
As Community Development Lead at Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care (SPPC), I’ve been privileged to be part of many meaningful pieces of work. One project I’m particularly proud of is our End of Life Aid Skills for Everyone (EASE) Course. I lead on the delivery and development of the course, as well as the training and support of our amazing Volunteer EASE Facilitators.
Everyone has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; this includes when they are dying, caring and grieving. EASE is a public education course, developed by SPPC, that is designed to enable ordinary people to be more comfortable and confident supporting family and community members with issues they face during dying, death and bereavement. The course is delivered free of charge by volunteer facilitators, typically across four sessions.
The EASE content includes:
- different ways we can plan ahead for ill health, dying and death,
- common symptoms people might experience towards the end of life, exploring treatments and medications that can help,
- what kind of practical support we can offer to people who are caring, dying or grieving.
We piloted the EASE course in 2019 and the feedback from our participants was really encouraging. We took the feedback and fine-tuned the course, ready to launch in 2020. Instead, we found ourselves living through a pandemic and adapting to the digital world. In response, we created EASE Online which we launched in 2021. We finally returned to face-to-face delivery in 2023.
We now offer both versions of the course and it has grown massively in the last five years. Over five hundred people have now completed an EASE course, and we currently have a pool of around fifty Volunteer Facilitators based all over Scotland.
Part of what works is that while there is essential professional input to EASE in the form of films and course materials, the course focus is on peer sharing and learning. This enables participants to learn together in a supportive space, and to build confidence around living and supporting others with serious illness, dying, caring and grieving. Learning in this area will be of value to nearly everyone at some point in life.
When I’ve facilitated EASE courses, I’ve always been struck by how much people want to have these conversations, and how much they learn from each other. You can really see people growing more confident week by week.
After completing the course, one EASE Participant told us: “I feel more confident about discussing death, dying and bereavement now and feel I could talk to people about this more easily. It’s important just to be there in a calm and supportive way.”
Anyone who’s completed an EASE Course can attend EASE Volunteer Preparation. Once someone is an Accredited EASE Facilitator they can deliver the course in their own communities. This was our vision from the start and it’s lovely to see it happening now, as our pool of Facilitators grows and we can reach more people.
Our Volunteer Facilitators create a supportive environment where people can share their different experiences and learn from others. This helps to build a sense of community and empowerment. Such opportunities to talk about death, dying, loss and care and to make plans for the future can help improve people’s experiences of these difficult times, and in turn improve their physical and mental wellbeing.
Another EASE participant has said: “It has been a deeply reassuring exercise. even just to know that I am not alone and not doing the wrong thing. How to get help and how to cope. A really valuable life lesson.”
We aim for the course to be accessible and inclusive. We know that some communities and groups typically have different experiences of end of life, and we aim to respond to the differing needs of communities. We are currently doing proactive outreach to groups and communities who may have different needs or face additional barriers and learning how we can adapt our approach.
One of the lovely things about working on EASE is hearing about the difference it makes to people, like this participant, who says EASE was “one of the best courses I’ve done in ages. I wish I’d done this before my Dad died. It’s been hugely supportive. I’ve met a wonderful community [and] learned/relearned so much.”
We aim to run both EASE Face to Face and EASE Online courses regularly. As we grow there are more courses on offer and our vision is that, in time, anyone who wants to come along to a course will be able to find one that suits them.
You can watch a short film about EASE here
Find out more information or join the EASE waiting list here.
Caroline Gibb is the Community Development Lead for Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care