News

We are delighted to conclude the 2024 Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health Summit, held from November 20-22, 2024 In Richmond, BC. This year, we were joined by 224 incredible individuals from across the grief, bereavement, and mental health fields. We are deeply grateful to the 66 speakers, facilitators, and moderators whose expertise, insights, and passion made this summit truly impactful.

Our summit was proud to foster diversity and inclusivity by welcoming participants from a wide range of backgrounds, including First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities, as well as 2SLBTQIA+ individuals, people with lived experiences, and members of various underserved communities and communities of color. We are also grateful for the generous funding received from the Vancouver Foundation, which supported our efforts to create an event that truly reflects and celebrates this diversity.

As a triannual event, the GBMH Summit remains a vital platform for critical conversations and interdisciplinary education. Building on the success of our inaugural 2021 summit, we are proud to have explored key topics that continue to shape the future of grief and mental health support This year’s summit offered three specialized streams, Patients and Caregivers, Interdisciplinary Care Teams, and Funders & Policymakers, with tailored discussions designed to enhance support and understanding across these vital areas. Attendees also engaged in inspiring keynote sessions, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities that fostered collaboration and connection.

The Gala Night provided a memorable conclusion to the event, with attendees celebrating a live performance by the award-winning Indigenous band, Twin Flames. The evening also offered a platform to recognize SOSJ, a philanthropic organization that supports local, provincial, and national projects focused on palliative care, neurodivergence, and research initiatives. Their ongoing efforts are vital in advancing the care and support needed in these important sectors.

A comprehensive Summit Report will be released in the new year, capturing key insights and takeaways from the event. This report will be shared with attendees, funders, and policymakers, highlighting both formal and informal care supports in the grief and bereavement space. It will focus on strategies for enhancing mental health and promoting better support for individuals in our communities.

We thank everyone who participated in making this summit a resounding success. Your engagement, passion, and commitment to improving the landscape of grief, bereavement, and mental health will leave a lasting impact. We look forward to continuing this important work together and seeing you at our next summit in 2027!

As one attendee shared, "Not enough words to express the impact of this presentation on me personally and hopefully professionally." This sentiment reflects the profound impact this event had on all of us, and we are deeply grateful for your participation.

The sessions Insights on Resilience Through Loss: Lessons from Science and Life presented by Lucy Hone on Day 3 and Revealing and Reimagining Our Relationships to Grief and Loss presented by Larissa Crawford on Day 2 were both incredibly well-attended and deeply impactful. These thought-provoking presentations captivated a large and diverse audience, sparking meaningful conversations on resilience, grief, and the human experience. Attendees left with valuable insights and practical tools to navigate loss, making these sessions a standout feature of the summit.

For those who couldn’t attend or wish to revisit these impactful sessions, recordings and PowerPoint presentations will be available to BCHPCA members for a minimal fee. To ensure the knowledge and insights from this summit are accessible to as many people as possible, we are offering the pre-recorded sessions free of charge to representatives of underserved communities and to patients from the general public. All GBMH attendees and registrants will receive access to the recordings and PowerPoints via Pheedloop, which will be delivered directly to their email over the next few weeks.

VANCOUVER, BC – November 5, 2024 | Grief, bereavement and mental health have become urgent public health concerns. The lack of resources and funding for grief and bereavement was highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Combined with the devastating toll of over 14,000 deaths since the declaration of BC's opioid crisis in 2016, people and communities are grappling with grief on a unprecedented scale.

Read the full News Release

Special Update - River Rock Casino Resort as a special offer for GBMH attendees!

River Rick Casino Resort has just announced they will be further reducing the discounted rate to $149.00 plus Resort Fee plus taxes for November 20-22! Book by October 30^th to get this special rate!

For more information on registration and accommodation please visit: GBMH 2024

In their recently released platform, the Conservative Party of British Columbia has committed to eliminating daily palliative care charges to alleviate financial pressure during end-of-life care.

The BC Hospice and Palliative Care Association encourages all political parties, including whichever party forms the next provincial government, to commit to supporting palliative and hospice care by alleviating financial pressures and increasing grief and bereavement support.

Click the links below to read each party's 2024 election platform.

BC Green Party's Platform  | BC Conservative Party's Platform | BC NDP Party's Platform

This post by no means is to be used or considered as an endorsement, but an update as part of our 2024 Election strategy in ensuring hospice palliative care is on all party platforms. 

