On the 12th and 13th of February, a total of 19 colleagues representing the 9 partners collaborating in LEAVES gathered in Enschede, the Netherlands, for the kick-off meeting of the project. After many online meetings, this was the first time we met each other face-to-face. Therefore, the first day started with an introductory round and short presentations from each partner. After that, the core LEAVES components were introduced: the LIVIA online bereavement program (by the University of Berna), the Before You Leave application (by DELA) and the Virtual Agent platform (by RRD). The first day ended with a hands-on workshop organized by the colleagues from National Foundation for the Elderly. This workshop aimed to start the discussion about the service model, by asking each pilot site (the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland) to draft persona’s and patient journey’s meaningful to the LEAVES service model. The second day was mostly dedicated to the plans for the technology development and integration of the different components of LIVIA. The main discussions evolved around the end-user engagement at all phases of the technology development and the definition of a roadmap towards the first prototype at the end of the first six months of the project. Finally, there was time dedicated to the coordination and general management of the project (e.g. internal communication tools and advisory board engagement) as well as plans for dissemination and communication. The next project meeting will take place after the summer. The meeting was hosted by the coordinating partner, Roessingh Research and Development, and counted with participation of members from all partners collaborating in the project.
