Compassionate Communities UK is part of a growing movement committed to improving end of life care and bereavement support for the whole community. Bringing together local individuals, groups, schools and colleges, businesses and healthcare services as a network to promote and support a collaborative community based approach to caring for one another during times of ill health, at the end of life and at times of personal loss.

Compassion is something that we all possess and is essential for healthy ageing, serious illness, dying, grieving and caregiving. Communities that come together to care and support one another with compassion, kindness and friendship, are fundamental to all our health, quality of life and happiness.

Everybody can be part if their local Compassionate Community – a community that is prepared to help. Friends, neighbours, colleagues, family members can all have a role to play in supporting each other at a time of crisis or loss, when they are ready, willing and confident to have conversations about living and dying well, and can support each other in emotional and practical ways.

Compassion is at the heart of the care Pilgrims provide. As a lead provider of end of life care and bereavement support, we recognise the role we have in influencing the creation of a Compassionate Community across east Kent. We want to work with our local communities to inspire, support and celebrate compassionate activity across our region, and through collaboration and participation, dispel the myths around death, dying and bereavement and empower the people of east Kent to be better prepared and enabled look after themselves and each other.

What can I do to help?

Pilgrims are forming an east Kent wide Compassionate Community network and would like to hear from individuals, community groups, faith groups, organisations, schools etc who would like to work together to develop an inclusive community across east Kent that inspires, encourages, facilitates, supports and celebrates care for one another through collaborative and compassionate action.

There are many different ways to become involved. Please download our form here and select your area of interest from the following options;

  • Schools, colleges, universities
  • Workplaces
  • Places of worship
  • Care homes
  • Arts & culture
  • Diversity & reducing inequalities
  • Homeless & imprisoned
  • Peacetime memorial events
  • Developing and identifying compassionate networks within local communities

We are particularly interested to hear from community groups and organisations already providing compassionate support to others, and from individuals who would be interested to be part of an east Kent Compassionate Community development focus group.

INSPIRE – we will inspire our communities to look after themselves and each other, through our own compassionate community activities.

Bereavement Support Services including:

SUPPORT – we will support our communities to look after themselves and each other, sharing our knowledge and experience of supporting people at the end of life and in bereavement.

CELEBRATE – we will celebrate compassionate activity from within our communities across east Kent