Due to the Coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, the final Trucanta Communities were unable to continue with Truacanta activity as planned. We are still fully committed to all five communities. Some chose to put things on hold, others were able to move forward with virtual activity. All communities have had to revision their plans and reassess their capacity.
Macmillan Cancer Support, who fund The Truacanta Project, generously awarded the project an extra year of funding and it will now run until March 2023. This has given all the communities much needed breathing space and they are all hopeful that they can continue with Truacanta activity throughout 2022 and beyond.
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We're delighted to announce our final Truacanta Projects, who will receive community development support and advice from Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care from April 2020 - March 2022.
The enthusiasm and ambition of all of our shortlisted groups was extremely impressive, and we were very inspired by all the final applications. There is no doubt that there are compassionate communities all over Scotland, and selecting our final projects proved a real challenge.
We are looking forward to working with our final five:
Dead Good Ayrshire
Dead Good Ayrshire is aiming to normalise conversations around death, dying, loss and care and develop compassionate communities across Ayrshire using storytelling as a core method. The group is made up of representatives from Ayrshire and Arran Health and Social Care Partnership, Ayrshire Hospice, and the local third sector.
Main contact: Phil While phil.white@aapct.scot.nhs.uk
Highland Truacanta
Highland Truacanta brings together 3 experienced and well-connected Highland organisations: Highland Senior Citizens Network, Creativity in Care and Highland Hospice. Engaging with 3 communities, we will be facilitating local conversations about life, death, dying and caring communities. Events, combining sharing practical end of life skills and gathering experiences through creative conversations, will enable communities to explore their own ways of supporting each other through death and dying.
Main contact: Anne McDonald anne-hscn@outlook.com
North Berwick Compassionate Community
North Berwick Compassionate Community aim to provide opportunities for local people to become more comfortable talking about death, dying, loss and grief through creative events and big conversation activities; while also providing more practical support for local people experiencing death, dying, loss and grief.
Main contact: Deborah Ritchie Deborah.Ritchie@me.com
Say Something Dundee
Say Something Dundee is a joint project between individuals from Funeral Link, Dundee Voluntary Action and the University of Dundee. Our community’s key priority is to make conversations around death, dying, loss and care easier to initiate. We view this as a fundamental step in positively impacting on how support and information, for all, can be rolled out across Dundee. Whether it’s about initiating a conversation with your neighbour who has been recently bereaved (rather than crossing the street) or taking an opportunity to speak to someone about identifying a Power of Attorney, people often don’t know what to say and end up saying nothing. Our vision is to help people feel more confident about starting those conversations.
Contacts:
Nicola Mitchell, Older Peoples Services Development Officer, Dundee Volunteer and Voluntary Action, nicolamitchell@dvva.scot
Linda McSwiggan, School of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Dundee l.c.mcswiggan@dundee.ac.uk
Linda Sterry, Funeral Link, linda@dfss.org.uk
Truacanta Perthshire
Truacanta Perthshire is a joint project between individuals from Perth & Kinross Council, Tayside PEOLC MCN, and PKAVS Carers Hub. Their vision is that Perthshire is known as a place where practical kindness, support and openness of dialogue is present and accessible for those who have experienced loss, death, bereavement or grief and will be developing a number of different activities to achieve this.
Main contact: Emma Oram EOram@pkc.gov.uk
We'll post more information as we go - watch this space!
