News
Truacanta Evaluation Report
The Truacanta Evaluation Report has been published. The report presents the findings at the end of the project evaluation, and reflects on the impact achieved and learning gained from the project, which ran from 2019-2023.
You can read the full report here: Truacanta Evaluation Report
The Truacanta Project was set up to support local communities in Scotland who were interested in taking community action to improve people’s experiences of death, dying, loss and care, using a community development approach. The project was funded by Macmillan Cancer Support and run by the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care.
Groups in Ayrshire, Dundee, Highland, North Berwick and Perthshire were supported through Truacanta to build their own local compassionate community activity. The Evaluation Report shows that
- four out of five of the local projects had clear positive impact at a local level, despite the challenges of establishing a new project during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- progress had been made in all the intended outcome areas set out at the start of the project
- projects have left valuable legacies within their communities
- much local work will be sustained beyond the life of the Truacanta Project
You can find out more about the project here: Truacanta
Scottish Bereavement Summit
The report of the Scottish Bereavement Summit has been published today. The report draws attention to the difficulties faced by people who are grieving in Scotland, and sets out recommendations of how to address some of the key issues.
Access the full report here: Scottish Bereavement Summit Final Report
A summary version of the report is available here: Scottish Bereavement Summit Summary Report
Who supported the summit?
The Scottish Bereavement Summit took place on 13 October 2022. It was supported by a collaboration of organisations working to improve bereavement support in Scotland, including: Richmond’s Hope; Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief; Held in our Hearts; Accord Hospice; The Haven; Kilbryde Hospice; Independent Age; Macmillan Cancer Support; Brightest Start; Bereavement Charter Group; Cruse Scotland; Team Jak; ARC; Fife Young Carers; Funeral Link; Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care; St Vincent’s Hospice; Sands; St Andrew’s Hospice; Marie Curie; MND Scotland; Ardgowan Hospice; Childhood Bereavement Network; Child Bereavement UK; Faith in Older People; Baby Loss Retreat; Sue Ryder; Scottish Care; IANPC; Whyte Family Trust; The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice; Hospice UK; Alternatives Counselling & Listening Rooms; Sunrise Partnership; St Margaret of Scotland Hospice.
What happened at the Summit?
The Bereavement Summit brought together 136 people who work within the bereavement sector in Scotland. The gathering gave attendees the opportunity to explore how to work together to improve experiences of bereavement in Scotland, focusing on three specific areas:
- Formal bereavement services: how can formal bereavement support services (which provide for example counselling and access to peer support groups) be strengthened and improved?
- Informal bereavement support: what can be done to support communities of all kinds (including workplaces, schools, families and neighbourhoods) to provide better informal support to people who have been bereaved.
- Health and social care staff who experience multiple bereavements: how can staff get the support they need at work.
Recommendations
The Report suggests the following 10 recommendations:
- Improve signposting to available support.
- Increase public awareness, confidence, comfort and skills relating to bereavement issues.
- Ensure strategic direction, accountability and responsibility for improving bereavement support.
- Enable schools and educational institutions to be more supportive of people who are bereaved.
- Address equity/equality issues and improve access to services for people with a range of needs.
- Encourage and support workplaces to be better at supporting bereaved staff.
- Support opportunities for professionals to network, learn and share good practice.
- Improve Bereavement Support for Health and Social Care staff.
- Improve how bereavement services, projects and initiatives are funded.
- Ensure future action is informed by evidence, information and builds on existing work.
Access the full report here: Scottish Bereavement Summit Final Report
A summary version of the report is available here: Scottish Bereavement Summit Summary Report
More information about the Bereavement Summit, including a film of the presentations, is available here: Bereavement Summit outputs.
essence of a memory photograph competition
The Essence of a Memory photography competition invites participants to submit a photo and write up to fifty words which together evoke a story or memory of someone important in their life who has died.
Winning entries will form part of a new exhibition to mark the 10th anniversary of the To Absent Friends Festival. The new exhibition will be launched at an evening reception in the Scottish Storytelling Centre on 1 November.
The winner of the adult category will receive £500, and the winner of the children's category will receive £50. The competition is open to people residing in Scotland.
Find out more about the competition and how to enter here: Essence of a Memory Competition
To Absent Friends 10th Anniversary Artwork - applications sought
We are looking to commission an artist to envision and create an interactive art installation to mark the 10th Anniversary of the To Absent Friends festival. Applications should be submitted by Monday 7 August 2023. More information is available here: To Absent Friends 10th Anniversary Art Installation.
About the To Absent Friends Festival
To Absent Friends, a people’s festival of storytelling and remembrance, takes place across Scotland from 1-7 November each year. The festival aims to create opportunities for people to gather together to celebrate and remember dead loved ones.
More information about the festival is available here: www.toabsentfriends.org.uk
Project Brief
The 10th To Absent Friends Festival will take place 1-7 November 2023.
We want to mark this occasion by creating a new, interactive artwork that engages members of the public in remembering and celebrating people in their lives who have died.
We are therefore looking to commission an artist or collective to envision and create a piece of art:
- in an outdoor public space in Scotland during 1-7 November 2023.
