What Even is a Death Doula? + Death Café
February 26th, 2023 from 2-4PM at Red Sandcastle Theatre, 922 Queen St E, Toronto
What even is a Death Doula? Have you heard about the #deathpositive movement? Ever attended a Death Café? Join Adrianna and Madeleine in discussing death, dying, and end of life planning to take the taboo out of talking about death.
Limited to 20 participants
2PM – 3PM: Meet a Death Doula
Hear from Adrianna Prosser and Madeleine Domingue about their practice as End of Life Companions; brief introduction as to how they got into death work and death education with a Q+A.
3PM – 4PM: Death Café
An open forum discussion of death with no agenda, no objectives, and no particular themes. This is a discussion group rather than a grief support group or counselling session. Chat or just listen!
*Donations to the space are welcome, but this is a free event
Up to 20 participants only, please RSVP to save your spot for free:
RSVP: https://forms.gle/4d9gmzQCSM1tcgTH7
**This is masked event, the policy of the theatre is to wear a face mask that covers the nose and chin inside the theatre at all times
Meet the Death Doulas
Adrianna Prosser
Adrianna lost her brother to suicide in 2010 and his death propelled her into a journey of understanding grief and bereavement. She became a suicide prevention trainer, and has her applied suicide intervention skills training (ASIST), of which she has provided workshops across Ontario and Quebec. In 2019/2020 she companioned her friend Roberta with terminal cancer by escorting her around the world to complete her ‘bucket list’ before she died. Continuing her death education, she has her Grief Literacy certificates with Being Here, Human; as well as a certificate from Douglas College as an End of Life Doula. She went on to train with Hospice Toronto and completed over 40 hours of their core companion training as well as their bereavement and grief support worker training and is currently a volunteer Hospice Companion and Grief Support Worker with them.
http://www.adrianna-prosser.com/mentalhealthworker/deathdoula/
Madeleine Domingue
At the age of 22, Madeleine witnessed a suicide of a stranger by gunshot. She stayed with him until he died, holding his hand. As you can imagine, it was life changing. After losing both her parents in the span of a year and a half, it was hard for her not to notice the sincere lack of death care in the system. She promptly, (and naively) became a PSW thinking she could change things from that angle. Getting frustrated, she went to ITM graduating from the Contemplative End of Life Care program, was asked to join the Dying Well Collective, hosted and participated in a considerable number of death cafes, trained and volunteered at Kensington Hospice, got certificates Grief Literacy with Being Here, Human and was a co-founder of the Ontario Death Cohort. Madeleine’s work as a Certified Dementia Care Provider has been blended with her end-of-life care to provide compassion and education. It has been an honour for her to serve the many families she has and be part of this ever growing, whispering deathcare movement.
For more information about this global movement to help people become more comfortable speaking about death and dying, visit their website www.deathcafe.com.
