2025 Conference
NHS Education for Scotland's sixth Bereavement Education conference "Bereavement as a Kaleidoscope: An Inclusive Approach for All." took place on Tuesday 11th November 2025.
Read more and catch up on clips, presentation slides, posters and session recordings from the event below.
Programme
The programme for the conference can be found here or on the image on the right hand side to download
Explore the conference sessions
Below you can find descriptions and film clips from conference speakers which were recorded.
Parallel sessions
Prolonged Grief Disorder: What Is It, and How Can I Help?
Steven Millar, Clinical Associate Psychologist, North East London NHS Foundation Trust
Steven talked about what Prolonged Grief Disorder is (diagnosis, history, prevalence), insight into effective psychological interventions for PGD (theory, protocols, evidence) and practical considerations for working with people affected by PGD.
Click on the image to watch the video or here to view it on the NHS Education for Scotland Vimeo channel.
A transcript of this video can be found here
Hospital to Home - a Collaborative Approach to Bereavement Support Following Pregnancy, Baby or Child Loss
Nicola Welsh, CEO, Held In Our Hearts talked about how blending NHS clinical expertise with the flexible, person-centred ethos of Held In Our Hearts improves access and continuity in bereavement support.
Click on the image to watch the video or here to view it on the NHS Education for Scotland Vimeo channel.
A transcript of this video can be found here.
Silenced Trauma, Unresolved Loss: Creative Health to Bear Witness to Families of the Missing
Pascale Waschnig, Doctoral Researcher, University of West London talked about how to amplify the voices of those affected, offer creative community-building activities for those affected and to integrate their lived experience into medical, nursing, and psychotherapy education using creative health to increase empathy, recognition, and compassion in care, emphasising the need of therapeutic frameworks that address the unique issues of unresolved loss.
Click on the image to watch the video or here to view it on the NHS Education for Scotland Vimeo channel.
A transcript of this video can be found here.
Slides to accompany this parallel session can be viewed here
Pre-bereavement Support for Children and Families in Palliative Care
Jade Finlayson's, Child and Families Lead Practitioner, St Columba’s Hospice Care session delivered a session on how to explain an incurable illness to children and young people, as well as ways to involve them in choices and decision-making. The session also highlighted the grief responses that children and young people displayed when experiencing a bereavement, and outlined how we could support them when someone was approaching the end of life.
Click on the image to watch the video or here to view it on the NHS Education for Scotland Vimeo channel.
A transcript of this video can be found here.
Slides to accompany this parallel session can be viewed here
The Bereavement Journey®
The session focused on the impact of the programme from 3 perspectives:
- The results of an independent impact evaluation showing participants consistently report remarkable improvements in mental wellbeing, reduced social isolation and improved capacity to cope well with loss.
- The workforce of an NHS Provider employing 16,000 staff, where the programme helps staff navigate and differentiate the complexities of personal and professional encounters with death and grief, plus the impact on HR policies and managerial practice for staff.
- Early learning from our HMP Prisons pilot programme in England and Scotland.
Click on the image to watch the video or here to view it on the NHS Education for Scotland Vimeo channel.
A transcript of this video can be found here.
Posters
Below are the current posters available from the conference for use. Additional posters will be added in due course
- Highly commended - Hinduism and Sibling Bereavement: A Qualitative Exploration of Religious Influence on Coping and Grief
- Highly commended - Paediatric End of Life Care Network (PELiCaN) - Police Scotland Occurrence Marker/Scottish Ambulance Service alert project
- Exploring Grief: An In-Depth Analysis of Bereavement Counselling in The Initial Phases of Loss
- Connection Matters The use of Digital Technologies during the COVID-19 Pandemic to support end-of-life care and bereavement
- Seeds of Hope: Supporting Healing and Connection After Perinatal Loss
- Making Loss Visible using demographic data to improve equity in Bereavement and Mental Health care
- Designing Inclusive Bereavement Care Packages: Meeting diverse cultural, age and bereavement needs
- Understanding Grief in Practice: A non-pathlogising perspective from Bereavement Professionals