I am the founder of the Dying to Live Healing Heart Center for Grief Support located in Sedona, Arizona. I am also a Thanatologist, had a master degree in Thanatology (Death, Dying and Bereavement) from NYC. Our center’s grand opening was on November 1st, 2014, 2 days ago. But we have already host our first Death over dinner few days before the grand opening on last Thursday, Oct 30th, 2014.
I sent out an invitation for limited seating of 13 and I got 11 participates. Not all cover the assignments that you have suggested but, I created a Death Quiz for all the participants and the quick quiz helped to start the conversation.
Suicide was one of the topics over the dinner. Few expressed their loved one died by suicide, included my 2 young friends who completed suicide. As suicide is one of the disenfranchised grief that often kept in the dark and survivors often hide their grieves and not able to share the feelings openly. Therefore, this kind of the event definitely help to bring this topic to the light. Overall, participants were appreciated the opportunity for the safe environment and permission to express their feelings and be able to talk about death openly.
Thank you for your good work and hope you are continue to success.
Cheers
Chyna Wu
Dying to Live Healing Heart Center
www.dyingtolive.net