{"id":58236,"date":"2022-11-02T16:38:25","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T16:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/?p=58236"},"modified":"2022-11-02T16:38:26","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T16:38:26","slug":"funeral-resource-test-phase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/funeral-resource-test-phase\/","title":{"rendered":"Funeral Resource test phase"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a><\/a><strong>The Talking Mats funeral resource<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Talking about death, loss and funeral planning is something many of us find difficult and challenging.\u00a0 Talking Mats has won funding from the Big Lottery Awards for All to develop a resource that will allow someone to plan their own funeral or be involved in the planning of a loved one\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The inspiration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gillian Robertson who is a celebrant, retired headteacher of a special school and a Talking Mats Licence trainer is the instigator and driver behind this project. She said her inspiration came from being asked to do a funeral of a Dad with two daughters one of whom had additional support needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018<em>When planning his funeral, I spoke mainly to her sister and her mum. They had decided not to tell the other sister the date of the funeral. I had a stomach-churning feeling, this didn\u2019t seem right, but it was not my decision. I had no materials I could offer the family to help make sure their sister was included.&nbsp;It came to the day of the service. To my surprise, the sister was there with her support worker. I was able to have a nice chat with her before the service. When it came to the Committal, she waved goodbye to her dad. I think her mum and sister were a little embarrassed, but I was so glad she was there. She nearly missed the chance to be able to say goodbye or get the closure that other people get from a funeral.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Development<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An effective Talking Mats resource needs a structure that supports the conversation you want to have.&nbsp; Developing this structure benefits from different perspectives.&nbsp; In order to gain these perspectives two different focus groups were set up;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" type=\"1\">\n<li>Celebrants and funeral staff<strong><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>People with learning disabilities and their support staff<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Discussions led to 3 main topics being identified.\u00a0 Symbols were designed and tested, and the resource further adapted in response to feedback<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"594\" height=\"228\" src=\"https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-58243\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image-1.png 594w, https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image-1-300x115.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Final testing phase<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Funeral Resource is now in its final phase of testing where and experienced Talking Mats practitioners are required to use it and feedback results.&nbsp; You will be sent the resource and asked to feedback your experience via Survey Monkey.&nbsp; Funerals are very culturally specific and this set may not work for all cultures and faiths.&nbsp; Knowing the limitations will help the development of guidance to go along with the resource.&nbsp; Testers who can use the resource in diverse settings are particularly welcome.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you think you could use the resource at least twice between now and the 17<sup>th<\/sup> of February 2023 please email <a href=\"mailto:lois@talkingmats.com\">lois@talkingmats.com<\/a> describing the client group you work with, your role and the cultures and faiths you might use the resource with.&nbsp; Up to 8 people will be selected for this next test phase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Talking Mats funeral resource Talking about death, loss and funeral planning is something many of us find difficult and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[424,425,426],"class_list":["post-58236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-funeralplanning","tag-deathanddying","tag-loss"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Funeral Resource test phase - Improving Communication, Improving Lives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Talking Mats is a social enterprise whose vision is to improve the lives of people with communication difficulties. How Talking Mats can improve communication and lives.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/funeral-resource-test-phase\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Funeral Resource test phase - Improving Communication, Improving Lives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Talking Mats is a social enterprise whose vision is to improve the lives of people with communication difficulties. 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