News
Publication of A Whole School Approach to Loss and Bereavement
A group of organisations have jointly published A Whole School Approach to Loss and Bereavement, a reference toolkit, providing information to help teachers support children and young people during times of loss, change and bereavement.
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Glasgow City Council Education Services, the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, St Margaret of Scotland Hospice and Marie Curie have produced the resource to support teachers from early years to secondary education environments. It has been developed to support teachers to increase their knowledge and understanding of loss, change and bereavement.
The project was initiated after a scoping exercise highlighted that many teachers felt that training on loss, change and bereavement was an area requiring further development.
The toolkit sets out a vision whereby schools are supportive, prepared and informed in relation to both the needs of children and young people and loss, change and bereavement. It includes case studies, examples of good practice, lesson plans and direction to further resources.
The full toolkit can be accessed here: weblink
Can death get any better? A lecture series.
The Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care and Marie Curie present a new winter lecture series:Can death get any better? The lecture series will highlight ongoing challenges and unmet needs in death and dying.
In the opening lecture, Dr David Reilly, Director of the Wellness Enhancement Learning Programme, will explore Uniting love and skill in the art of human caring.
The February lecture will feature Dr Bee Wee, National Clinical Director for End of Life Care for NHS England speaking on the subject of Care for older people towards the end of life: tensions and challenges.
The lecture series closes with a lecture on Living and dying in very old age: the limits of choice by Professor Tony Walter, Director of the University of Bath Centre for Death & Society.
Full details of the lectures are below. To RSVP for any of these events please contact Susan Lowesat Marie Curie.
Uniting love and skill in the art of human caring
Dr David Reilly, Director of the Wellness Enhancement Learning and The Healing Shift Programmes.
Wednesday 21 January, 6pm, MacDonald Holyrood Hotel, Edinburgh
Care for older people towards the end of life: tensions and challenges.
Dr Bee Wee, National Clinical Director for End of Life Care for NHS England
Wednesday 25 February, 6pm, The Lighthouse, Glasgow
Living and dying in very old age: the limits of choice
Professor Tony Walter, Director of the University of Bath Centre for Death & Society.
Wednesday 25 March, 6pm, MacDonald Holyrood Hotel, Edinburgh
parliament reception for absent friends
On 30th October 2014, Michael McMahon MSP hosted a lunchtime reception at the Scottish Parliament, introducing To Absent Friends, a people's festival of storytelling and remembrance.
Mark Hazelwood, Chief Executive of the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care introduced To Absent Friends, within the context of ongoing work to improve people’s experiences of death, dying and bereavement in Scotland.
Guests were treated to a presentation by award-winning Glasgow-based photographer Colin Gray, on his latest exhibition: Colin Gray: A journey with his parents through love, life and death. Ron Butlin, poet and writer, closed the event with a recital of his poem A recipe for whisky.
The event was well attended, including by MSPs Aileen McLeod, Jim Hume, Jamie McGrigor, Siobhan McMahon, Nanette Milne, Rhoda Grant, Graeme Day, Jim Edie and John Mason.
The reception also premiered an exhibition of the To Absent Friends: Essence of a Memory photo competition which ran as part of the Luminate Festival in October. Competition winners were: Under 18s: Emma Fraser; Aaron Hawthorne; Connie Sneddon; Over 18s: Laura Christie & Evelyn Smillie; Alan Dawson; Finola Scott; Morag Ewing
A gallery of all competition entrants can be viewed here: Essence of a Memory photo gallery.
Many guests also shared their own personal tributes to absent friends, which have been made into beautiful and moving tribute wall - view the gallery of tributes here.
Scotland remembers absent friends
A new festival remembering ordinary people who have died takes place across Scotland this week (1-7 November).
To Absent Friends, a people’s festival of storytelling and remembrance is a mix of high profile events and also chances for everyone to join in some way. The festival is the brainchild of Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief, an alliance of organisations and individuals working together to raise public awareness of ways of dealing with death, dying and bereavement.
Mark Hazelwood, Chief Executive of the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care, said: “People who have died remain a part of our lives – their stories are our stories, yet many Scottish traditions relating to the expression of loss and remembrance have faded over time.
"The To Absent Friends festival is about reigniting some of those traditions and creating new ones - giving people across Scotland an excuse to remember, to tell stories, to celebrate and to reminisce about people we love who have died. We are delighted that so many people and organisations are planning to join in the festival.”
The festival runs from 1st – 7th November. Many local grassroots activities are taking place, and in addition the festival is being supported and promoted through some high profile events and partnerships including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Scottish Rugby Union, the Luminate Festival of Creative Aging and Falkirk Football Club.
The festival is also encouraging people to share their memories and photos on social media with the hashtag #ToAbsentFriends.
Mark Hazelwood added: “In Scotland many of us struggle to know what to say or do around someone who’s been bereaved. All of us experience loss of some kind during our lives, and many people get something really positive from sharing memories and anecdotes of their dead loved ones”.
To find out more about To Absent Friends visit: www.toabsentfriends.org.uk
Hold your own Cafe of Reminiscence
Would you like to bring together friends, family or members of your community to reminisce and share anecdotes of dead loved ones? Why not run your own Café of Reminiscence?
Just Festival has been running popular monthly death cafés in Edinburgh for several months now, filling the Bohemian café Love Crumbs with the sound of strangers talking (and even laughing) about death.
Joining in the spirit of To Absent Friends, this November, they are planning to replace their usual death café with a Café of Reminiscence.
In partnership with Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief and Love Crumbs café, Just Festival have produced a conversation menu to help get the discussions started, and have shared the menu here so that people can print it off and use it for their own gatherings.
The menu is available to be downloaded here: Café of Reminiscence Menu
Guests might also wish to bring something with them that reminds them of a dead loved one - a ring, a book, a photo - to help get the stories started.
The menu can be printed off and used as it is, or used as the basis for you to create your own unique conversation menu. Structured in three 'courses' the menu asks a variety of questions, for example 'Does remembering always have to be sad?'; 'Are there any foods that evoke memories of people you love?' and 'If you had one last day with them what would you do?'
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