About Dying Matters Week
in New Zealand
Dying Matters Week is a national community event bringing people across Aotearoa New Zealand together to talk, learn and connect around later life, dying, death and grief.
For one week each year, communities around the motu create safe and welcoming spaces where people can ask questions, hear from local experts, explore their options and find the information and support they need to make informed decisions for themselves and the people they care about.
From practical conversations about wills, Enduring Powers of Attorney and Advance Care Planning, to funerals, palliative care, assisted dying, caring for someone at home and navigating grief, Dying Matters Week helps bring conversations that are often avoided into everyday community spaces.
One week. Hundreds of events. Thousands of conversations across Aotearoa.
Why Dying Matters?
Death is something every one of us will experience, yet for many people it remains one of the hardest subjects to talk about.
When we avoid these conversations, we can also miss opportunities to understand our choices, communicate our wishes and prepare ourselves and our whānau for what lies ahead.
Dying Matters Week aims to change that. Rather than telling people what a ‘good death’ should look like, the week creates opportunities for people to learn, ask questions and discover the choices available to them.
Everyone brings different cultures, beliefs, values, experiences and circumstances to conversations about dying and death. Dying Matters Week recognises those differences and encourages people to make decisions that feel meaningful and right for them.
How Dying Matters Week Began…
Dying Matters Week grew from a simple idea: what if we made it easier for people to talk about death before they were in the middle of a crisis?
Across Aotearoa, hospices, end-of-life doulas, funeral professionals, health practitioners, lawyers, grief specialists and community organisations were already doing extraordinary work supporting people through ageing, dying and bereavement. What was missing was an opportunity to bring that collective knowledge out into the community and make it easier for everyday New Zealanders to access.
2024 – It all begins!
Building on the work of practitioners already creating conversations and events around death and dying, Go With Grace helped bring these people together under a national Dying Matters Week programme for the first time in 2024.
The inaugural event ran from 5–11 August 2024, with more than 40 in-person events and four online sessions across seven regions. Libraries became important community hubs for the week, alongside hospices and other community venues.
People could attend talks and workshops on subjects ranging from Advance Care Planning and palliative care to natural death care, grief, legal planning, dementia, caring for carers and funeral choices. There were also Death Cafés, remembrance activities and opportunities simply to sit down and have a conversation.
The response showed us there was a real appetite for these conversations.
2025 – Growing a national movement
In 2025, Dying Matters Week grew dramatically.
More than 300 events were held across regions and communities throughout New Zealand, supported by local coordinators, volunteers, speakers, hospices, libraries, community groups and businesses.
The programme also became increasingly diverse.
Alongside talks about planning and care were Death Cafés, art and poetry, theatre and film, workshops, online panels, funeral and death-care demonstrations, grief activities and community conversations.
Dying Matters Week also began attracting growing media attention, helping take conversations about death and dying beyond individual events and into homes around the country through radio, television, print and online media.
2026 – A New Scale of Community Connection
In 2026, the movement continued to evolve.
More than 200 in-person events took place around Aotearoa from 7–13 September, with programmes spanning Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Taranaki, Manawatū, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury and Otago, alongside online events accessible nationwide.
Some conversations are easier face to face. The programme expanded to include 8 expos bringing together local businesses and organisations all under one roof. Expo attendees could walk up, ask a question, and get a real answer from someone who knows the subject inside out.
Dying Matters Week reached a national television audience in a One News special feature, alongside radio, print and community media coverage around the country, further opening up the conversation about why talking about death matters.
One week, hundreds of events, thousands of conversations across Aotearoa
A selection of photos from 2026 Dying Matters Week events across New Zealand.
Created Locally, Connected Nationally
One of the things that makes Dying Matters Week special is that it isn’t a single event delivered from one place. It is created by communities.
Go With Grace provides national coordination, resources, digital infrastructure, promotion and support, while regional coordinators and local organisations bring the week to life in ways that reflect their own communities.
Hospices, libraries, health providers, funeral professionals, end-of-life doulas, lawyers, financial advisers, grief practitioners, community organisations, artists, volunteers and people with lived experience all contribute their knowledge and perspectives.
This grassroots approach means a Dying Matters Week event in Whangārei may look quite different from one in Wellington, Christchurch, Hawke’s Bay or Auckland, and that’s exactly how it should be.
Creating Safe Spaces for Difficult Conversations
You don’t need to be dying to come to Dying Matters Week.
You don’t need to have recently experienced a loss.
And you certainly don’t need to have everything figured out.
You might come because your parents are getting older. Because you’ve been meaning to make a will. Because you’re curious about what happens at a crematorium. Because you want to understand palliative care or assisted dying. Because you’re caring for someone. Because someone you love has died.
Or simply because you know these are conversations worth having.
Dying Matters Week is an invitation to be curious, ask questions and learn without judgement and without being told what choices you should make.
From Conversations to Action
Over three years, Dying Matters Week has shown us that when people are given the right environment, they do want to talk about death. They want practical information. They want to hear from people they can trust. They want to know what choices they have. And often, they want permission to start a conversation they have been putting off for years.
Our hope is that what begins during Dying Matters Week continues around kitchen tables, in workplaces, marae, community halls, libraries, hospices and homes throughout Aotearoa.
Because talking about dying isn’t just about preparing for death.
It’s about understanding what matters to us, communicating that with the people we love, caring for one another and making the most of the life we have.
Be Part of Dying Matters Week
Dying Matters Week belongs to the communities that bring it to life.
Whether you attend an event, host a workshop, open your doors to the community, share your professional knowledge, volunteer, tell your story or simply start a conversation with someone you love, you can be part of it.
Start the conversation. Ask the questions. Share what matters to you.
Sign up to our newsletter for all the latest updates!