TalkDeath

Grief Collective & Container
2026-01-18 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Toronto) | Juj’s Home, 2316 W Schubert Ave, Chicago, IL, 60647, United States
This gathering creates a gentle, boundaried container for collective grief in the wake of the holidays– a time that often magnifies loss, longing, & complicated emotions. Together, we will honor grief without pathologizing it, & joy without guilt, recognizing that both can coexist in the same body, breath, & moment.

Grief; Honoring Our Pain and Reclaiming Lifeforce
2026-01-18 12:00 - 16:00, 2026-01-18 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Toronto) | Cranaleith Spiritual Center, 13475 Proctor Road, Philadelphia, PA, 19116, United States
All of us have experienced loss of some kind, whether it’s the death of a loved one, the end of a significant relationship, losing a job, health challenges, or a dream deferred. And yet, as Bert Hellinger, the founder of Family Constellations noted about grief; “If you give it time, the hole becomes a space.”
In this interactive Family Constellations workshop, we’ll explore: how can we honor and acknowledge our loss without it preventing us from moving forward in generative ways? How we might bear the grief of the present and the past, without sacrificing our future? What gentle adjustments might we make to allow adequate time for the hole to become a space?

Albuquerque Dead or Distant Parent(s) Club January Meet-Up
2026-01-17 10:00 - 13:00 (America/Toronto) | Grandma’s Coffee Garden, 124 Girard Blvd SE, Albuquerque, NM, 87106, United States
Hey Albuquerquue Dead or Distant Parent(s) Club! Let’s meet up at Grandma’s!
Stop by Grandma’s Coffee Garden on Saturday, January 17th any time between 10am – 1pm for our first get-together of the year!
If you haven’t been yet, Grandma’s Coffee Garden is AADORABLE and has indoor and outdoor space available, amazing coffee/tea drinks, and delicious local pastries. Thanks for hosting us Grandma’s!
Come meet and be in community with fellow members of the Club! It’ll be fun! Let’s bring and celebrate those we’ve lost into this new year. There will be a few fun surprises too!
Oh, and I love you always!
Look for the sign to find us in the Garden. Grandma’s Coffee Garden is located at 124 Girard Blvd SE, Albuquerque, NM 87106 with ample street parking.

Death Medicine: An Open Mic Community Exploration of Death & Grief
2026-01-16 19:00 - 22:00 (America/Toronto) | ON
A monthly open mic event with a theme of death and grief is happening in both Sonoma and Marin counties of California. Occurring in San Rafael and Sebastopol, these events have been beautifully received.
Bring your songs, poetry, stories, dance or any other expression your heart feels called to offer around the topics of death and grief.
The event will be an open mic format where people can sing, dance, recite poetry, or speak extemporaneously about their experiences of death and grief and be witnessed and heard by a radically present and loving audience in a well-held container.
There are no rules other than a share cannot last longer than five minutes. You need not perform to attend. The witnessing is at least as important as the sharing.
We imagine it as a community grief ritual. Sometimes a couple hours of cathartic release and tender listening and holding can do more to heal than years on a therapist’s couch.

Intro to the Gates of Grief
2026-01-16 12:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | ON
Grab your lunch or favorite tea and join us for a session with Rebecca Churt, Founder of The Grievery.
​This 50-minute introductory session offers a guided walk through a framework that expands grief far beyond death — into the realms of identity, longing, lost opportunities, and the quiet heartache we carry for a fractured world.
​We’ll take a concise tour of Francis Weller’s Gates of Grief (from The Wild Edge of Sorrow) and explore how grief — when acknowledged rather than avoided — becomes a vital life skill: helping us stay connected to ourselves and what matters most.
​This session is an invitation to explore grief with curiosity — not to fix anything or relive pain, but to make room for what has long wanted to be named, opening the door to greater clarity, resilience, and meaning.

When Grief Shows Up in the Body
2026-01-15 15:30 - 16:15 (America/New_York) | ON
Join Camila Crews, founder of Sorry For Your Loss (Cards), and Susan Koursaris, founder of Wholly Heart Nutrition, for a conversation on how grief shows up in the body and how movement and food can support healing.
January is Self Love Month, making this a good time to talk about gentle ways to care for yourself without pressure or perfection. This conversation is not about fixing grief. It is about understanding your body and meeting yourself with compassion.

