“Death is normal. We can help each other with death, dying and bereavement.”

These simple words open the website of Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief, an alliance of organizations and individuals working to bring more openness about death, dying and bereavement to Scotland. Just two years old, GLGDGG already has attracted more than 600 members drawn from hospice providers, interfaith groups, the National Health Service, funeral directors, academics and everyday citizens.

Organized around broad aims, a vision and principles, Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief encourages member action that is “bottom up and locally relevant.” As such, the site feels like open-source software for designing community engagement in death, dying and bereavement. Underlying Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief’s organic structure is the rigor of a public health vision advanced by Professor Allan Kellehear, Professor of Sociology at the Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath. Dr. Kellehear writes that we need to “take those first steps toward regaining what was formerly unremarkably common – the community care of the dying and those living with loss. “

Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief Awareness Week is taking place May 13-19, 2013 with locally planned events throughout Scotland. Among the many offerings are Before I Die walls and a Death Café, project forms previously highlighted on the Death and Design blog (January 28 and February 25, 2013). Scotland’s Awareness Week takes place at the same time as Dying Matters Awareness Week in England, sponsored by Dying Matters.

Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care (the original convener of Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief Alliance)
Book: Compassionate Cities. Public Health and End of Life Care by Allan Kellehear