It’s not a pleasant subject, but Madawaska Valley Hospice Palliative Care wants to break the stigma around the topic of death.
They will be holding their Death Cafe Tuesday at 2 PM at the Heartwood Restaurant in Combermere. Dawn Cruchet is a former grief councillor and current volunteer at Madawaska Valley Palliative Care and says this trend has been gaining ground across the world, with thousands of talks held in 69 countries. She says the talk is not a grief support or counselling session. Rather it is a free form discussion to talk about the subject, with no agenda or guest speakers. Cruchet says that she will be there to facilitate the conversation and to make sure everyone has a chance to talk.
Cruchet says that because society is so death-denying this topic is often taboo, but she also says that talking about it in this format is empowering.
She says it gives people control over what they want with death, like end of life wishes and death directives. She says it’s important to what we get to say in things like the choice between being buried or cremated. She says it’s important to talk about these things from an intellectual point of view and not when your loved ones are faced with death. She says that if you can come to a safe place and talk about death, you can bring that information home to your family.
Written by Trevor Smith-Millar