The DAVID project came about after a member of People First Merseyside, David, became ill and sadly passed away.  As he had no family, the group quickly realised there were lots of practical issues with nobody to deal with them, David had not left any information about his wishes.

After David’s death our members decided to do some work around planning for their own end of life choices. This led to the development of the DAVID project, named in his honour.

The project aims to bring people together to raise awareness of a subject that is sensitive to many people with learning disabilities and their families. We want to encourage them have to conversations about their own wishes when they die and be empowered to make informed choices.

We have a steering group and task groups on a Thursday at the People first Merseyside office where members learn about the different subjects around death.  We will be focusing issues such as:

• Future planning
• Consent
• Wills
• Funerals

Every three months we hold a coffee morning. We are committed to forming real partnerships and provide opportunities for carers to share their experiences and to get involved in helping us to develop and improve our project.

“ Including me in the process, gives me the confidence, skills and knowledge I need to deal with any grieving experience at any time of my life.” (lisa)