Becky Robison in conversation with Kaira Tucker
2026-01-14 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Kentucky/Louisville) | Carmichael’s Bookstore, 2720 Frankfort Avenue, Louisville, KY, 40206, United States
Louisville! To celebrate the launch of my new book, My Parents Are Dead: What Now? A Panic-Free Guide to the Practicalities of Death, join me at Carmichael’s on Frankfort for a discussion and book signing with everyone’s favorite local librarian, cemetery enthusiast, and certified goth, Kaira Tucker.

Dead Parents Club
2026-01-14 18:30 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual Event
Losing a parent changes you. It’s weird, it’s heavy, it’s lonely. And a lot of people don’t know how to talk about it.
Dead Parents Club is a grief circle for anyone navigating life after the loss of a parent (or parents). This is a space where you don’t have to sugarcoat it. No one’s going to rush you, try to fix you, or flinch when you talk about the hard stuff.
We’ll begin with a short grounding to connect with your body and breath, and then we’ll open the circle. The rest of the 90 minutes are yours: to share, to listen, to cry, to sit in silence. Whatever you need. There’s no pressure to speak, and no need to perform your grief in any particular way.
This space is about showing up as you are. Whether your loss is new or decades old, whether you’re feeling raw, numb, angry, relieved, or all of it at once, you’re welcome here. Though if your grief is still very fresh and raw, know that this isn’t a support group in the clinical sense.
🖤 Bring:
– A water bottle, a snack, a notebook, a memento, or just yourself – Your grief, however it shows up that day – A willingness to be in the room
We don’t have answers. We’re not here to fix anything. Grief needs space to breathe without judgment or rush. That’s what we’re offering.
Virtual for the colder/flu-ier months.
Sliding scale $10-30. No-one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Untangling The Tinsel: A Gathering for Grievers
2026-01-14 18:30 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | ON
The holidays can leave a lot behind-feelings we didn’t expect, words we couldn’t find, emotions that live more in our bodies than our heads.
This gathering is an invitation to gently look back at what the season stirred up and sit with whatever is tangled. We’re holding space for relief, acceptance, community, and grace-no fixing, no pressure. Let’s gently untangle, one strand at a time.

Monthly Wailing Ceremony
2026-01-13 18:30 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Awakenings Wellness Center, 1061 SE 12th Ave, Portland, OR, 97214, United States
This is a monthly offering, happening on the second Tuesday of every month. This offering is designed to support somatically moving our shared and personal grief.
We begin to build our container through brief sharing and connecting and then move into movement, vocalizing, wailing, praying, and drumming. We are building community through acknowledging and exploring the shared human experience of grief and loss.

Community Death Care Zine Workshop & Exchange
2026-01-12 16:00 - 18:00 (America/Phoenix) | Virtual Event
A two hour workshop on creating resources for death-positive artists & EOL doulas in the form of Risograph printed zines.
Is there a community death care or grief resource you really wish existed, but doesn’t yet? Do you have specialized knowledge, experiences, or ideas that would help others move through loss and grief?
Zines, accessible pocket-sized DIY publications, are a great way to share ideas, stories, and information; whether you’re a practicing death doula, grief tender, or just starting to learn about death, grief, and loss this workshop will benefit you.
There will be a brief intro to zines and the Risograph printing process, we’ll use generative prompts to refine zine ideas and go over basic file set up. Each participant will create their own one or two-color, one-page zine design (11×17 or 8.5×11), which will be printed by me in my home studio. You will receive 25-50 copies of your own zine, as well as 1 copy of all of the other zines created in the class. One week after the initial workshop there will be an optional LIVE PRINTING over zoom if you’d like to see more of the process and get a preview of your prints before they are sent to you via USPS.
If you’re completely new to Riso and want to know what you’re signing up for, here are some examples. In short, Riso printing is very similar to screen printing, but the machine looks like your average copy machine. It has a really fun, vibrant aesthetic and it’s environmentally friendly, as it uses soy based ink, rice paper for the stencils and no heat in the printing process.
Class fee covers instruction, printing time, supplies, and shipping costs.

Decomposition Isn't A Dirty Word - Let's Talk About Green Burial
2026-01-11 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Online
Join us for a guided conversation on how burial in the United States drifted from our ancestral roots – and how green burial and conservation cemeteries can reconnect us with what’s natural, human, and quite literally in our DNA. Science doesn’t lie… our bodies are designed to decompose and return to the earth, but green burial is limited in the US.
Hosted by Penny Waugh of The Death Network, with panel guests Ed Bixby of The Global Green Burial Alliance and Jamie Phillips of Spirit Sanctuary Conservation Cemetery. Together, we’ll unpack how we got here and why restoring time-honored burial practices matters for both our bodies and the planet.
This is a space to bring your questions – we honor open, honest dialogue. With transparency and knowledge, our hope is to help everyone understand their full range of options so end-of-life choices can be made with clarity and intention.

