Accompanying a loved one to their death is an unfamiliar expedition in our predominantly death-phobic society.
Thrust into the mysterious world of dying and death without preparation for what’s ahead, the living can struggle through the fog, stumble clumsily within alien surroundings and ride the emotional whirlwind with heavy hearts and clouded minds.
Paying attention to the future death of someone we love can be unimaginable. Yet ignoring the inevitable stifles opportunities to explore emotional, spiritual, physical and other crucial concepts, while they’re alive.
This workshop taps into our own mortality. It offers gentle guidance and practical perspectives to help equip those who will ultimately travel by the side of a loved one, to their death. That’s most of us.
By her mid-40s Julie Hassard had walked with loved ones to their deaths, arranged five funerals for family members, struggled significantly along the way and learnt a lot about the silences and the systems that surround dying and death.
She believes that through exploring our concerns about death we can cultivate greater confidence and contribute to improving our collective approach towards better experiences of the end of life, dying, death and beyond.
A former nurse with a Master’s degree in Social Science, Julie Hassard led many public health programs, campaigns and health promotion initiatives over the past few decades, and worked closely with people living with and dying from cancer. Her Doing Dying Better programs help those working close to life’s end, build their curiosity, courage and their confidence to improve end of life experiences – for the people they care for, and importantly, for themselves.