Everyone’s Talking about Death

Dying Matters Week 2024

Launched on Monday 5th of August, Dying Matters Week celebrated those heroes working tirelessly in the end-of-life planning and palliative care space to care for the dying and their loved ones. Go With Grace supported them to share their wisdom with the living with a new series of free events and workshops across Aotearoa.

Whether you want to give the gift of peace of mind to your family, or avoid thousands of dollars in funeral and legal costs, Dying Matters Week is for you, to support open conversations and proactive end-of-life planning. The 2024 event included online and in-person events in Whangārei, Whangaparāoa, Auckland, Porirua, Palmerston North, Canterbury and Otago.

The Spinoff Death Week

At the end of July, The Spinoff wrapped up another insightful Death Week with articles including:

• Revisiting the cost of dying
• Examining the phenomena of natural cemeteries
• Sharing stories about the mana of digging a grave
• Looking in to the growth of water cremations globally and why New Zealand hasn’t gotten onboard (yet)
• Why New Zealand continues to have such a shortage of organ donors and donations

Read all Death Week articles…

Some topics will never get old or go out of style because they’ll never change. Death is one of those topics. Whether we like it or not (and we usually don’t), death becomes a topic of conversation more and more as we get older.

Compassionate Communities Hui

At the beginning of August, we attended a two-day Hui in Rotorua led by Compassionate Communities Aotearoa Trust. The event was held focused on whānau-led end of life and death care, bringing together community groups who are actively working to support compassionate Ageing, Dying and Grieving in Aotearoa. Topics included: Mana motuhake in life and death: Māori and assisted dying in Aotearoa New Zealand, NODA-Nobody Dies Alone, Natural burials, Grief and loss, Alternatives to Embalming and After Death Care.

Hospice New Zealand Dying Reviews

Hospice New Zealand recently launched Dying Reviews, rating the experience of death and dying in Aotearoa. Reviewers can submit entries for themselves or on behalf of a loved one who is dying or has already passed, giving feedback on any service experienced in the stages of dying. Find out more…

Wayne Naylor, CEO of Hospice NZ, says. “So this is a way of giving a voice to people who are dying – and the people who look after them, because they also experience the challenges – and then using that as a way to say to our society, ‘we can do this better’.”

Death Cafes around New Zealand

We’re seeing more and more Death Cafes popping up all over New Zealand, as people realise the importance of tackling this often challenging topic, while we have the time and space to make clear and thoughtful decisions we won’t live to regret. Death Cafes are an open forum for the public to discuss any issues surrounding life and death. The goal is to encourage people to feel comfortable with the topic of death and dying in a casual cafe environment, talking over coffee and cake. Find a Death Cafe near you…

Death Without Debt

Death Without Debt NZ is dedicated to making dying affordable so the cost of dying doesn’t add to the burden of grief. Their work includes lobbying the government as well as 2-hour DIY Funeral Planning workshops touring Aotearoa, covering:

• Funeral planning, wills, Enduring Power of Attorney, Advanced Care Plans, probate
• After-death paperwork requirements and avoiding professional service fees
• Care and transport of the body
• When you need a coffin and when you don’t.
• The pros and cons of cremation vs burial. Alternative and environmental technologies.
• The politics and history of funerals
• Community initiatives and collective action for funeral reform