Demystifying Death Week 2025
Taking place across Scotland from 5-11 May, Demystifying Death Week is about shining a light on death, dying and bereavement in Scotland. We are encouraging people to get involved by holding in-person and online events that bring death, dying and bereavement into the limelight.
Below is a list of events registered so far - these pages will be updated over the coming weeks. If you are organising an event that you’d like us to feature, please get in touch.
Film Screening and Director Q&A: Much Ado About Dying
Organised by Kilbryde Hospice
Wednesday 7 May - Doors Open: 6:30 PM | Film Starts: 7:00 PM (prompt) | Q&A to follow
Kilbryde Hospice, McGuinness Way, East Kilbride, G75 8GJ
This screening is open to the public. Please book in advance.
Join us at Kilbryde Hospice for a special screening of Much Ado About Dying, followed by a virtual Q&A with director Simon Chambers.
In this documentary, filmmaker Simon finds his life drastically interrupted when he is called back to London from India to care for his retired bohemian gay actor Uncle David, who says he is dying. But David doesn’t seem to have any intention of dying.
David’s anarchic spirit is unbreakable. He fights with Simon, refusing to go into a care home, insisting on dying in the mess of his unheated tumble-down house. He can’t remember where he put his false teeth but he still knows nearly all the lines from his beloved Shakespeare plays. And then David’s real life starts to echo “King Lear”, the play about an old man going mad and giving his kingdom away, as David starts giving away thousands of pounds to a hot sexy “helper”. How does Simon help David to have a good death?
As part of Demystifying Death Week, this thought-provoking film offers a unique perspective on life, death, and everything in between.
Tea & coffee will be served.
Limited spaces available! To attend, please call Kilbryde Hospice Reception on 01355 202020 or email info@kilbrydehospice.org.uk to book your place.
Image credit: Cosmic Cat Films
Let’s Talk About Death: Drop-in Session
Organised by Perth & Kinross HSCP
Wednesday 7 May, 1:30-3pm
Blairgowrie Staff Room, Blairgowrie Community Hospital
This event is for Perth & Kinross HSCP staff.
This event is an opportunity to talk with each other about death and dying, something we are all affected by in our lives. This is not a grief support group or an end of life planning group but a space to discuss what death and dying can teach us about living.
For Demystifying Death Week, which was initiated by Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief, we are holding an event in Blairgowrie Staff Room for all HSCP staff. It will be held on Wednesday 7 May from 1:30-3pm.
Image credit: Perth & Kinross HSCP
Plan More, Stress Less
Organised by NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde.
Wednesday 7th May 2025, 6.30pm-7.30pm.
Taking place online (MS Teams).
This event is open to the public. Booking in advance is required.
When you or someone you care about becomes ill, life can become very stressful. That is why we think it is so important for people to talk to each other and make plans before this happens.
Our Plan More, Stress Less Toolkit, is for anyone interested in getting started with planning ahead. In this session we talk about what paperwork we can complete before a crisis arises, what actually happens when someone goes into hospital and how we can all work together to plan for a safe and timely discharge.
More information: https://www.nhsggc.scot/your-health/planning-for-care/events/
Register: https://link.webropol.com/ep/PMSL070525
Photo credit: Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash
NHSGGC DNACPR Policy Update (Grand Rounds)
Organised by NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde.
Wednesday 7th May 2025, 12.30pm-1.30pm.
Taking place online (MS Teams).
This event is for staff working in the NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board.
Conversations about cardiopulmonary resuscitation can be tricky. From the mis-information that circulates, to the strength of emotion it can produce, we need a workforce which understands the intricacy of the policy and how to broach the subject in a sensitive way.
NHSGGC have recently updated their DNACPR policy to clarify who should have these conversations, when they should occur and how to document them. Come along and listen to the team which have been leading this piece of work to tell you about their intentions and also the implication of this update – a must watch for all our staff!
This session is in partnership with the Realistic Medicine Team.
More information: https://www.nhsggc.scot/your-health/planning-for-care/events/
Register: https://link.webropol.com/ep/DNACPRGR070525
Photo credit: Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
Shared Learning: After a Death in Prison
Organised by Families Outside
Wednesday 7th May 2025, 10am-2pm
Perth
This event is for the Families Outside community
A shared learning event about deaths in prison custody is taking place between Families Outside and professional bereavement counsellors. The aim is for both groups to be able to hold ‘confident conversations’ with families following a death of a loved one in prison custody. Families Outside staff know the prison context well and are increasingly responsible for supporting families after a death in prison.
However, they are not bereavement counsellors and can feel unsure about how to discuss a bereavement with the families they are supporting. Meanwhile, bereavement counsellors are not generally familiar with the specific impacts for families of a death in prison.
The event - the start of a continuing conversation - will raise awareness and confidence for both groups while also increasing knowledge of opportunities for cross-referral to support families more effectively.
This event is supported by a Demystifying Death Week Small Grant.
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