Compassionate Communities Start Up Toolkit

Fostering compassionate connections in your community

The Compassionate Community Startup Toolkit provides you with essential information, resources and templates to launch a Compassionate Community. Equip your community with the tools to provide important physical, emotional, social, spiritual and practical support to patients facing life-limiting illnesses and their families and caregivers.

If you are looking to create a more supportive environment in your community, neighbourhood, school, workplace, faith community or social club for those experiencing serious illness, death, caregiving and grief, then the Startup Toolkit is for you.

The Startup Toolkit includes:

Presentation tools and presenter’s guide.
Speaking notes.
Templates.
Community engagement activities.
Discussion questions.
Videos.

Why start a compassionate community?

Empowers individuals to support each other locally.
Provides emotional and practical help to patients and families.
Enhances quality of life for those facing serious illness.
Eases the burden on caregivers with added community support.
Strengthens collaboration and resource sharing.

Thank you for creating the Compassionate Community Startup Toolkit. Our small working group was interested in the whole notion of Compassionate Communities and had no idea where to even begin. The Toolkit gave us a step-by-step guide to get us started with simple directions to make our presentation to the community a success. It had every detail covered in the facilitator’s guide such as easy-to-follow icons that gave the presenter a sense of relief while speaking publicly as it provided instruction on when to pause and when to wait for applause.

Melissa Hingst

Licensed Practical Nurse, Drumheller, Alberta

We would not have been able to launch our event without the Compassionate Community Startup Toolkit. With neither the resources nor funding, our decision to launch a Compassionate Community was made based on access to, and the availability of, this free Toolkit. So, thank you for allowing us to build on the shoulders of giants.

Jodi Pereira

Director of Community Programs, Heart House Hospice, Mississauga, Ontario

Compassion is always in fashion! I have found that when I mention the Compassionate Community movement, people stop and listen. They are very curious to learn what it means and what it is all about. Piloting the movement in our community was such a wonderful experience. The Compassionate Community Startup Toolkit provided by Pallium was invaluable and gave an outline, an understanding, a process, and the tools to invite and engage community partners to learn more. From participants, there was an eagerness to learn, followed by inspiration to take action.

Andrea Roylance

Manager, Gifts & Gratitude, Matthews House Hospice, Alliston, Ontario

The Compassionate Community Startup Toolkit effectively launched our organization’s efforts to build a Compassionate Community by providing a helpful framework within which we could begin a conversation with community stakeholders. The Toolkit was user-friendly, informative, and well designed. In giving the presentation, I found the Toolkit to be appropriately adaptable and helpful in facilitating dialogue around local issues. I highly recommend the Toolkit as a starting point for anyone interested in bringing the Compassionate Community model to their community.

Craig Johnson

Executive Director, Colchester East Hants Hospice Truro, Nova Scotia

Pallium’s Compassionate Community Startup Toolkit helped us facilitate a comprehensive community engagement meeting that sparked interest from both staff and students in pursuing the idea of Brock becoming the first official Compassionate University. This Toolkit provides both concrete information about Compassionate Communities as well as flexibility to tailor the meeting to our Brock community. We think this combination allowed our community to fall in love with the idea of Compassionate Brock.

Isabelle Cruz & Aiman Ali

Compassionate Brock Co-Leads, Ontario University

Get the Startup Toolkit via Email

Fill out the form below to access our free toolkit!