good life, good death, good grief

Demystifying Death Week

 

Resources

#DemystifyDeath

It takes a village exhibition

The Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care worked with award-winning Glasgow based photographer, Colin Gray, to produce a powerful and challenging series of portraits and personal stories.

It Takes a Village explores the idea that as people’s health deteriorates, care and support comes in many guises.

We have a limited number of copies of the exhibition available to tour. If you would like to provide a venue to host the exhibition, please get in touch.

Digital event resource pack

This Digital Event Resource Pack is designed to support small group discussions over zoom, with input and facilitation from local experts. It includes outline event programmes, films and resources on four themes: What happens when someone is dying?; Planning ahead; Death in times of covid-19; Caring for the carer.

The Resource Pack also include ideas and tips on how to plan, host and facilitate a digital event. The full Digital Event Resource Pack is available here: DD Week Digital Event Resource Pack

Social media

Social media plays an important part of awareness raising during Demystifying Death Week, and your support can make a big difference. We'll be using the hashtag #DemystifyDeath, and in May we'll make available social media resources, including downloadable images and a tweet sheet.

Information leaflets

We have eleven different leaflets that provide information relating to death, dying and bereavement. Hard copies can be ordered, or you can download the leaflets directly from our website. A full list and further information is available here: Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief Information leaflets.

What happens when someone is dying?

Designed for carers, families and friends of dying people, this online resource tries to answer some of the questions people may have about what happens in the very last days and hours of a person's life...

- What happens when someone is dying?
- Will a person's pain get worse as they get closer to dying?
- Should I be worried?
- What can I do to help?

The online resource can be accessed here: What happens when someone is dying?

Planning for the future

Making plans when you’re healthy means there is less to think about if you get sick. It is never too soon to think about what you would like to happen if you become ill, or if your illness gets worse.

There are certain practical steps that everyone should take when thinking about planning for the future. Planning ahead in this way will make the financial, legal and practical consequences of illness and death for families much easier to deal with. More information about how to plan ahead for deteriorating health is available here: Planning ahead

Films

We have produced a number of short films on the subjects of illness, death and bereavement.

These can be downloaded from our website free of charge, and used in a variety of situations, for example conferences, discussion events and training courses. A full list of films is available here: Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief films, and includes:

- 20 Takes on Death and Dying, a 10 minute film, filmed on the streets of Paisley, Elgin and Inverness in 2011, in which ordinary people share personal reflections on death and dying

- At Home With Illness, a collection of films in which in which three families, whose lives were changed forever when life-limiting illness arrived, share their powerful, emotional stories

60 second shorts

These six short films each aim to demystify a different question relating to death, dying or bereavement:

  • What do children want to know about death?
  • How can I support a young person who is bereaved?
  • How might someone’s breathing change when they are dying?
  • What do I need to know about cpr?
  • I think my health might get worse… what plans should i make?
  • If I become too ill to make my own decisions, who will make decisions for me?

You can view all of the films, along with further information about each of these topics here: Demystifying Death 60-second shorts.

Origami Game

We are delighted to have worked with colleagues at NHS Lothian to produce a mini-anticipatory care planning prompt.... in the form of a small origami game. More information about the game and how to download it is available here: Origami game

Dining with Death Conversation Menu

The Dining with Death conversation menu is designed to act as an ice-breaker to give people inspiration and permission to talk about death-related matters.

It can be used flexibly, across different types of events and different audiences.

It is designed to overcome barriers to engagement in death discussions by intriguing participants and engaging them in non-threatening conversations through which they can learn from their own and others' experience.

The menu can be downloaded here: Conversation Menu.

The Reluctant Planner's Guide to Death and Dying

Good Life Good Death Good Grief's Development Manager, Robert Peacock, wasn't well-prepared for death. In his first months in the role, he set that straight. In this blog, he explains how he went about getting his affairs in order. He sought advice on what to do and when and how, and then did something about it, all the while hoping that none of it would be needed for some time yet - Reluctant Planner's Guide to Death and Dying.

More resources

A full list of resources available from Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief, plus some excellent resources from other organisations, is available here: Resources

Photo credits:

Portrait of a teacher - Colin Gray; Hay bale - Michael Ryan; Wintry road - Michael Ryan;  Signing papers - Scott Graham.

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Before I die I want to ...
Bereavement Charter for Scotland
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