This award celebrates work that increases knowledge, skills or understanding relating to death, dying or bereavement among members of the public.
Good Grief Festival offers free virtual events that aim to spark conversations around grief and show that it is a painful but important aspect of human experience which needs to be understood, respected and supported.
Good Grief events bring people together to gain insight and knowledge, hear stories they can relate to, and be part of a community.
On YouTube, their Grief Channel offers free and unlimited access to 100+ curated recordings, allowing viewers to create their own grief toolkit and access information, support and solidarity whenever they need it.
Since their first festival, they have welcomed 27k people to their events, with recordings watched 210k times on Vimeo and YouTube.
Through Good Grief Connects and their work with the Weston-super-Mare Community Network they are also extending their in-person activities; as part of the latter project, from 1st-8th May this year they are holding their first in-person festival, Good Grief Weston, a collaboration between Culture Weston, the University of Bristol and a range of people and organisations across sectors in Weston-super-Mare.
In 2023 they will also be launching their new online Grief Hub.
Find out more here: Good Grief Festival
Kathryn Mannix worked in palliative medicine for 30 years, before taking early retirement to campaign for better public understanding of, and preparation for, dying.
Her first book, ‘With The End in Mind’, tells stories about how people live while they are dying. It became a best seller and has been translated into sixteen languages so far. Her second book, ‘Listen: How to Find the Words for Tender Conversations’ was written during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic and explores the art of participating in conversations that may feel emotional, frightening or daunting.
Dr Mannix has been busy with broadcasting, writing and lecturing ever since, and has discovered there is a public appetite for clear information and models for important conversations.
Her BBC Ideas video ‘Dying is not as bad as you think’ has had over three million views. She uses her significant Twitter following to raise awareness, share information on practicalities, and model supportive communication. Her books have become recommended reading for medical and nursing students, helping to prepare new generations of professionals to care for people who are dying.
Find out more: Kathryn Mannix
Faith In Older People (FioP) is a small Scottish Charity that works to educate, encourage and support volunteers, health and social care workers, members of faith communities and other agencies to increase their understanding of spiritual care and issues around ageing. This includes various activities that encourage increased knowledge and understanding of end of life matters, for example:
FioP's tiny team also makes an important impact bringing increased awareness of spiritual care to policy and service development relating to spiritual, palliative, end of life and bereavement care.
Read more here: Faith in Older People
