Truacanta network: past events

Truacanta: Scotland’s Compassionate Communities Network is for people and organisations who want to get involved in practical work to build compassion in their own community, with a particular focus on improving people’s experiences of deteriorating health, death, dying and bereavement.

The network was launched in 2018. You can read about some of the network’s activity since then below.

Demystifying Death: Making Change Happen, 26 February 2025

This conference was a chance to explore how we can work together to demystify death and build more compassionate communities in Scotland. More information is available here: Demystifying Death: Making Change Happen | Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief

Palliative Care Matters for All – the Scottish Government’s Draft Palliative Care Strategy, Monday 18 November 2024

The meeting was an opportunity to discuss the Scottish Government’s draft palliative care strategy from from the perspective of creating more compassionate communities and taking a public health approach to improving experiences of death, dying and bereavement. The group agreed that SPPC would pull together a summary of issues discussed and circulate to attendees to use/not use within their own consultation responses however they wished.

A summary of meeting discussions is available here: Truacanta Network Meeting Note 18 November 2024

Truacanta Networking Event & Launch of Truacanta Evaluation, Wednesday 13 September 2023

This networking event, held via Zoom, was open to anyone involved in or interested in learning more about compassionate community activity in Scotland.

The final evaluation of the Truacanta Project was launched, and attendees heard from the Director of Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief, the Truacanta Project Manager and representatives from Truacanta Groups North Berwick Compassionate Community and Say Something Dundee.

There was also the opportunity to ask questions and time for attendees to connect, reflect and share with each other.

You can watch the recording of the presentations here.
You can read the Truacanta Evaluation Report here.

Caring, Dying and Grieving: supporting and encouraging action in communities

This event on 1 December 2022 explored how to give people in Scotland opportunities, skills, and confidence to support people who are caring, dying or grieving. More information about the event, including speaker slides, is available here: Winter get-together 2023

Getting Ready for DD Week - Lunchtime Chat

This event on 9 March 2022 was open to anyone interested in organising an event for Demystifying Death Week. Several interested people came along to discuss ideas and plans for DD Week.

Getting Ready for DD Week - Lunchtime Chat

This event in April 2021 was open to anyone interested in organising an event for Demystifying Death Week. 30 people signed up to get together with others to discuss ideas and plans for DD Week.

Truacanta Events online

In October and Novembeer 2020, we ran three online Truacanta workshops for people looking to build on or interested in finding out more about compassionate communities work and work around death, dying and bereavement in Scotland:

Bringing death, dying and bereavement work online
A community development approach
Creating inclusive, accessible spaces

These interactive workshops brought together like-minded people to hear from speakers, share their own successes and challenges, and create personal actions to take away.

Survey

In summer 2020 we ran a survey to find out what stakeholders would find helpful in the context of the wide-ranging impact of COVID-19. Results indicated that people would some online workshops/networking events.

Compassionate Communities Week

Compassionate Communities week took place 27 April - 3 May 2020, as an opportunity to acknowledge, share and grow the compassion and innovation that so many communities are showing in response to COVID-19.

Digital Life, Legacy and Afterlife

This joint event with Marie Curie took place in June 2019, and explored practical elements such as planning, social media, online accounts and memorialisation, and online mourning and grieving, including ethical considerations that go along with it.

Unleashing Compassion Conference

2nd May 2019, Glasgow

This conference brought together members of the Compassionate Communities Network, sharing a range of work taking place in Scotland and exploring how to encourage open and supportive attitudes and behaviours relating to death, dying and bereavement in Scotland. More information is available here: Unleashing Compassion Conference.

Launch of the Scottish Compassionate Communities Network

The network launched 8 October 2018 at a sold-out event in Edinburgh (pictured) which gave delegates the chance to meet each other, make connections, and to discuss the potential creation of a Scottish Compassionate Communities toolkit. Fiona Garven, Director of the Scottish Community Development Centre, gave a presentation. The event also introduced delegates to some of the thinking behind the idea of Compassionate Communities, as outlined in Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief’s report, A Road Less Lonely. You can read the report of the launch meeting here.

Everyday Compassion: Supportive responses to dying and bereavement by schools, neighbourhoods and workplaces

Wednesday 25th April 2018, Renfield St Stephen Centre, Glasgow

This conference pre-dated the launch of the Compassionate Communities network, but laid some of the groundwork to establishment of hte network. It explored how to encourage open and supportive attitudes and behaviours relating to death, dying and bereavement in Scotland. Two hundred people attended this sell-out event, coming together to explore current thinking and practice relating to public health palliative care in Scotland. The event brought together experts from across Scotland, the UK and further afield, to examine this diverse field from various angles. More information is available here: Everyday Compassion Conference