A Healing Doula Academy Q & A
2026-01-11 10:00 - 11:00 (America/New_York) | Zoom, Cornelius, NC, 28031
A Healing Doula Academy, founded by Grief & Death Doula and Author Sundari Malcolm, is an online training program to become a Grief & Death Doula rooted in ancient Spiritual and Holistic traditions and care.
Join Sundari for this, free, 1 hr session to learn details about the program, the differences between this training and others, and to receive a special enrollment discount.

(a)Wake Presents: A Living Funeral Ceremony
2026-01-10 14:00 - 16:00 (America/Toronto) | Scribble, 5541 York Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90042, United States
​Tickets purchased via Scribble here: https://link.dice.fm/bccde2d392f0
​A community offering to give 2025 a good death and step into the new year with intention. Join us for a Living Funeral Ceremony at Scribble.
​A Living Funeral Ceremony is an immersive meditative experience that encourages participants to face their own mortality. Through engaging in ritual and guidance through a death visualization–contemplating your own memorial as you imagine letting go of your earthly self–participants are invited to “die before you die, to live while you’re alive.”
​This ceremonial experience provides a safe and supportive space to confront fears around death and impermanence, while also fostering a deeper connection to life’s fragility and beauty. Often compared to the experience of ego death, this ritual leaves many with a renewed sense of purpose and a profound appreciation for the present moment.
​TIMING
​Please arrive on time by 2pm, as the container will close once the ceremony begins to honor the sacred environment we are co-creating. The ritual portion takes up to 90 minutes. After the ceremony is complete, Kaitlyn will hold space for participants until 4pm.
​WHAT TO BRING/WEAR
​A blanket, yoga mat, or something to lay on
​Comfortable, breathable clothing is recommended
​PRICING STRUCTURE
​(a)Wake is part of a movement toward collective care. Please choose the price that suits your current situation. If you are not able to pay any of the listed prices, please email info@scribblecommunity.com for more information.
​$22 – Community Supported (for those who need financial access to attend; limited availability)
​$33 – Base Rate (covers cost of materials + energy exchange)
​$44 – True Cost (what it actually costs to offer this ceremony)
​$55+ – Community Sustainer (supports others to attend + helps this work remain sustainable)
​This ceremony will be facilitated by Kaitlyn Pietras (she/her), a queer Jewish grief worker and visual artist based in Los Angeles. She is the creator of (a)Wake, a ritual container at the intersection of grief, death, and art. Her practice is rooted in tending to both personal and collective grief, connecting with ancestral wisdom, and creating ritual spaces for the LGBTQIA+ community. Kaitlyn’s work weaves together plant magic, Jewish mysticism, and somatic storytelling.
​She trained directly with Emily Cross of the Steady Waves Center, who developed this ceremony inspired by living funerals originally held in South Korea. These ceremonies were created to help participants reflect on their lives and reconnect with a sense of meaning and purpose in the face of death.

"It's Complicated" Support Group
2026-01-08 17:30 - 19:00, 2025-12-11 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Denver) | Virtual Event
A monthly peer-led Zoom group for people who had a strained relationship with someone who’s died. It can be tough to be in a group with other folks who were close with their parent, sibling, grandparent, partner, co-parent, friend, etc. As much as I like for there to be a range of experiences represented in grief groups, so that we can hear diverse perspectives, sometimes it is nice to be with people who “get it.” When addiction, mental health challenges, conflict, estrangement, abuse, etc. were a part of the picture, it can affect the grief journey in unique ways. This is a space for us.

