This May’s Life, Loss and Death festival will be tackling why death is still such a difficult conversation to have for many people.
Nick Deayton, Programme Manager of Compassionate Sheffield, talks about why he thinks the event is important.
“10 years ago, these are the sorts of conversations we’d have about mental health, and now we have the message that it’s okay to not be okay and to reach out to those who are struggling.
“I think culturally we still haven’t got there with death, dying and loss.
“In my experience it’s amazing how quickly people open up, and how quickly people are willing to actually talk about their experiences in death, dying and loss.”
He talked about the difference in community reactions when you first have kids compared to when you lose a loved one.
He said: “There isn’t that same community response, people close off, people stop coming round.
“Death is a social event, it’s been medicalised, and it’s been institutionalised but it is very much a social and cultural event and I think by detaching ourselves from the social reality of it, it’s developed into quite a clinical issue for a lot of people.”
An attendee from the year prior said that: “Being part of this has radically changed how I think about living, dying and communicating with others about death and dying.”
One of the events is a neurodivergent death café, as well as an LGBTQ+ death café, primarily a space for those who need it.
Nick said: “We try to make the festival as broad and diverse and accessible as possible.”
They found that surprisingly, family friendly events in the past about loss have been very popular.
He describes the festival as ‘almost like a social movement that’s gathering momentum’, and that this is the first year they’re actually calling it a festival.
There will be 45 different events across the month, all happening in different areas of the city.
He said: “Really it’s about creating safe and compassionate spaces for people to explore, discuss, share and improve their confidence in the topic of death, dying, loss or bereavement.”
To find out more, head over to Compassionate Sheffield | Harnessing the Power of Compassion (compassionate-sheffield.co.uk)