People facing the knowledge of their own impending death should get practical and emotional support from their communities and loved ones. People also need to be empowered and motivated to provide help and support to those dying within their communities.
The general public need to have an understanding of loss and bereavement, so that people can communicate with each other about them, and so that communities can provide support to those who are bereaved or anticipating bereavement. It is also important that people have culturally and socially acceptable ways of expressing their grief.
For this to happen, communities of people, whether in geographical localities, organisations or workplaces, or in faith, interest or culture based groups, need to develop the resilience to support their members through difficult times.
Communities need to be strong, and people need to be educated and empowered to be able to support each other through care, loss, death and dying. Communities need to find their own ways of fostering constructive and healthy approaches to death, dying, bereavement and loss, and build up social capital to support their members through death, dying and bereavement.
This should include recognising, valuing and encouraging the potential of volunteers.
