Death Cafe write-ups
This was my 3rd visit to the Death Cafe in Kendal but this time with the added pleasure of being accompanied by my 85 year old father and my eldest sister and her husband who happened to be staying with us for the week.
Two groups of about 8 people each were formed and I was in one with my father whilst my sister and her husband were in the other. This was our deliberate choice to maximise our discussions as we already discuss the subjects of death and dying amongst ourselves - though not that frequently!
My father found it quite a liberating experience to talk freely to ...
Death Cafe Edmonton Write up
Posted by Gina Vliet on May 17, 2019, 1:38 p.m.
With a new batch of curious Café-ers due to recent newspaper and radio coverage, we kicked off the meeting with a round table of introductions and the question: “What are you here for?” Two prevailing themes emerged: curiosity, and a need to understand how to begin conversations about death.
Dividing the group into two due to size, they began animated discussions about what was on their minds. Death doulas, hospice and palliative care, suicide, and grief were discussed.
Halfway through, so that everyone got a chance to hear different perspectives, I had the groups stretch and shuffle. An understanding that everyone’s coming to the topic of ...
Death Cafe Wirral Write up
Posted by Martin Poole on May 14, 2019, 9:42 a.m.
On the 8th May 2019 I hosted my first Death Cafe event at Hoylake Parade Community Centre. It seems to have gone down well, so future events are planned on a bi-monthly basis at various venues on the Wirral and we’ll see how that goes.
The community centre kindly provided us with the space for free. Tea, coffee and cakes were on sale and most of the 24 attendees took advantage of this by making a purchase. I envisage future events to work in the same way.
I posted details of the event on various websites where I could post for free and copied the details to ...
Four of us met for the May meeting of the Colliers Wood Death Café during which we acknowledged Dying Matters and the information event ‘Doing Death Differently - Are We Ready?’ the CWDC hosted at the Tooting Bec Lido Pavilion on Saturday morning.
Two of us had not been to this, or any other Death Café before. Having acknowledged the background to the movement, and the ethos of the meetings, we began to talk about a theme which ran throughout the meeting around forgiveness.
We talked about forgiveness rituals, and how important these might be at the end of life – both for the dying, and for those they leave ...
Death Cafe Carlisle Write up
Posted by TracyWardCelebrant on May 12, 2019, 2:32 a.m.
It is nearly a year since we had our first meeting and this little cafe has gone from strength to strength.
This meeting had 11 people from all walks of life interested in all walks of death. Funeral directors, local coroners court, solicitors, celebrants, a local poet and recently bereaved. Eclectic begins to cover our band.
We always state that it is not a support group but often experiencing a close death triggers thoughts of mortality in ones own life. I think it's reall important to remember the responsibility to keep people safe in the discussions. As a host you don't often know about the people ...
Hello,
I am extremely interested in attending a session. I find death simultaneously difficult yet fascinating, and feel it would be an incredibly interesting experience to discuss the topic with strangers.
Hoping to be admitted for the session tonight!
Death Cafe Nelson New Zealand Write up
Posted by BarbaraGreene on May 5, 2019, 3:31 a.m.
this was a wonderful session with 3 people having their first Death Cafe experience. They all said they were keen to keep coming too. There was also a good bunch of attendees who have returned many times now. It is so lovely to facilitate this when so many people get so much out of it. Comments this time include:-
Great opportunity to listen, talk, share
and . . . Always helpful, thank you.
Barbara
Death Cafe Zarautz (10) Write up
Posted by Iñaki Peña Bandrés on May 4, 2019, 3:45 a.m.
On the second of May, eleven men gathered together in our compassionate community to talk about death and dying, frailty, grief and caregiving, instead of talking about football. It was inspired by the work of ‘Toka gizon taldea’, aiming to search for new ways of masculinity. It was special too because it was held just in Basque language.
We talked about the difficulty to show compassion, and when to get close to a person in grief. And we identified a main tool for it, intuition (that feminine value). We mentioned masculine emotional castration and the lacks of masculine traditional roles.
