Let’s talk about death and dying, says Longfield Community Hospice during Dying Matters Awareness Week 

Longfield is inviting the community to get talking about death, dying, and bereavement during this year’s Dying Matters Awareness Week (4–10 May 2026) and beyond.

Two colleagues from the Longfield counselling team came together for the difficult conversation over the similarities and differences in their individual cultures around rituals and traditions of dying and death.  

Every year, people around the UK use Dying Matters Awareness Week, led by Hospice UK, as a moment to encourage all communities to get talking in whatever way, shape or form works for them. 

Death, dying and bereavement affect us all. Yet 27% of people find it hard to talk about death with family or friends, and 30% bottle their feelings up.* If we don’t talk about death and dying and bereavement, it can be harder to cope when we experience it. 

Anne and Habeebah are student counsellors at Longfield. Anne is French, born in North Africa and of Spanish heritage. She’s been living in the UK for 30 years. Habeebah is originally from Nigeria. She has lived in a community where Christians and Muslims live side by side, respecting each other’s cultural differences. 

They allowed their conversation to be captured and broadcast on social media. Their full conversation, which covers everything from child bereavement and grief to the public presentation of bodies, is available on Longfield’s YouTube Channel, while snippets will be shared during Dying Matters Week on the charity’s social channels.  

The mission of Dying Matters is to break down the stigma and taboo of talking about death and dying. But sometimes, it’s hard to know where to start. 

This Dying Matters Awareness Week is focusing on the importance of conversations about death and dying – with family, friends, employers, anyone in your life – helping people to get the conversation started.

To find out more about how Longfield Community Hospice can help support you around all matters of death and dying see the longfield Dying Matters page.