Doing Death Different: Special Event October 27th

On October 27th, 2024 The Victoria Holistic Death Care Community is hosting our second annual Doing Death Different event!

This is a community marketplace event held at the Royal Canadian Legion (411 Gorge Rd East) from 1 – 4pm.

A year ago, a handful of death-caring folks, myself included, got a table at a trade show to see if the public would be interested in creative and “death positive” items. Deathwalker Creations had their Perpetual Deathdays Calendar. Chelsea Peddle had her brand new book Pancakes with Nana, a children’s book to help explain Medical Assistance in Dying. RestSure had their “Death of Cards” a creative take on a deck of cards designed to get conversations started in a proactive way. Jilly Hyndman, the heartrageous coach, had her Positively Chronic workbook and cards, and I had my homemade Empathy Cards – greeting cards with honest and sometimes blunt sentiments to convey sincere condolences to someone who is grieving. To be honest, that trade show was not super successful for us but it did birth the idea of holding one of our own, which we held a month later as part of the Victoria Holistic Death Care Community and that was a huge success!

Why Different not Differently? Our Grammar is Intentional!
“Doing Death Different” channels a raw and rebellious energy that dares to break the mould. It’s about flipping the script and breaking away from conventional norms—showing that we’re not just altering the way we approach death, we’re doing so with a bold, unapologetic flair. It’s a statement that challenges the status quo and embraces a fearless new perspective. We aim to help people engaging with death and grief in a more authentic way.

Discover Victoria area death resources:

• Local Death Doulas
• Advance care planning resources
• Information on psychedelics for end-of-life anxiety
• Caregivers support
• Alternative death care
• Resources and information on medical assistance in dying
• Grief coaching
• Environmental death care options

and much more …

Meet the Victoria Holistic Death Care Community:

We are a group of people with a shared interest in death, dying and grief. We are all about open, empowering, and safe conversations and learning about this often-taboo or scary subject. Some of us work in the field – as advance care planners, death doulas, celebrants, estate planners, spiritual guides, grief counsellors, coaches or funeral directors. Others are simply death-curious humans seeking holistic alternatives to mainstream narratives about how we die. We are all volunteers. Our leadership is shared and rotates over time.

Our vision is to increase awareness of alternative, holistic death care and ensure everyone in Greater Victoria has access to quality end-of-life care if they want it.

Join us – let’s do death differently together!