Death Cafe in Western Australia with Ava Reyerson

About Ava Reyerson:

My passion for engaging with death and dying began when my paternal grandfather died at age of 90; I was 7 at the time. What fascinated me from this young age was how people reacted to death, how they grieved, especially whether it was an internal or external process. I became the observer of death reactions and have witnessed many deaths throughout my life. It is an honour and a privilege to be let into the most personal and final act of a person’s life. Many of my loved ones have died: grandparents, friends, former partners, aunts and uncles and, most recently, my father. They died in many ways from suicide, cancer and right up to the ‘good death’ that was my father’s when he went for a nap and didn’t wake up. From seeing dead bodies I feel that life and living is so much more than the body we are given in this lifetime.

I have two undergraduate degrees in Counselling and Behavioural Science. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to specialise in death and dying and would counsel people who were dying along with their families when I finished my studies. During my time at university, I developed a passion for delivering effective presentations. I have learned to create and facilitate a high standard of lectures that are both engaging and entertaining. Through palliative counselling and workshop facilitation, my business has been created around the subject of death and dying – and particularly, living well before death occurs.

For me, talking about death with people is where life gets very real and honest. There are no pretenses about death nor is there any superficiality.Much as we might like to, we can’t live forever; and up to now, death isn’t something that can be ‘cured.’ After a lifetime of avoiding the thought of it by every means possible, like most, it can be hard to realise that death isn’t ‘something that happens to other people.’ Experiencing the death of someone in our lives tends to wake us up to our own mortality and to what really matters in life. It certainly did for me and it certainly can for you, too!