We talked about the topical and traditional way ...
Visalia Death Cafe Write up
Posted by l_burkart@yahoo.com on May 2, 2019, 11:03 p.m. 1 comment
Good Grief!! I've always liked Charlie Brown;)
Lately the topic of grief has been surfacing and getting my direct attention. Death Cafes are the perfect place to process grief exploring one's thoughts and feelings with others in a small group.
For those who are new to Death Cafes, the goal is to provide space not only for our bodies, but our spirits, where topics like grief can be explored with others. Sharing our grief is healthy and normal with the loss of loved ones--pets included.
Meetings will be held monthly at The Center for Spiritual Living around the corner from Brown's Shoes in beautiful downtown ...
Fillmore Death Cafe Write up
Posted by RevEleesabeth on April 25, 2019, 6:40 p.m.
Summary of April 24, 2019 gathering.
Oddly it was funniest Death Cafe we have ever had. We laughed a lot. Talking about the crazy things people do with the cremains of their loved ones, how important it is to say goodbye ...really vicerally no matter if we cremate or do a full funeral. We also talked about freeze dried dobermans (..really...I could not make that up.) The things people do to keep their loved ones - two and four footed friends in their lives can be extreme..and pretty funny.
Ah we humans are entertaining. Yes?
The two poems we read to begin are from my two favorite ...
Death Cafe Edmonton Write up
Posted by Gina Vliet on April 25, 2019, 2:04 p.m.
At the April 24th Death Café, our topics for discussion leaned to the cerebral side. The group opened the discussion by referencing an April 17, 2019 National Post article on scientists restoring brain activity in recently slaughtered pigs, and how that related to Near Death Experiences (NDE’s) and whether we feel anything after we die. Traumatic death came up, and some attendees were yesterday days old when they figured out that bells in Victorian coffins were where the expression “saved by the bell” came from! Talk then went further down the rabbit hole into acid trips and the first law of Thermodynamics, where energy can neither be ...
Death Cafe Baltimore Write up
Posted by Death Cafe Baltimore with Valerie & Monica. on April 25, 2019, 12:16 p.m. 1 comment
Death Cafe Baltimore was presented at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) on March 28, 2019, and was scheduled from 5:00-6:30pm. Two facilitators, Valerie and Monica, two university employees who hosted the event, and twenty-five students and members of the community attended the meeting to discuss death & dying. Refreshments were provided, and the attendees were seated at separate tables throughout the room. They used some "ice breaker" questions to simply get the conversation started.
The attendees engaged in conversation for some time, and then a collective discussion took place. The attendees asked questions about advance directives and the status of "death with dignity" laws in some ...
Canberra Death Cafe Write up
Posted by Vickie Hingston-Jones on April 24, 2019, 6:46 p.m.
It began with a few people quietly looking around and ended with noisy chatter and promises to keep in touch. Discusion was sombre one minute, lively the next but everyone had valuable insights to contribute and engaging questions to ask. 12 People attended. Men where sadly under represented, but perhaps as news spreads we will see more. All in all a very successful event and I am now planning the next one.
Death Cafe Iowa Write up
Posted by DeathCafeIowa on April 18, 2019, 2:10 p.m.
April’s death café Iowa was held at Palmers deli & market on Ingersoll. Buffy Peters (member of the Bereavement Professionals Group) facilitated the group. Five members were in attendance this month including two males and three females. All participants ranged in ages and professions.
Members this month brought several interesting topics to discuss including the use of DNA tests to predict at what age you will die. The research has shown to be 76% accurate. Several members also discussed a few books that group members have heard about and/or read. The books were “Being Mortal”, “The Slow Death of Nancy Coran”, and “When Breath Becomes Air”. That ...
Death Cafe - Warren Write up
Posted by gloriamcunningham on April 18, 2019, 9:35 a.m.
We had such a wonderful meeting this month. We had much laughing, many stories and exploring our approach when visiting others that are on the threshold of their death. Much food for thought until next we meet. I look forward to seeing everyone in May!