Tuesday 26 April 2011

Dying Matters - Leeds






Dying Matters is a national campaign and coalition which has over 14,000 members. The Coalition’s Mission is “to support changing knowledge, attitudes and behaviours towards death, dying and bereavement, and through this to make ‘living and dying well’ the norm". This will involve a fundamental change in society in which dying, death and bereavement will be seen and accepted as the natural part of everybody’s life cycle.

Changes in the way society views dying and death have impacted on the experience of people who are dying and bereaved. Our lack of openness has affected the quality, range of support and care services available to patients and families. It has also affected our ability to die where or how we would wish.

The Dying Matters Coalition is working to address this by encouraging people to talk about their end of life wishes, including where they would like to die and the type of funeral ceremony they would hope for.

For the first time in Yorkshire, an event to support this campaign will be hosted by The Fantastic Funeral Company and One Life Ceremonies at the Shine Business Centre in Harehills.

The theme this year is “Why dying matters to me...”and we have invited a range of guest speakers who will bring differing experiences which we hope will enable the afternoon to be thought provoking, inspiring and most importantly that it might enable people to start thinking differently about their approach to death and dying.

‘Dying Matters – Leeds’ is a free event to raise awareness so there will be no costs involved and Shine, a Community Interest Company, is supporting the event. We at The Fantastic Funeral Company and One Life Ceremonies are giving our time without remuneration. We don’t have a budget to host the event and so would be extremely grateful for your support.

To maximise the benefits of the Dying Matters event we are involving as many organisations as possible and have invited professionals working in Health, Social Care, Voluntary Sector as well as local people who have an interest in knowing more. We are aiming for 100 -150 attendees on the day and hope the media will cover the event.

‘Talking about dying makes it more likely that you, or your loved one, will die as you might have wished and it will make it easier for your loved ones if they know you have had a ‘good death’.

‘Dying Matters – Leeds’ will take place on Friday 20 May 2011 at Shine, Harehills Road, Leeds, LS8 5HS, 12pm - 3.00pm.

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