What we’re about
Hi, I’m Melanie Mayell. I started the Christchurch Death Cafe early in 2016 after doing Deathwalker Training with Zenith Virago the previous year.
Since then the Christchurch Death Cafe has grown from 3 of us to over 1000 members with newcomers joining every month. This ever-changing conversation amongst strangers continues to be a bright thread through my life; a source of connection and soul-nourishing goodness. But it wasnt always like that.
In the early years I felt like a complete novice most of the time, terrified that a participant might start crying, ask a question I couldnt handle, or eeeek...walk out (all of which has happened). Now that I’ve helped several people to start their own DCs I can see I'm not alone in feeling out of my depth, particularly at the start.
We hosts are pretty much on our own once we are up and running. And although there are online forums – its not the same as an actual conversation with other people in the same role. With so many DCs now happening around NZ – I thought it timely to arrange a zoom call for us to get together to do some of the following:
- decompress
- get feedback on tricky participants
- support new hosts
- share ideas for growing the death conversation
- swap inspiration and ideas, books read, movies seen, etc,..
This is a chance for us to connect and share, and for those of us who have been doing it a while to help new hosts feel more supported.
