Dying Matters Awareness Week is taking place with the aim of placing the importance of talking about dying, death and bereavement firmly on the national agenda.

In 2018, the week runs May 14th-20th of May with a theme of “What Can You Do… in your community?” – and there’s still plenty of time to get involved, both this week and beyond.

The National Council for Palliative Care (NCPC) set up the Dying Matters Coalition in 2009 to promote public awareness of dying, death and bereavement.

Members include organisations from across the NHS, voluntary and independent health and care sectors (including hospices, care homes, charities supporting old people, children and bereavement); social care and housing sectors; a wide range of faith organisations; community organisations; schools and colleges; academic bodies; trade unions; the legal profession and the funeral sector.

The daily themes for 2018 are as follows:

Monday – teaching death in schools and talking to children about death
Tuesday – everything you wanted to know about Death Cafes
Wednesday – Volunteering in hospices
Thursday – Grief in the workplace
Friday – Attitudes in dying and death across different faith groups and cultures

For more information on placing orders, please see the official Dying Matters bulletin.