Ever wanted to run a Death Cafe but didn’t know where to start? This online workshop will take you through the essentials of running a Death Cafe, so you’ll feel confident to take the plunge. Join Lis Whybrow and Fran Glover (BrumYODO directors) as they guide you through the principles of running an in-person or online Death Cafe including how to:

• Provide a warm, inviting and confidential environment
• Create a forum for deeper awareness and investigation of death and dying
• Provide a group-directed discussion, with no agenda, objectives or themes
• Signpost people who join your Cafe who may need extra support
• Keep to the principles set out by the Death Cafe founders

This workshop will have limited spaces, please book your free spot here.

This event is part of the online programme for this year’s A Matter of Life and Death Festival, an annual arts and culture event aiming to encourage conversation about death and dying. This year’s festival will also include In Memoriam an open-air art installation outdoor artwork will be sited in the grounds of Aston Park from 8-16 May (in line with Government guidance) and an invitation to people across Birmingham and beyond to take part remotely by creating a personalised In Memoriam flag. More info here.

Lis Whybrow is a solicitor who has practiced law for over 30 years and trained would-be solicitors in the area of law to do with death and dying. She is excited about people engaging in those important conversations and taking appropriate practical action to protect those they care about most. She has lectured extensively to business people, medical professionals and law students and her hands-on approach in practice shows her empathy and care for those clients she seeks to advise and help.

Fran Glover is an undertaker and she sees first hand what families go through if they haven’t had the chance to have the big conversations before someone dies. But these conversations are never easy to have, and without doubt are best had before anyone becomes ill. Death Cafes are one way of encouraging those conversations in non-clinical, comfortable environments. Death is a fact of life – get the conversations out the way; and then carry on living.