My first experience with the death of a loved one was unnerving. I did not know how to interpret the physical and mental changes I witnessed. I had no capacity to learn about death while it was unfolding before me; it was difficult enough just to be there. In bringing a baby into the world, there are opportunities to take…
Currently in British Columbia we have few choices when it comes to returning our bodies to the earth (usually called the ‘disposition of the body’), the most common being burial or cremation. Conventional or Natural (Green) Burial in a Cemetery: Most of us are familiar with a conventional burial. Natural burial involves returning the body to the earth as naturally…
Way to Go is a once a month gathering of folks in which we talk about death, dying, and grief, educate ourselves about current and alternative approaches, and strive to make death truly a part of life in our community. Way To Go started after Dale Presley from the Salish Sea Hospice Society came to Quadra in the summer of…
After meeting for several years some Way To Go members, inspired by folks from Denman Island, created a service called Community-Led Death Care. This group of volunteers are ready, even on short notice, to provide practical and emotional support to those approaching or navigating death. In the past, communities cared for their own at death, simply and naturally. Death was…