“Honoring Our Loved Ones, Honoring Our Earth” A Presentation About Natural Deathcare
On Saturday, November 16, at 2:30pm, the West Tisbury Library will host “Honoring Our Loved Ones, Honoring Our Earth,” a presentation about natural deathcare with Viennia Booth and Heather Massey. Free and open to the public.
We have more options beyond the conventional funeral and deathcare. This discussion explores family-led post-death care through the sharing of a personal story. Woven throughout will be the necessary logistics, networks, and legal considerations for varying levels of community and family involvement in the post-death care of our loved ones. This talk aims to help empower families and communities to care for our loved ones at their time of death in ways that are mindful of environmental impacts, meaningful, and community-based.
Viennia Lopes Booth explores the intersections of life, death, and the plant world as an educator, advocate and earth tender. Her experience caring for her dad at the end of his life took her on a deep exploration of natural deathcare, and she shares her personal story to help spread awareness about options beyond conventional deathcare. She aims to empower families and communities to care for their loved ones at the time of death. Viennia encourages consideration about choices around deathcare and its impact on the environment, our communities and each other. She is currently working toward creating a conservation burial ground in her home county and forming a nonprofit focused on community-empowered and ecologically conscious deathcare advocacy. www.oldbriarbotanicals.com
Heather Massey, MSW, is a community death educator, end-of-life specialist, and consumer advocate for post-death options and choices, with over four decades of professional experience in the field of death, dying and bereavement. A lifelong student of thanatology, she studied and trained with Dr. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross and others. Massey is a former hospital Social Services Director and VNA/Hospice Administrator, having practiced in both the US and the UK. She is passionate about providing free death related learning opportunities in the community, and frequently teaches at medical, academic, and environmental conferences at regional, national and international venues. Massey’s family background includes home births and deaths, including three generations of home and family based after-death care. She is passionate about sharing and reviving the ancient art of natural deathcaring, and the many benefits therein for families, communities, and the environment.