More than death, Die-alogue Cafe is about the stories that go to make up the lifetimes we live between our beginnings and our endings. There’s no magic or mystery to how we die-alogue our lives. It’s ordinary people going about their everyday lives, except for one difference, they choose to give some thought to how it all might end and how those left behind might come to terms with the fact that we are no longer physically present in their lives.
Enter into the fascinating world of dying & death, ritual & remembrance.
Talking about endings like death doesn’t bring it on. It does the opposite. It provides us with the opportunity to debunk a whole lot of myths, to express concern about the medicalisation of life before death, and the industrialisation of life after death. For those left standing and holding ‘the baby’, this is a time for clear heads and sound judgement. Die-alogue Cafe is intended to be a meeting place for kindred spirits to talk about death before it becomes the next event on the agenda, as well for those who may be seeking directions at a difficult time and a safe place to learn and share.
The Die-alogue Cafe meeting framework contains the prompts needed to kick-start the conversation we say we need to have, but don’t have. It is the culmination of a 3 year learning curve and coming to the realisation that amid all the complexity and confusion, the skills we need to care for our own at death are well within our reach. No rocket science qualifications necessary. Side step the jargon, look behind the glossy brochures and we can find solace in the quiet comfort of our family and friends, who can help us make it through to the light. And so the candle is one of our symbols.
In living as in dying,
there is laughter and there is crying,
Die-alogue helps us to unravel,
the roads on which we travel.
– Stuart Carter, 2013
A four page pdf outlining how the Die-alogue Cafe works is just a click away at the link. Die-alogue Cafe outline
If you would like to give it a go, we would be pleased to hear your success stories as well as any ideas you might have to improve the process. And by the way, the Recent Posts section, is where a couple of times each month we keep an eye on the latest stories making the ‘news’.
Die-alogue Cafe is for people who don’t want to leave their family and friends stranded at the end of their lives; who make it a priority to get on with the business of putting an effort into getting sorted – in their head and in their patch.
Die-alogue Cafe 