The Death Cafe invites community members interested in engaging in an open venue to join for conversations surrounding death while enjoying tea, coffee and other refreshments.
The Death Café sponsored by Hospice Services of Lake County started in 2018 and meets on the first Tuesday of the month from 4:00 pm to 5: 30 pm at the Common Grounds Coffee Shop located at 9736 Soda Bay Road in the Kelseyville Rivieras. The next meeting is Tuesday, October 5.
A Death Cafe is not a grief support group, but rather a venue for discussing all topics related to death, ranging from the end-of-life options act, cultural views on death and dying burial practices and more. Conversations are intended to help participants enhance the quality of their life by normalizing death.
It’s not about counseling, grieving, giving advice or pushing products. It’s an open forum where a range of ages gather—with the results being some of the most honest and raw conversations possible.
Death Café facilitators are retired educator Laisne Hamilton and retired Registered Nurse Carole Kendall, are trained and experienced in supporting individuals navigate topics regarding death and dying and are passionate about normalizing the discussion of death in our community. To help keep the conversation fresh, facilitators will occasionally introduce relevant topics such as the benefits of advance care directives, movies, books,
British founder Jon Underwood hosted the first Death Cafe at his home in London in September 2011 with the help of his mother, psychotherapist Sue Barsky Reid.
After releasing a guide for others to run their own Death Cafes in 2012, the movement spread rapidly—there have been over 15,000 Death Cafes in 83 countries at last count.
Hospice Services of Lake County and Lake Palliative Care provides high quality medical, emotional and spiritual care to help individuals and their families navigate their serious chronic illness or end-of-life journeys. For more information, call Hospice Services of Lake County, (707) 263-6222. Visit the organization’s website at www.lakecountyhospice.org.
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