- that makes passersby curious and comfortable to engage.
- that encourages the public to contribute to or interact with it in some way.
- that encourages the public to remember or tell stories or reminisce about people in their lives who have died and who remain important to them. (Please note, the focus should be on remembrance and storytelling, rather than on grief and loss.)
- that is sensitive to the diversity of the Scottish population and the variety of experiences of loss that are present in Scotland.
- that is visually striking and provides a talking point for press releases about the TAF festival.
- that has no negative environmental impact.
More details about the project brief are available on the SPPC website here: To Absent Friends 10th Anniversary Art Commission
Demystifying Death Award Winners Revealed
The winners of the Demystifying Death Awards 2023 have been revealed.
Actor Greg Wise and author Kathryn Mannix are among those to receive one of the awards, which celebrate pioneering work to increase understanding of death, dying and bereavement.
The Awards are run by Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief, a charity-led collaboration of people and organisations that want Scotland to be a place where people can be open about and plan for death, dying and bereavement.
Sense & Sensibility star Greg Wise appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2021, where he dedicated a dance to his sister, whom he cared for when she was dying. He has talked openly about some of the privileges and difficulties faced by informal carers and by people living with and dying from incurable illness.
He said:
“I feel deeply privileged to have been given this award. This sits alongside the privilege of having been able to care for my sister until her death.
“I did Strictly Come Dancing for my sister - who was an enormous fan of a good dance. I did it to make her happy and to be able to share her and my story: bringing the “D Word” to a live Saturday evening sequinned dance extravaganza.
““It is an Act of Love to talk with your loved ones about grief and death. It’s Cruel (to yourself mainly) not to talk. I know I am kinder, more compassionate, more able, more grateful, more loving for having been a carer for my dying sister, and hopefully all these things now sit within me and guide me in my conversations.”
Alongside public figures like Greg Wise, the Demystifying Death Awards aim to bring recognition those working behind the scenes, often in the NHS, social care and charities.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde won the Promoting Planning Award for their work to promote the importance of planning ahead for ill health and death. Jenny Watt, Macmillan Anticipatory Care Manager at NHS GGC, said:
“Death is the only guarantee in life, but it is a topic often brushed under the carpet. This results in people feeling isolated and uncertain when they are faced with the reality of dying and the aftermath of someone’s death. People have no knowledge and are often left scrabbling around trying to navigate complex systems at a time which is already painful and distressing without this added burden. We hope that by helping to shine a light on some of the information, demystify the systems, and show that there is a whole community waiting with open arms to support people in their time of need, we can create a more caring and kinder world.”
The first government agency to pick up an award was Social Security Scotland, for work to ensure changes to support payments for people who are bereaved or terminally ill are co-designed, effective and accessible to those who need them. A spokesperson for SSS outlined some other ways they work to support people who are bereaved:
“Social Security Scotland operates a bereavement service of specially trained client advisers to provide help to people who have to report a death and need to update us. With just one phone call, people can report the death of a family member, friend or loved one directly to an expert adviser. At that point, our adviser will take the necessary information for all payments that need to be cancelled.”
The Inspiring Community Award went to Pushing up the Daisies, a pioneering charity whose aim is for everyone in Scotland to know their practical options when someone dies.
Kate Clark, one of the founders of Pushing up the Daisies said:
“We support people to find what’s right for them especially when they instinctively want to keep someone’s body at home, or bring them back home, after their death.
“We believe that the time between someone’s death and their burial or cremation can give important opportunities to really experience and register that the person has died, to connect with others affected by the death and to begin to actively adjust to the changes in relationships that it heralds.”
St Columba’s Hospice Care in Edinburgh picked up the Creative Innovation Award for their Child and Family Service, which has been finding new ways to extend its support into the community, including working with schools.
Donna Hastings, Child & Families Lead at the hospice said:
“Supporting adult caregivers with information and resources to help them have conversations with their children about an illness in a timely age-appropriate way can help children to be included and have choice and this can make all the difference to the way they are able to process and manage both anticipatory grief and grief following bereavement. Providing children with an opportunity to explore how a death/approaching death is impacting their everyday lives can help them manage their grief better.”
Another high profile winner was Dr Kathryn Mannix, author of With the End in Mind, who won the Increasing Understanding Award. Dr Mannix said:
“Once people understand the process of dying, and its stages, I hope they will feel less afraid for themselves and the people they love, better able to be companions as their person is dying, and less startled or frightened by the unusual changes in consciousness and breathing noises that happen during dying. I get lots of lovely feedback from people whose change in understanding has helped them be better prepared, or to make sense of their experiences afterwards.”
The awards are part of Demystifying Death Week (1-7 May) which aims to shine a light on death, dying and bereavement in Scotland. Various online and face-to-face events are taking place during the week, from book tours and information sessions, to gardening events, death cafes and even a dip in the sea. The one thing all the events have in common is their aim to open up opportunities to learn about, and to plan ahead for, deteriorating health, dying and bereavement.
Photo credit: Kathryn Mannix photo by Darren Irwin
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