The Early Edition with Stephen Quinn

The British Columbia Hospice and Palliative Care Association is encouraging provincial parties to ensure grief and bereavement care is available to all residents of the province, including rural and remote areas because British Columbia experiences more deaths per capita than other jurisdictions but its palliative care expenditure accounts for just 2% of the health care budget. Pablita Thomas, Executive Director of the association, speaks.

Listen Here

Daybreak South with Chris Walker

Listen as Pablita shares why end-of-life care needs to be part of election campaigns.

Pablita's segment occurred on Oct 11, 2024 and begins at 1:33. 

Listen to Daybreak Here

Dr. Harvey Max Chochinov, co-founder of the Canadian Virtual Hospice and co-editor of The Handbook of Psychiatry in Palliative Medicine, has been recognized for his work that made dignity the focus in palliative care. Dr. Chochinov pioneered 'dignity therapy' and other person-centred methods of caring for the dying.

He has been awarded the 2024 Arthur M. Sutherland Award and Memorial Lecture from the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) in Maastricht, The Netherlands. The award is given to an internationally recognized individual who has contributed to the area of psychological and social care for cancer patients over their whole career.

In the healthcare sector, particularly within hospice and palliative care, nurturing a robust patient-provider relationship is crucial. Patients and their loved ones rely on hospices to provide unwavering support. To cultivate trust with patients and their families, it is essential to demonstrate a steadfast dedication to transparency, accountability, and evidence-based practices. By using shared indicators and reporting frameworks, hospice societies can underscore their commitment to delivering the highest calibre of care, fostering a solid and reliable rapport with their patients and communities.

In the fall of 2023, the British Columbia Hospice and Palliative Care Association (BCHPCA) initiated the formation of the Information and Technology (IT) Task Group with the goal of co-developing a set of standardized metrics and reporting framework with hospice societies in British Columbia (BC) and the Yukon. The IT Task Group consists of individuals who have extensive experience working in hospice palliative care and a keen interest in data collection and analysis. The IT Task group has also engaged the help of experts in the field and hospice societies in BC and the Yukon to test and provide feedback on data collection tools.

This work comes in part as a response to increased calls from the province for standardized data models in healthcare-related fields. In the Government of Canada’s report The Framework on Palliative Care in Canada-Five Years Later: A Report on the State of Palliative Care in Canada they state that “the 2023 data reflects some improvements to home care reporting and overall access to palliative care. However, data are needed to better measure access to care and experiences across settings in all provinces and territories, as well as who was not able to access palliative care” (Section 4.3, 2023). The federal budget in 2023 included multi-year funding for Working Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians, part of this initiative is to modernize “the health care system with standardized health data and digital tools.” This aligns with the work being done by the BCHPCA and the IT Task Group to create standardized data reporting practices for hospice societies across BC and the Yukon.

The IT Task Group’s goals include establishing common language and indicators, mapping core hospice services across BC and the Yukon, and developing a standardized reporting framework. By engaging with hospice societies of all sizes across BC and the Yukon, the BCHPCA and IT Task Group seek to lead the way in building standardized data reporting practices for hospice societies, with hospice societies, by hospice societies. We believe the benefits of this work go far beyond a standardized reporting framework, and include:

• Improve individual hospice societies' understanding of their care and service delivery trends

• Improve understanding of the services provided by hospice societies across the province, gaps in service and developing areas of need

• Foster improved communication with health authorities 

• Create opportunities for enhanced inter-organizational communication and connections

• Boost the visibility of the vital work being done in our communities and help the public understand the crucial role hospices play

• Allow for the possibility of communicating collective impact to current and potential funders

• Create new opportunities, including working towards a provincial funding model

At its core, the work of this task group is to understand how hospice societies contribute to their communities, increase access to funding, and ultimately support hospice societies in providing the highest level of client care within hospice palliative care, including grief and bereavement services, to clients across BC and the Yukon.

$19.75 million to build 84 additional hospice beds, connecting more people to end of life care close to home

Click here to read the article

November 20 – 22, 2024

The GBMH Summit is a triannual event that brings together professionals, caregivers, policymakers, and stakeholders to delve into interdisciplinary education, idea sharing, and awareness surrounding grief, bereavement, and mental health. Building on the success of our inaugural event in 2021, we are proud to continue our mission of providing a platform for critical conversations and impactful initiatives in the field of mental health support.

Secure your spot now as tickets are limited, and enjoy discounted early bird pricing!