The Good Death Book Club Experience FREE 12-Month Death and Dying Course
2026-01-08 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-12-11 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | ON
According to a recent AARP study, there are over 52 million caregivers in the United States right now—and 70% of them say they are overwhelmed. Every single day, I receive messages from current and former caregivers who say:
“I wish I had this knowledge when I was caring for my loved one.”
Or:
“The Doulagivers training is helping me more than I can say.”
The truth is:
We will all have a caregiving story.
Let’s make sure yours is one filled with support, empowerment, and peace.
That’s why I created The GOOD DEATH BOOK CLUB Experience: Death and Dying Course—a free, live, 12-month educational journey through my bestselling book The Good Death: A Guide for Supporting Your Loved One Through the End of Life.
What It Is:
Each month, we explore one chapter of The Good Death together.
You’ll receive:
-A live End of life teaching course with me, Suzanne B. O’Brien, RN
-A guided workbook and downloadable companion guide
-A group discussion and experiential exercise
-A full 12 month Death and Dying Course for free
Who It’s For:
-Current and future caregivers ( all of us )
-Death Doulas, aspiring Death Doulas, medical professionals
-Individuals seeking grief healing and emotional support
-Anyone who wants spiritual inspiration and empowerment around death, aging, and life itself
Why It Matters:
Death is 100% guaranteed—and yet, our modern culture has stripped away the education and sacredness that used to surround it.
This lack of awareness is contributing to unnecessary fear, trauma, and prolonged suffering and grief.
But death is not the enemy.
It is our greatest teacher about how to truly live.
When we return death to its place as a natural, sacred transition, we begin to reclaim peace, presence, and purpose in our lives and communities TODAY!
What You Can Do:
Join The Experience and Share with Your Friends!

Death Cafe
2025-12-31 18:00 - 20:00, 2025-11-26 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Denver) | The Lotus Center, 4376 South 700 East #200, Millcreek, UT, 84124, United States
The Lotus Center Death Cafe is open to the public and typically consists of an agenda-free discussion of death . Our objective will be to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives. Dinner will be served.
All ages welcome. This is a safe, judgement-free, no-fixing zone. Every belief is welcome.

The Grief Well Drop In Virtual Grief Gathering
2025-12-31 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Vancouver) | Virtual Event
THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLORE AND SHARE GRIEF TOGETHER THROUGH POETRY, FREE WRITING, SHARING, WITNESSING, AND SILENCE.
EVERYTHING AS AN INVITATION.
PARTICIPATE IN WHATEVER WAY FEELS RIGHT FOR YOU.
All grief welcome – past, present, and future. Death and non-death grief.

Holiday Grief Lounge - Evening
2025-12-25 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom, Cornelius, NC, 28031
The Holiday Grief Lounge is a quiet space to gather with other grievers so that we can prepare for, take a break from or recover from whatever the Christmas season throws our way. You will be among a community of people who know what you’re going through and won’t expect you to mask your feelings or act cheery. While this space is intended to be a place to chill quietly, if the mood should strike you there will be the opportunity to chat as well. There will also be prompts available for sharing during this time or for journaling. Feel free to pop in and out as you please and interact with the space in whatever way feels best for you. There will be two sessions – one in the morning, one in the evening. You are welcome to attend one or both!

Childfree By Choice & Grieving
2025-12-15 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Denver) | Virtual Event
It’s not a given that everyone who is childfree by choice is 100%, unabashedly content with the decision. While we may be set in our choice, there can still be grief there. I know there is for me. It’s a both-and/two truths situation. Many of us make this choice for a lot of unfortunate, depressing, and/or systemic reasons, and I created this space where we can be with our truths, and hurts, around it all.
Our monthly peer-led Zoom group is intended to be a space for people who have chosen not to have children. It is not intended to be a child-loss support group or infertility support group, although if you have prior experience with infertility and/or pregnancy loss and have since decided to not have children (meaning you are now childfree by choice) feel free to join and see if it’s a good fit.

TalkDeath Book Club | Achille Mbembe's Necropolitics
2025-12-13 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Toronto) | ON
Join us to discuss Achille Mbembe’s Necropolitics with each other via Zoom on Saturday, December 13th at 2pm ET/ 1pm CT/ 12pm MT/ 11am PT
Join TalkDeath’s Book Club as we discuss Achille Mbembe’s Necropolitics.
“In Necropolitics Achille Mbembe, a leader in the new wave of francophone critical theory, theorizes the genealogy of the contemporary world, a world plagued by ever-increasing inequality, militarization, enmity, and terror as well as by a resurgence of racist, fascist, and nationalist forces determined to exclude and kill. He outlines how democracy has begun to embrace its dark side—what he calls its ‘nocturnal body’—which is based on the desires, fears, affects, relations, and violence that drove colonialism. This shift has hollowed out democracy, thereby eroding the very values, rights, and freedoms liberal democracy routinely celebrates. As a result, war has become the sacrament of our times in a conception of sovereignty that operates by annihilating all those considered enemies of the state. Despite his dire diagnosis, Mbembe draws on post-Foucauldian debates on biopolitics, war, and race as well as Fanon’s notion of care as a shared vulnerability to explore how new conceptions of the human that transcend humanism might come to pass. These new conceptions would allow us to encounter the Other not as a thing to exclude but as a person with whom to build a more just world.”
Whether you are a death care worker, scholar, or every day person trying to contemplate death, dying, and structures of power, you are welcome.
Guests are welcome to attend on or off camera, to be on or off mute, and to share as much or as little as they prefer.
We’ll be meeting to discuss the book with each other on Saturday, December 13th’s we’ll meet virtually via Zoom.
This event is free but you must RSVP to receive the Zoom link. The Zoom link will be sent to guests 48 and 24 hours in advance, kindly check your spam folder if you do not receive it.

