Preamble
People can die alone. It is neither a rare nor a distant possibility: it happens every day, close to us, to people who have lived an entire life and find themselves, in the final stretch, without a family network, without a presence that recognises them, without a hand that stays.
Adelma was born from this awareness and from the conviction that no one should face the end of life in loneliness and abandonment. We believe that the final phase of existence, however inescapable and marked by loss, can remain a space of dignity, of meaning and of humanity — provided that someone chooses to be there.
Adelma was founded to offer practical and emotional accompaniment, qualified and free of charge, to those living the end of their life, with particular attention to people who are alone and in situations of fragility; and to give the skills of accompaniment back to the community, by training new end-of-life doulas, coordinating their work and promoting the profession.
Being of public benefit, for us, means two things at once.
Inclusion. The accompaniment offered to people at the end of life comes at no cost to those who receive it.
Benefit to the community. What we do is not confined to the relationship with the individual person accompanied: it nurtures a culture of presence and care that returns, as a common good, to the whole community.
This Charter is the declaration of who we are, of what we believe in, and of what we commit ourselves to doing. From it will flow the statutes, the operating protocols and the concrete choices of the association, which must always be traceable back to it.
Our purpose
To accompany people at the end of life — in a human, practical and emotional way — and to support those who stand beside them, recognising the particular vulnerability of those facing this passage; and to do so with method, competence and respect for dignity.
Our values
Dignity of the person and equity
We recognise the intrinsic and inalienable dignity of every human being, regardless of state of health, beliefs, religion, social condition or any other circumstance. Every intervention values the person in their uniqueness and in all their dimensions: physical, psychological, social and spiritual.
Autonomy and self-determination
We respect and promote each person's freedom to make the choices concerning their own path of life, care and accompaniment. Access to our services is always the result of a free choice, revocable at any moment, without coercion or pressure.
Confidentiality
We treat every piece of information entrusted to us with the utmost care and in compliance with data protection regulations. The trust of those we accompany is a good to be safeguarded.
Competence and quality
We are committed to offering high-quality accompaniment, inspired by recognised best practices. We honestly acknowledge the limits of our role and refrain from acts that belong to other professions, directing the person, when necessary and with their consent, towards the most appropriate services.
Protection of vulnerability
We adopt every measure to prevent any form of abuse or exploitation (emotional, psychological, physical, spiritual or financial) towards the people we accompany, aware of the fragility that characterises this phase of life.
Transparency and accountability
We operate according to principles of good governance and integrity, use resources responsibly, and give a clear account of our activities and of how funds are employed.
Complementarity
We do not work in isolation. We collaborate actively with the other actors of the healthcare, social and palliative care system (doctors, nurses, spiritual counsellors, home-care services, hospitals, care homes, other non-profit organisations) to ensure coordinated, integrated support for the person, respecting each role.
Our areas of action
End-of-life accompaniment
It is the heart of Adelma. We offer people at the end of life — particularly those facing it alone — a constant, attentive and non-judgemental presence, on the human, emotional and practical level. Where a first circle of care is missing, because the person is alone, Adelma itself becomes the first ring: the closest presence, the one that stays until the very end.
Ours is a person-centred, resource-oriented approach: active, patient and empathetic listening is the foundation of every relationship; support is personalised and flexible, adapted to each person's needs, values and rhythms; and we always seek to draw out the inner strengths and sources of meaning already present in the person's life.
Accompaniment is free of charge. The doula does not replace healthcare staff or the palliative care team, but collaborates with them and with the entire network of care, respecting everyone's roles and competences.
Support for the circle of care
When present, we offer support to the circle of care: family, partners, friends, guardians and caregivers in general. This first ring, the closest to the person who is dying, is also the most exposed: it bears the weight of exhaustion, of a sense of powerlessness, and of a grief that often begins long before the farewell.
In these cases, the doula's work is of decisive value. By supporting those who care, the doula prevents the circle from wearing down to breaking point, ensuring the dying person remains supported by their circle of care until the very end.
Training end-of-life doulas
By accompanying people, Adelma builds up over time a living, concrete competence: the knowledge of presence, of listening, of closeness in the final stretch of life. We believe this knowledge should not remain a closed patrimony, but should be given back to the community from which it comes and to which it belongs.
For this reason, Adelma trains new end-of-life doulas, with the INELDA method (International End-Of-Life Doula Association), as an act of restitution to the community: the skills of accompaniment return to society, so that the ability to care for the dying may spread, multiply, and no longer depend on only a few.
Raising awareness and promoting a culture of the end of life
Care does not end at the moment of parting: it is rooted in the way a society thinks about, talks about and lives death. For this reason, Adelma is actively committed to raising awareness of end-of-life themes, through the organisation of events and gatherings open to the community.
Promoting a non-stigmatised culture of death has a profound and transformative social impact. By breaking the taboo that confines death to isolation and to the medical dimension alone, we intend to restore its nature as a social, human and communal event. Through protected, shared spaces for dialogue, we offer the community the tools to face loss, support the shared processing of grief, and prevent suffering from turning into marginalising loneliness. Building an aware community also means fostering people's self-determination and relieving families from the anguish of having to make sudden decisions in a moment of pain. With these gatherings, the association lays the foundations for a more resilient, empathetic society, capable of caring for itself from beginning to end.
Our place in the community
Adelma sets its action within the national palliative care framework outlined by the National Strategy for Palliative Care and the National Guidelines on Palliative Care. We share and embrace the principles of attention to the person and their self-determination, of networked work, of care for the spiritual and existential dimension, and of raising public awareness. We are thus committed to building lasting relationships of trust with the region and all its institutions.
Vitality clause of the Charter
This Charter is a living document. It expresses the identity and founding intentions of the Adelma Association and constitutes the ultimate reference for its statutes, its codes and its operational choices. It will be reviewed periodically by the competent bodies, so that it remains faithful to its purpose and abreast of evolving best practices, without ever betraying the principles we declare here.