Death and Dying

What does a “good death” look like? Listen to four experts in a panel conversation - aiming to break taboos, ask and answer some important questions about death and dying.

Lena is a sex worker activist and trans woman, and in this interview she breaks down the misinformation around violence and death for sex workers, why (and when) suicide is actually prevalent among trans people, and how deaths from the HIV pandemic affect everyone today.

Karijarri and Yawuru woman Judy Anne Edgar and her daughter, Japanese Yawuru woman, Maya Shioji, discuss how much is to be gained by doing death and dying the traditional way.

Lifeline WA and suicide prevention ambassadors Leon Ruri and Adrian Momber discuss men’s mental health, dance and haka as a medicine, suicide prevention and why our society is making people mentally unwell.

Leanne discusses how grief is made up of a million tiny moments, why our communities need to better support people in their mourning, and how our values and self-awareness are key to healing and moving forward after loss.

Sandy discusses losing her dad to dementia, her newborn baby to a heart defect and her mother to cancer – all in a small country town in southwest WA. She shares how people reacted to these different losses in different ways, and why community, ritual and celebration are so important in the healing process.

Marilyn is a trauma counsellor and founder of the Metis Centre, a social justice and human rights organisation. She talks about ending her mother’s life according to her wishes, her own near-death experience, spirituality, faith, and why trauma influences our views on death.

At 84 years old, Betty has no plans of slowing down, and discusses the lessons she has learned over her lifetime toward death and dying, why we shouldn’t grieve for those we’ve lost, how staying fit at any age keeps us sane, and why helping others less fortunate than yourself doesn’t need to start or end when you’re coming to your own end of life.

Jaya Dantas is an expert in the health of vulnerable populations. When the COVID pandemic hit Australia, she believes at-risk communities here, such as Indigenous people and migrants, were let down in the government’s handling of its health response.

Graham and Helen discuss what it’s like to live with a ‘ticking clock’, caring for each other, and why having a choice in deciding to end your life is paramount to having a “good” death. In the end, it’s the little things in life that matter most.

Despite being close to death herself on many an occasion, or perhaps because of it, Amber Dennis embraces life with a passion.

Natalie and Trish discuss why people are dying on the streets, what happens to them when they do, whether a homeless person’s life is valued less than others and what government’s need to do to solve the homelessness crisis in Australia.