Death Cafe profile for Beth OBrien
Location: Australia
http://www.australiancelebrations.com.au/
About Beth OBrien:
I originally began working with families who were grieving in my role as a funeral celebrant, over 20 years ago. Ten years ago I launched an Australian registered training company soley for the training of marriage and funeral celebrants called Australian Celebrations Training. I have studied many courses in the area of funeral celebrancy, grief and loss, and bring that information and my knowledge into my own training courses.
What brings you to Death Cafe?
Last year I spent some time giving talks at service clubs like Rotary and realised in our very secular country that no one is speaking about the natural event of death. I had always followed with interest the Death Cafe conversations internationally, so I thought "if not me, then who", and here I am ready to embrace a Death Cafe culture in my home city.
What would you like your legacy to be?
It would be wonderful if people from my community would feel comfortable to share their thoughts and feelings about death, in a way that assists their own journey in life. To assist people with love to fully embrace their own lives.
Thoughts for sharing:
“Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized. Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true.”
― Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning
Contact Beth OBrien
Beth OBrien's posts on the Death Cafe website
Death Cafe write up: Death Cafe, Brisbane, Queensland
Posted by Beth OBrien on Oct. 4, 2014, 10:40 p.m.
Had an indepth discussion about the topic of people wishing to die at home, and how that could happen. This was a conversation stemming from the new report by "Grattan Institute" called Dying Well. The report is at http://grattan.edu.au/publications/reports/.
We also discussed the social media site called Dead Social, on saying goodbye to your friends on Facebook and Twitter. http://www.deadsoci.al/
As usual an interesting chat all round.
Death Cafe write up: Death Cafe, Gold Coast
Posted by Beth OBrien on May 31, 2014, 3:03 p.m.
What a wonderful afternoon we had with our Death Cafe held at Hopewell Hospice on the Gold Coast to commemorate Palliative Care Week. It was our largest group with 35 people. To give you an idea of some of the topics, here is a shortened list of what we spoke about - researching purchasing a funeral, what if someone doesn't want a funeral, what happens when someone dies at home, self care for carers, why we say the words "passed away" instead of died, what to say to a person who doesn't want to talk about their pending death, pre-paid funerals, after death experiences, grief, ashes ...
With Beth OBrien
June 19, 2014, 6.00 p.m. - 8.00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
Cafe for purchasing a coffee and cake
With Deidre Hanna - Hopewell Hospice Director
May 31, 2014, 2.00 p.m. - 4.00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
There will be an opportunity for coin donations for the Hospice, but not compulsory.
Death Cafe write up: Death Cafe, Brisbane, Queensland
Posted by Beth OBrien on April 4, 2014, 3:24 p.m. 2 comments
We have a wonderful and diverse discussion tonight. We spoke about the new Threshold Choir in the city of Brisbane who sing as volunteers to people who are dying. We had some people who were foreign nationals now working in Australia who asked about how Australian funerals happen. The interesting topic of roadside memorials, usually crosses, were important to families and friends, and how in different countries differing symbols were used to display.
One of our attendees is a researcher working on the topic of visual art around funerals, so that brought up the topic of selfies, pictures of dead people, videos at funeral ceremonies.
We talked about ...
Death Cafe write up: Death Cafe Capalaba, Brisbane
Posted by Beth OBrien on March 19, 2014, 2:48 a.m.
Our first meeting for Capalaba was in our local community room at the Council Library. It was lovely to see social workers and palliative care nurses attend from our local hospital and other members of our community. It was very interesting to hear from the hospital team and how families are still quiet on the topic of end of life planning. Their team also discussed the need for a hospice in our area and the need for more palliative care beds for the communtiy. We were grateful for their attendance and interest. A startling piece of data that they shared was the 74% of people surveyed wished to ...
Death Cafe write up: Death Cafe, Brisbane, Queensland
Posted by Beth OBrien on March 19, 2014, 2:41 a.m.
Our first meeting for Victoria Point on a weekend day full of sunshine. The topics were diverse, but there seems to be a common theme in FAQ about "what do I when my loved one dies at home?'. Also a younger friend had just heard the news of his Grandfather's death and asked for guidance about what to expect as he had never attended a funeral. We discussed advanced health directives, vitamins that helped you relax, funeral companies, and amongst the great information we had an opportunity for a laugh. With good coffee supplied by Espresso Bar team and good company, we had an enjoyable afternoon.
With Beth OBrien
March 15, 2014, 1.00 p.m. - 2.30 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
Free
Death Cafe write up: Death Cafe, Brisbane, Queensland
Posted by Beth OBrien on Feb. 16, 2014, 8:39 p.m.
Discussion as usual was lively and interesting. We had a discussion about whether there were any movies on the afterlife, and how people rely on information from TV and film. Talk then moved to the topic of dying at home, and how most people don't know about the local palliative care teams, and rely heavily on hospital admissions instead. We discussed the process of when a person dies, and how they are cared for before taken into the care of a funeral home. On a digital note we noted the interesting webpage e-closure that offers a service to turn off all of your digital life when you ...
