Tag Archives: Dame Cicely Saunders

The unfolding legacy of Cicely Saunders: 15 years on

Published on: Author: David Clark 2 Comments

Cicely Saunders died on 14th July 2005. I was running an international end of life care summer school at Lancaster University at the time. That evening, staff and students gathered in the home of a colleague: the summer school party had turned into a wake. I read out a draft of an obituary I had… Continue reading

‘Watch with Me’ and the continuing significance of Cicely Saunders

Published on: Author: David Clark Leave a comment

This week I was delighted to receive a letter seeking permission for the little book Watch with Me to be translated into Slovenian. Publication of the new edition next year will mean Watch with Me has been translated into six languages. More could be on the way. The continuing interest in the book is its… Continue reading

A Christmas Letter by Cicely Saunders, from twenty years ago

Published on: Author: David Clark Leave a comment

Cicely Saunders was a great writer of letters. Indefatigable in her correspondence, she was equally happy dashing off the briefest of newsy notes, or setting out several pages of detailed text, full of insight and reflection. My acquaintance with her letters, built up over many years, was invaluable to me as I was writing her… Continue reading

Christmas 1965, Cicely Saunders writes to American sociologist Anselm Strauss

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Cicely Saunders

As Christmas approached in December 1965, Cicely Saunders could look back on a year of considerable achievement. After seven years, she had decided to leave St Joseph’s Hospice in Hackney, where she had learned in-depth the craft of caring for dying patients. She was now devoting the whole of her time to the planning of… Continue reading

A bibliography of the publications of Cicely Saunders

Published on: Author: David Clark Leave a comment

When I first became seriously interested in the life and works of Cicely Saunders, back in 1995, I asked Dame Cicely for a copy of her CV. I noticed and was duly impressed that there were even a half-dozen publications listed from the decade before St Christopher’s Hospice opened, in 1967. I had no idea… Continue reading

‘Total pain’: the work of Cicely Saunders and the maturing of a concept

Published on: Author: David Clark 21 Comments

A striking feature of Cicely Saunders’ early work was its articulation of the relationship between physical and mental suffering. This reached full expression with the concept of ‘total pain’, which was taken to include physical symptoms, mental distress, social problems and emotional difficulties.  The idea was launched on the world exactly 50 years ago, in… Continue reading