“Truacanta” means “compassion” in Scottish Gaelic. From 2020-2023 the Truacanta Project worked with local communities in:
Ayrshire
Dundee
Highland
North Berwick
Perthshire
The project provided community representatives with grant funding, support and advice to help these communities improve people’s experiences of death, dying, loss and care. Each community worked with a range of stakeholders and participants, for example voluntary groups, third sector organisations, health and social care leads and hospices.
The Truacanta Project was not prescriptive about the activities each community organised. Instead, it employed a community development approach, helping communities themselves identify what is important to local people and what actions they will take to try to achieve change.
Truacanta was run by the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care, and funded by Macmillan Cancer Support.
Outcomes
All the local projects have had a positive impact on their communities and the interim evaluation report found that this model of support for community projects is a successful approach.
Activities have involved:
using social media, apps and web platforms to engage people in conversation
running “Conversation cafes” about death, dying, loss and care
holding “Armchair chats” (an online evening of music and poetry interspersed with information about death, dying, loss and care)
using QR codes to create a remembrance trail
information sessions with local solicitors
creative workshops (online and face-to-face).
Facilitators, challenges and advice
Text
Key facilitators
All the local communities involved in Truacanta are part of a learning and support network. This has enabled them to share good practice, find solutions to challenges and celebrate success. It has also kept energy and morale high during difficult times.
All the local communities embraced the need to develop digital services and activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. This enabled them to widen their reach and engage with a wider geographical spread of people, particularly in rural areas such as the Highlands. Some people, for example those who are housebound, have been able to engage with community groups for the first time by using digital technology.
Challenges
The five local projects were selected in January 2020 and were originally expected to launch in April 2020. Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, this could not happen as planned – all the projects involved face-to-face work. However everybody was aware of the increased need for compassionate community development work during the pandemic, and wanted to find alternative solutions.
Truacanta was able to secure extra funding, which meant the projects could pause and regroup. This gave them time to plan and move to digital delivery.
Tips and advice
Text
There is no ‘one way’ to do things. When you are following community development principles, you need to listen to what people are saying and respect what they are asking for (even if this is taking you down a different path to what you expected). Don’t be afraid to change the way you work if needed. Remember that you are not the expert in someone else’s community!
Don’t worry if your groups and activities have low attendance. The important thing is that you are giving people permission and space to speak about important issues.
Nobody is ‘hard to reach’, you just need to make the effort to engage with everyone. You can make contact with a range of people through existing local networks such as litter picking groups, knitting groups, religious groups etc. Don’t worry if these groups don’t seem to have anything to do with death, dying, loss and care – these issues affect everyone.
People might not want to talk to someone they have just met about death and dying! A lot of people do want to engage in this topic, but you need to make a connection first and find the right way to start the conversation.
Have a hybrid approach to delivering community development activities. Online delivery will enable to widen your reach, but people shouldn’t be excluded if they can’t (or don’t want to) engage online.
Future development
Text
Alongside the project, the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care has developed End of Life Aid Skills for Everyone (EASE), a public education course to help members of the public in Scotland become more comfortable supporting people they know with issues relating to dying, bereavement and care. End of life Aid Skills for Everyone (EASE) has four modules and can be delivered online or face-to-face.
The Truacanta Project officially comes to an end in 2023, but the SPPC’s work to support compassionate communities in Scotland will continue through Truacanta: the Scottish Compassionate Communities Network. This will continue provide a network and support for compassionate communities in Scotland, providing opportunities to share learning and develop peer support.
