Death Education - Bonita Ralph

It was a privilege to have been invited to ‘The Long Table’ event by

Families with lived and living experience of a child with a childhood dementia diagnosis shared their stories, insights and learnings at the long table.

A mix of professionals and community members sat in circle around the Long Table and simply listened. No questions or conversation but bearing witness to great love, resilience and learning. 🫶🙏

Thank you to all the families and to for making this happen. I look forward to the ‘Round Table’ discussion.

Also, all done within National Palliative Care Week. A great advertising sign at 🧡👏🧡

My new blog post on Witnessed cremations:

The cover image was taken while I was travelling through Cambodia with my young family. It shows a cremator by the side of the road. I asked our driver to pull over so we could take a closer look, which he definitely thought was strange! The cremator was operated by buddhist monks and was in full view of, and accessible to, the local community. To me, this suggests that our discomfort with witnessing cremation comes from our social disconnect from death care, which in turn makes it taboo and confronting.

Witnessed Cremation in Australia: What is it, What happens and How to decide. — Death Education Bonita Ralph - Facilitator and host of death conversations and workshops. Committed to supporting death literacy for individuals, professionals and... Witnessed cremations are a personal choice. Understand what happens, what to expect, and how to decide what feels right for you.

For those who are accessing or thinking about accessing VAD!

🎥 ABC’s You Can’t Ask That TV show is looking for participants
The team is preparing an episode on voluntary assisted dying (VAD) and is seeking people who are currently applying for VAD or have already been approved.
If you’re interested in finding out more, please message us or email [email protected]

A great day today with colleagues in our little sector of paediatric palliative care. We get one full day per year to be together and share wisdom… 🙏🧡

Appreciating fire time on this balmy Autumn 🍂 evening with a full moon 🌕 overhead.

I posted some time ago about book “An Ordinary Day”. I am sitting today in the vulnerability and fragility of life and the humbling nature of keeping it real.

🔥

Fire time = good time

Great resources from the Australian Home Funeral Alliance

If you have not had the privilege of caring for someone who has died, then there are three important things to consider:

First - In most cases you can do this yourself, however, if you have not had experience in caring for a dead body before you may want to be supported by someone who is an experienced or professional practitioner. This could be a doula, funeral director, friend, community member/leader, nurse – anyone who knows how to assist and support you to safely handle and care for the dead body.

Second - a home funeral is dependent upon three things: the legislative requirements of the state or territory in which the person has died or will be disposed of, the safe handling of the body and its condition. Cooling a body does not stop the decomposition process and so some bodies will progress towards final disposition faster than others.

Third - the majority of what is explained here is in relation to expected death only. When a death is unexplained and unexpected, the result of a trauma, injury or cause unknown, then the Coroner will be in charge of the process, what happens to the body, what investigations are required and the final release. Not all bodies that are released from the coroner will be able to be taken home, such as in the case of severe and advanced decomposition.

Each state or territory in Australia has different requirements, you can choose your state via our website to gain specific information for where you live.

We are constantly reviewing and updating this information, and we provide this information as general knowledge. It is not intended as instruction or advice.