Demystifying Death: Making Change Happen

Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief Conference 

Renfield Centre, Glasgow, 26 February 2025

160 people attended this sold-out conference to explore how we can work together to demystify death and build more compassionate communities in Scotland.

View the Conference Programme here.

The conference welcomed volunteers, community members, social care staff, nurses, doctors, funeral directors, death doulas, academics, policy makers, community development practitioners, teachers, service planners/managers and everyone else who is interested. 

Programme

Allan Kellehear - Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.

In this keynote presentation Allan Kellehear will shared his insights from decades working in this field, exploring why improving death, dying and bereavement has to be about ‘everything, everywhere, all at once’. 

Allan Kellehear is Professor in Health & Social Care at Northumbria University in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He has worked as a professor in Australia, Japan, USA and the UK. 

Allan is widely recognised as founder and one of the leading advocates of the international public health movement in palliative care, also known as the ‘compassionate community’ or the ‘health promoting palliative care’ approach. 

Kathryn Mannix - Reclaiming the public understanding of dying

In this session (via video link) Kathryn Mannix shared some reflections from her own work to ‘demystify death’. What motivates us to do this work and how do we remain true to that? How do we look after ourselves, where do we rest, and where do we find those moments of satisfaction? And what are the risks and rewards of using social media in this work?

Kathryn Mannix is a former palliative care consultant with over two decades of experience leading hospice services and NHS palliative care programmes. An expert in end-of-life care and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), she developed innovative training programmes to equip healthcare professionals with practical CBT skills, earning national recognition and grants. Since retiring from clinical practice, she has become a best-selling author, speaker, and campaigner for better public understanding of dying, with her books With the End in Mind and Listen gaining international acclaim. 

Dominic Campbell - Arts, culture and compassionate communities

Dominic Campbell shared his insights on how the Arts and art-making can support people and communities coping with death, dying and loss, and how this can help to create wider cultures where caring, dying and grieving are supported and acknowledged.

Dominic has led the Irish Hospice Foundation’s Art and Cultural Engagement programme since its inception in 2020. He is also co-founder of Creative Aging International, and formerly Director of Age & Opportunities’ groundbreaking celebration of creative aging the Bealtaine Festival and St Patrick’s Festival, Ireland’s national flagship event.

Dominic is a cultural producer skilled at using celebration as a strategy, interested in how more people might live a little better, for longer. 

Donna Hastings - Creating more Grief Aware Schools

In this session, Donna shared work to encourage more ‘grief aware’ schools through the development of a Bereavement Charter Mark for Primary Schools in Scotland, which has been undertaken in partnership with Strathclyde University, Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief, and various primary schools in Scotland. 

Donna Hastings is the Head of Patient and Family Support at St Columba’s Hospice Care in Edinburgh.

She has a wealth of experience in childhood bereavement and is a Counsellor, Childhood Grief Therapist and Health Play Specialist.

Donna is passionate about childhood grief and improving outcomes in bereavement care, particularly palliative care.

She is active on various groups, including the the European Learning Network on Compassionate Schools. 

See Donna’s presentation slides from the conference here.

Paolo Maccagno - Runforever, humanising responses to grief and loss in a prison environment

In this session, Paul shared  reflections from his work establishing Runforever, a Scottish Charity promoting educational projects, based on marathon running and the Feldenkrais method®. Runforever offers small actions participating in wider systemic change. It aims to foster paths for humanising health care within prison environments and the community.

Paolo Maccagno is a Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen, and Founder of Runforever.

After fifteen years as an architect, he took an independent path for developing experimental projects between art, anthropology and education (in academic and non-academic contexts), inspired by his passion for running marathons and its educational potential through the idea of the wall (of the marathoner) as limit. 

The impact of financial hardship on experiences of dying and bereavement. 

This session explored how poverty, illness and bereavement become intertwined, and what we can do as a society to try to change things for the better. Featuring:

Amy Dalrymple, Associate Director for Policy and Public Affairs, Marie Curie Scotland 

Bringing together research, communications, policy and campaigning to make change happen 

Amy leads Marie Curie’s public policy, and system and political influencing in Scotland.  She leads Marie Curie Scotland’s mission to see a right to palliative care realised for everyone in Scotland who needs it, building a coalition across politics and civic society for a rights based approach to system change. Amy has particular interests in dementia and social care and in participative approaches in policy.  Amy has 25 years’ professional experience of working to shift power imbalances. Before joining Marie Curie, Amy most recently led policy for the Royal College of Nursing in Scotland and for Alzheimer Scotland. She currently volunteers as a trustee for Down’s Syndrome Scotland and as a Director of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust.

