I know, it's a weird title.
I had heard of Death Dinners but not Death Cafes-- until recently. Death Cafes is a series of meetings to discuss and explore feelings and attitudes toward death. The movement began in Europe in 2011. The University of North Carolina at Ashville has hosted several Death Cafes. At the meetings the 50 participants talk about their own death, the death of others and how that experience impacted them, and how they want to see their death unfold. The leader makes one statement to start the discussion, "What is your relationship with death and dying and let that be your guide."
People seems to leave these programs in a calm state and with a determination to discuss the subject of death with their loved ones. A survey by The Conversation Project, found 90 percent of people polled said talking with their loved ones about end-of-life care is important, but only about 30 percent said they had actually had the talk. Of course, this is what we do...we ruminate over things, have talks in our head, read, think and infrequently take the final step to talk about the issue.
You can hear Helen Chickering's report on WCQS's news .
Would you attend a Death Café? How about a pot luck Death Dinner?
Yes I would attend. I am thinking alot about this lately. We spend so much time bringing people into the world. We should guide them on their way to wherever it is they are going.
ReplyDeleteI would attend and even participate. Recently I had a client who was nearing death and we had to scramble to determine his end of life wishes. Except for a DNR request, nothing else had been covered. He welcomed the discussion and we were able to direct his end of life as he wished. If we had not asked, we would not have known he wanted to be cremated and buried with a loved one.
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