Experience of a participant of the first Death Cafe Sydney meeting
A write up of Death Cafe - Sydney
By April Lewis
I eagerly registered for the first Death Cafe Sydney get together, I had heard of other Death Cafes and I wanted to be a participant. I wanted to support the idea of an open, community based discussion of death in general: mine, friends, family, strangers in a warm and accepting group. As a previous volunteer with a palliative care organisation I had many opportunities to discuss the impending death of patients with both themselves and their carers and friends, and I was happy to share my experiences with others, so a Death Cafe seemed the ideal forum. I believe the topic of death should be more openly discussed - we discuss the beginning of life, surely we can discuss the end too!
With all this in mind I arrived at the cafe for the first meeting wondering how the other people would be feeling, perhaps the death they thought to discuss was more personal to them - a close family member or even their own, perhaps a recent experience or maybe not.
At the meeting we were all warmly greeted by the convener, and in a round table forum, we firstly introduced ourselves and then went on to discuss all manner of topics associated with death and dying.
I, for one, shall go to other meetings that Death Cafe Sydney hold and I encourage others to do so too.