Emma Kelso – Senior Funeral and Bereavement Advisor, Caledonia Funeral Aid 

Funeral poverty – stories from Scotland 

Emma has been with Caledonia Funeral Aid for three years, first as a bereavement advisor and then progressing to the role of Senior Funeral and Bereavement Advisor. She also runs Caledonia Cremation, Scotland’s only not-for-profit funeral director. Both are run independently while holding the same values and aims. Her work is varied, involving helping, advising and supporting people, building professional connections, collaborative working, and training and events.  She previously worked within palliative care for 20 years and has always had a passion for providing holistic care at end of life and beyond. She is committed to making a difference to as many people as possible in Scotland, no matter their circumstances.

See Emma’s presentation slides here.

Panel Discussion: Creating safe spaces for meaningful conversations

Many of us recognise the importance of creating opportunities for people to get together to talk about issues relating to death, bereavement and planning for the future. But how can we create safe spaces where people feel comfortable engaging with topics that can often feel sensitive?

In this panel discussion session, speakers shared their experiences and insights from working with groups in a range of different circumstances, from schools, to communities, to prisons. Presentations were be followed by discussion and questions from the audience.

Workshop A - Unleashing creativity and conversations

This workshop explored how to use art to create inclusive and supportive group spaces where meaningful conversations can happen. No artistic experience was necessary - this was more about relaxing and experimenting. Delegates could try out some art activities around personal reflections on death and grief. 

The workshop was be run by John Martin Fulton, an award-winning artist who uses art to create welcoming and encouraging environments where people can explore their creativity. He enjoys working with people recovering from addictions, people with learning disabilities, mental health problems, people in social care, vulnerable children and young people and all manner of groups.

Workshop B - Bringing Death Back to Life

In this session, Kate Clark, founder of Pushing up the Daisies, explored the impact of the choices made in the space between a last breath and a funeral.

When someone close to us takes their last breath we have choices about what happens next. One of these is to employ a funeral director to take care of their body and arrange their funeral. Another is to immerse ourselves in the space between their last breath and their funeral. This session explored the possibilities, legalities, practicalities, fears and unknowns of what is currently an unusual choice in Scotland. This session also explored the impact on the living of the choices made in this space and how this may contribute to the Lancet Commission call for death to be recognised as not only normal, but valuable.

Workshop C: Sharing ideas and inspiration for Demystifying Death Events

Thinking of organising an event for Demystifying Death Week or the To Absent Friends Festival this year? 

This workshop was a chance to share your experiences, reflections and questions, and bounce ideas off others - what makes a good event? What challenges do you face? What resources help? 

A chance for those new to this area to learn from others; a chance for experienced event organisers to gain some new ideas and inspiration.

Workshop D: Demystifying Spiritual Care – What actions count?

This workshop aimed to support participants to make spirituality and spiritual care something real and something actionable. From one to one small acts of kindness to radical organisational development, it permeates everything from end of life accompaniment to every day care provision.  It even includes supporting religious faith and belief, but not always.

The workshop was led by Gerrie Douglas-Scott who has been involved in developing and providing a meaningful take on spirituality in the health service since 2002.  She recently co-chaired The NHS Scotland working group on a Professional Specialist Workforce (2023) for the new “Framework”.  Originally a Public Health specialist Gerrie left statistics behind to focus on ways to involve people meaningfully in the design, delivery and monitoring of care.  She is currently a spiritual care provider in a Hospice and working with them to develop their Spiritual Health and Care Strategy.

Gerrie has a particular interest in creating person centred rituals at the end of life, for funerals and marriages and is Director of Celebrate People, a multi-belief and spiritual care organisation.

See Gerrie’s presentation slides here.

Book your place now

Tickets cost £50.

If you have any questions, please get in touch: samara@palliativecarescotland.org.uk

Book a place here: Eventbrite booking link  View the Conference Programme here