Something I have been working on for well over a year is finally here, and I am delighted to share it with you.
My Churchill Fellowship report, Dialogues About Dying, has just been published on the Churchill Fellowship website. It is the result of a travel fellowship made possible by the Churchill Fellowship and Marie Curie, and of 27 conversations with clinicians, community members, and palliative care practitioners across India, Peru, and South Africa – people who gave me their time and wisdom with extraordinary generosity. You can watch my launch video here:
Project background
The project began with a question I had been carrying for some years through my mediation practice: again and again, in end-of-life disputes, I noticed that cultural beliefs and differing worldviews about death and dying often lay at the heart of the conflict. I began to wonder whether, in UK healthcare, we needed a richer lexicon for these conversations. The data, when I looked, suggested I wasn’t wrong to wonder.
Project outcomes
What emerged from the research is a framework I have called the Six Rs of Culturally Responsive Conversations in Palliative and End-of-Life Care: Recognise, Respect, Reflect, Relate, Revisit, and Restore. These are not a checklist or a script. They are not about stereotyping communities. They offer, I hope, a practical framework for relational literacy – for all of those reaching across cultural paradigms at the hardest time.
I have recorded a short video introducing the framework and walking through each of the Six Rs, which you can watch here: 🎥 Watch the launch video
The full report, including practical guidance and conversation prompts, is available to download here: 📄 Read and download my report
My heartfelt thanks to the Churchill Fellowship and Marie Curie for making this work possible, and to all those across three countries who shared their experience and insight so openly. I hope the Six Rs framework finds its way to those who might find it useful.
If you are interested in me coming to your organisation to offer a session on the Six Rs, or more broadly on conflict resolution in health and care, I would be very glad to hear from you. Please do get in touch.