Posted by Catherina
Hosted by Catherina Petit-van Hoey
Date: | April 7, 2013 |
Start time: | 2:30 p.m. (Greenwich Mean Time) |
End time: | 5:00 p.m. (Greenwich Mean Time) |
To be held at a private location
This Death Cafe has taken place
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About this Death Cafe
I really liked the relaxed, informal and respectful ethos of the Death Café - not forgetting the yummy cakes - when I visited a couple of Death Café's in London.
So I decided to start organising some myself.
I normally give a small introduction of the background and rules of the Death Café, as outlined by Jon Underwood and introduce myself.
Then I give people the opportunity to introduce themselves and tell why they felt attracted to come to a Death Café.
After that, conversation seems to flow by itself.
I have thought about introducing specific topics but also realise that this could be limiting and not always be into everybody's interest.
To me it is important that people feel safe and trusted to express their personal views on any topic related to death. Therefore the conversations are unpredictable as it depends totally on what each individual bring to the table.
I normally introduce a little break for toilet and a second helping of cake and beverages.
At the end I invite people to fill in the feedback forms, I provide, to help me in writing a report and improve where I can on the next Death Café I will organise.
I also have a small side table with a box for donations and some information, like leaflets of the Natural Death Centre.
About Catherina Petit-van Hoey
I am Catherina Petit-van Hoey and I am a Friend of The Natural Death Centre Charity. I live in Hertffordshire in the United Kingdom, where I work as a freelance textile artist.
I was trained as a nurse in the 70's in The Netherlands, which included 'caring for the dying' and the 'preparation of the body' before funeral arrangements. I cared for my mother in the last weeks of her life together with my brother and sister and we actively organised the funerals of both my parents, but with the help of a professional undertaker.
Although I have a background as a nurse and carer my main experience comes from life and over 30 years of meditation practise, as well as teaching and guiding other people in this. For me, meditation is the constant practise of 'letting go', acceptance and 'living in the moment', all things which have been and still are of vital importance to me. Even more so since our youngest daughter suddenly died at the age of 22, after a short illness in May 2012.
In the preparation of our daughter's funeral we, as a family, were greatly inspired and encouraged by the Natural Death Centre Charity to organise every aspect of the funeral ourselves with the help of friends and family. This has been a major inspiration to the 200 people who attended our daughter's funeral and life celebration. More importantly it showed us that being actively involved in caring for the death of a loved one is a much overlooked but essential part of a healthy grieving process.
It is therefore, that I have become passionate with inspiring people to talk about life, death, funerals and living each moment to the full.
Contact the organiser of this Death Cafe
Please also see: http://catherinapetitvanhoey.blogspot.com/