We are delighted to launch our new Compassionate Communities Team in February 2024.

Compassionate Communities is an international approach focused on encouraging and supporting communities in developing ease around discussions of death, dying, and grief. The approach involves a shift away from formal services being ‘provided for’ people to communities being empowered to support themselves alongside and in partnership with established services such as those provided by St Mary’s Hospice.

At St Mary’s, we believe by connecting and supporting people, communities, and organisations to harness the power of compassion, we will create a happier and healthier community.

There is already so much wonderful community support available in Furness and South Lakes, often from charities, community groups, and councils, tackling huge issues like loneliness and social isolation. We want to make sure that there’s also support on hand for people and their families in the last year of their life or those with a long-term serious illness who aren’t going to get better (palliative care).

Our aim is to:

· Build meaningful relationships with our communities, understanding and working to break down the barriers to accessing Hospice services.

· Open up conversations about death, dying, and loss- for example, through events and death cafés

· Work in collaboration with the whole community – connecting with other groups, organisations, networks, and local services

· Deliver community education packages to support awareness and understanding of hospice services as well as sharing knowledge and skills to enable people to support one another.