Every year, Dying Matters Awareness Week provides an opportunity for us to encourage people to think and talk more openly about death, dying and bereavement.

The theme of this year’s campaign is ‘The Culture of Dying Matters’ and we’ll be exploring this with a series of activities and sessions during the week.

We recently asked our volunteers to complete a ‘Dying Matters’ survey and we’ll be presenting the feedback we received about people’s different beliefs and faiths at the Hospice during the awareness week. We’ll also be exploring the topic of ‘planning ahead’ with Chris Millward, our Head of Legacies, who’ll be holding a session for staff about the things we can do to help ourselves and others be a little better prepared or equipped to deal with the end when it comes.

There’ll be stories and insights on our social media channels, including reflections from two of our volunteers who have kindly shared details of the rituals and customs they observe around death, in accordance to their different beliefs.

Follow our social media channels during the week of 5 May, when we’ll also be sharing resources to support people who are dealing with death, dying and bereavement.