Living with your end in mind
After a few years of supporting relatives who were dying, Caitlin Walker has been contemplating her own death and how people’s models of their death affect not only their approach to it but also affect their approach to the way they live.
She decided to start researching models for death and for life before death and found that there was an appetite to have a safe and respectful space to think about, expand and enhance our ideas and approach to this often taboo topic.
During this six week programme we will cover the following themes:
- Thinking about your own death, death is like what?
- What has been your experience of death so far? How has this impacted your ideas?
- Where do your ideas or beliefs about death come from?
- An ideal death for you would be like what?
- Making a death plan – which like a birth plan is a desired not a guaranteed outcome. What would you like to have happen, what wouldn’t you like to have happen?
- Starting conversations about death with family and friends.
- How does thinking about your death impact the way you would like to be living now?
- What will you do next as a result of what you’ve discovered?
As well as these themes, which have emerged through several interviews and focus groups, there will be space for this group to develop themes of significance for them.
Caitlin will facilitate the groups cleanly, with curiosity, respect and gentle humour. The aim is for insights, understanding and inspiration.
Testimonials
When I signed up for 'Living With Your End in Mind', in my mind (and because I wasn't paying close enough attention), I thought it would be more based on how to prioritize the diminishing amount of time that we have left; i.e. if we are older, this becomes something to think about, or give some consideration to. When it turned out to be more literal, I wasn't disappointed, and really thought it an engaging idea, and maybe even more engaging, to discuss ideas and feelings around what happens in life when we near the later parts of our days. I really appreciated the opportunity to learn from other people's perspectives, and to interact with a wide variety of people who live in different countries and who are exposed to different cultures and ideas. I unfortunately missed the last two classes because I was out of town, and sadly, while I was away, my husband had to put our dog to sleep due to complications from a chronic illness. That was hard, and I really felt that the time and participation I had spent in the course helped me to prepare and rationalize during a time when hard decisions had to be made, and when I had to say goodbye from a distance. I was also able to review the missed sessions, which were rich with people's observations and ideas. I really appreciated the opportunity to learn from this course!
Deb Carpenter
Upcoming events
We don’t have any events listed at the moment. If you are interested in this course, please complete this form and we will be in touch when we have available dates.
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