use of celebration as strategy for transformation. He has led Irish Hospice Foundation’s Arts and Cultural Engagement programme since its formation during the pandemic. He was formerly Director of Age & Opportunity’s Bealtaine Festival, Ireland’s groundbreaking celebration of creativity in older age,
John Martin Fulton, Artist
John Martin Fulton is an award-winning painter who trained at Glasgow School of Art and exhibits throughout Scotland. As well as creating his own painting, John Martin shares the joy of making art with community groups of all types. He particularly enjoys bringing art to those who are deemed ‘hard-to-reach’ groups such as people from areas of multiple deprivation, people recovering from addiction or living with disabilities.
Workshops and Breakout Sessions
Delegates can choose one of the following sessions.
Unleashing creativity and conversations
Explore how to use art to create inclusive and supportive group spaces where meaningful conversations can happen. No artistic experience necessary – this is more about relaxing and experimenting. Delegates can try out some art activities around personal reflections on death and grief. So be ready to get creative and reflective.
Creating safe spaces for meaningful conversations
Many of us recognise the importance of creating opportunities for people to get together to talk about issues relating to death, bereavement and planning for the future. But how can we create safe spaces where people feel comfortable engaging with topics that can often feel sensitive? In this panel discussion session, three invited speakers will share their experiences and insights from working with groups in a range of different circumstances, from schools, to communities, to prisons.
After the Last Breath
When someone close to us dies we have choices about what happens next. This session explores the impact of the choices made in the space between a last breath and a funeral. There can be benefits in people staying close to their relatives until they are ready to let go. Would you consider suggesting a relative look after a person’s body at home for a few days? Do health professionals have a duty to explain the choices available to bereaved relatives? The presenters will cover the legalities and practicalities of being close to this often hidden space between a last breath and a funeral.
Further excellent speakers are still to be confirmed…
Book your place here.
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