With Beth OBrien
Oct. 1, 2014, 6.00 p.m. - 7.30 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
Free
With Beth OBrien
Aug. 6, 2014, 6.00 p.m. - 7.30 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
Free
With Beth OBrien
June 4, 2014, 6.00 p.m. - 7.30 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
Free
With Beth OBrien
April 2, 2014, 6.00 p.m. - 7.30 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
Free
With Beth OBrien
Feb. 5, 2014, 6.00 p.m. - 7.30 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
Free
With Beth OBrien
Sept. 5, 2014, 9.00 a.m. - 10.30 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
Free
Grateful for the interest and support given by the Library team at Capalaba branch library, of Redland City Council.
With Beth OBrien
July 4, 2014, 9.00 a.m. - 10.30 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
Free
Grateful for the interest and support given by the Library team at Capalaba branch library, of Redland City Council.
With Beth OBrien
May 2, 2014, 9.00 a.m. - 10.30 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
Free
Grateful for the interest and support given by the Library team at Capalaba branch library, of Redland City Council.
With Beth OBrien
March 7, 2014, 9.00 a.m. - 10.30 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
Free
Grateful for the interest and support given by the Library team at Capalaba branch library, of Redland City Council.
Death Cafe write up: Death Cafe, Brisbane, Queensland
Posted by Beth OBrien on Jan. 12, 2014, 8:44 p.m.
Death Cafe write up: First Death Cafe in Brisbane, Australia
Posted by Beth OBrien on Jan. 12, 2014, 8:42 p.m.
The evening was facilitated by Beth O’Brien and Neil Davis. We had 5 attendees come and share with us that evening. Beth was interviewed for the local newspaper and on 4BC Radio. The story was also covered in the leading city newspaper the Courier Mail. It amazed us that in a short time with a small but eager group of attendees that conversation flowed, and flowed fast! Topics included such items as working in the funeral industry; what does a dead person look like; I closed my eyes in the church when I opened them my Mum’s coffin was gone; advanced health directives; euthanasia; confronting your ...
Death Cafe write up: Death Cafe Brisbane, Australia
Posted by Beth OBrien on Jan. 12, 2014, 8:41 p.m.
Death Café, Brisbane 6 November 2013
Last night 10 people joined us for our second death café at Mt Gravatt.
There was again a delightful mix of people, and we had the opportunity to hear some insights from a palliative care nurse, and a hospital chaplain working with the oncology ward. Amongst the group were also team members from Karuna http://www.karuna.org.au/ community and home palliative care who again shared some wonderful insights. We thank them for their openness in sharing, and for all the other people for their honest sharing and wisdom.
Many topics were covered and we shared, laughed and sometimes sighed at ...
Death Cafe write up: Death Cafe, Brisbane, Queensland
Posted by Beth OBrien on Jan. 4, 2014, 2:12 p.m.
It was a pleasure to meet with a great group of people so close to Christmas to reflect on the topic of death leading up to this celebration time.
There were some professional people from the palliative care teams of Brisbane and we discussed the lack of available hospice or palliative care in our city. It was interesting to hear how many people died in emergency wards or regular wards, when they could have been cared for in the community if those resources were available.
As usual the topics were amazing and our conversation travelled on some many interesting paths. Some of the discussion topics were as follows ...
With Elisabeth OBrien
Dec. 5, 2013, 6.00 p.m. - 8.00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
Free
Death Cafe write up: Death Cafe Brisbane, Australia
Posted by Beth OBrien on Nov. 6, 2013, 6:52 p.m.
Last night 10 people joined us for our second death café at Mt Gravatt.
There was again a delightful mix of people, and we had the opportunity to hear some insights from a palliative care nurse, and a hospital chaplain working with the oncology ward. Amongst the group were also team members from Karuna http://www.karuna.org.au/ community and home palliative care who again shared some wonderful insights. We thank them for their openness in sharing, and for all the other people for their honest sharing and wisdom.
Many topics were covered and we shared, laughed and sometimes sighed at the information and the storytelling. We ...
Death Cafe write up: First Death Cafe in Brisbane, Australia
Posted by Beth OBrien on Nov. 6, 2013, 4:36 p.m.
The evening was facilitated by Beth O’Brien and Neil Davis. We had 5 attendees come and share with us that evening. Beth was interviewed for the local newspaper and on 4BC Radio. The story was also covered in the leading city newspaper the Courier Mail.
It amazed us that in a short time with a small but eager group of attendees that conversation flowed, and flowed fast! Topics included such items as working in the funeral industry; what does a dead person look like; I closed my eyes in the church when I opened them my Mum’s coffin was gone; advanced health directives; euthanasia; confronting your ...
With Elisabeth OBrien
Nov. 6, 2013, 7.00 p.m. - 9.00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
Nil cost to attend. Great coffee, tea and cool drinks, and plenty of cake available at the cafe.
Death Cafe: First Death Cafe in Brisbane, Australia
Posted by Beth OBrien on Sept. 20, 2013, 4:18 p.m.
With Beth OBrien
Oct. 9, 2013, 7.00 p.m. - 9.00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time)
Nil cost to attend. Great coffee, tea and cool drinks, and plenty of cake available at the cafe.