Book Talk: Too Poor to Die by Amy Shea
2025-12-11 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Toronto) | Arts + Literature Laboratory, 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, WI, 53703, United States
Arts + Literature Laboratory and Madison Death Studio welcomes Amy Shea for a discussion of her book, Too Poor to Die: The Hidden Realities of Dying in the Margins, on Thursday, December 11, 7:00pm. Free admission.
Shea will be in conversation with Kendra Deja, Executive Director of Solace Friends, an adult family home supporting unhoused people at the end of life. Together, they’ll explore what it means to die in the margins of our system. The discussion will be moderated by Meghan Allynn Johnson, Founder and Director of the Madison Death Studio. Books will be for sale by Lake City Books.

You're going to this event Grief & The Holidays - Self Care Workshop and Sound Healing Experience
2025-12-06 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Toronto) | South Park Yoga & Wellness, 2985 Beech St., San Diego, CA, 92102, United States
The holidays can bring up all kinds of emotions — especially grief.
It’s not only the grief that follows the death of someone we love, but also the quiet ache that comes with the loss of a pet, the end of a relationship, a career shift, or a dream that has changed. This season can stir up memories and tenderness in ways that are hard to name.
Join us as we come together to pause, breathe, and care for ourselves in community. Grief Coach Wendy Kessler will guide a compassionate conversation on tending to grief during the holidays, followed by a restorative sound healing journey with Brent Honnerlaw.
Take this evening to slow down, honor what’s stirring within you, and remember that you’re not alone in your grief—or your healing. Coming together in community is a gentle way to remember that we are all grieving something, each in our own way. Together, we can find comfort in shared stories, quiet reflection, and the simple act of being present with one another.
Doors open at 5:45, please plan to arrive early.
Questions? hello@dodeathdifferent.com

TOO POOR TO DIE: A book reading with author Amy Shea
2025-12-04 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Toronto) | Napa Valley Unitarian Universalists, 1625 Salvador Ave, Napa, CA, 94558, United States
Join Amy Shea author of Too Poor to Die: The Hidden Realities of Dying in the Margins and community death educator Anne Jungerman for December’s Death Positive Event ~ an evening exploring what it means to die unseen, unclaimed, or without means and the vital role of community, compassion, and witness in after-death care.
The evening opens with a brief memorial for Napa County’s unclaimed dead of 2025, with words from Rev. Susan Panttaja and song from the Napa Valley Threshold Choir, followed by Amy’s reading, discussion and Q&A. The program concludes with Too Poor to Die sales by Napa Bookmine, and Amy signing books along with light refreshments.
In partnership with Napa Abode, an emergency shelter, we will be collecting donations to support community members in crisis. Please consider bringing: New, packaged toiletries (razors, soap, shampoo) and/or men’s and women’s t-shirts (all sizes).

Cruel Yule Happy Hour!
2025-12-04 17:00 - 19:00 (America/Toronto) | Awry Brewing, 1025 Barret Ave., Louisville, KY, 40204, United States
Grieving during the holidays sucks. Join us at Awry Brewing to grab a beer and talk about your dead loved ones where nobody will judge you. 🍻

A Gathering for Friend-loss Grievers
2025-12-03 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | ON
In this online gathering, we will share stories and have a facilitated discussion about friend-loss grief.
The session will be hosted and facilitated by Hannah Rumsey, the Founder and Director of Friends Missing Friends — a community dedicated to providing support and guidance for people grieving friends.
Friend-loss grief is widely ignored and dismissed by our society. Harold Ivan Smith, the author of Grieving the Death of a Friend, said it best: “The distraught close friend of someone who dies has virtually no legitimate, public grief and mourning channels.”
Because of that, friend-loss grievers have very few avenues to openly talk about their grief. In this discussion, we are free to talk about it: the depth of our sadness, the fears, the anxieties, the doubts, the jealousies. Everything we are normally too scared to say.
Let’s honor our friends, make connections, and have meaningful conversation.
