Facing Death with Life

Six weekly evening sessions on Tuesdays, beginning October 15 through November 19

One Saturday morning session (to be announced)

Includes two field trips (to be announced)

This program facilitates a process of personal reflection, learning, and spiritual growth focused on the topic of death and dying. Drawing on a variety of contemporary religious and secular resources, it helps participants move from viewing death as an abstract concept to developing a personal recognition of its meaning in their lives.

Led by Barbara Shaw & Fred Kooy

Barbara Shaw has always liked the big conversations about life which inevitably includes death. Her spiritual path is expressed through Celtic paganism and traditional ceremony, time in nature, crafts, and gardening. Her professional life as a RMT and osteopath required years of anatomy study and occasionally also walking with those who were dying or grieving. She’s been an instructor, a hospice volunteer, an adult education retreat leader, a mother, and an unabashed singer.

Fred Kooy is a retired occupational therapist. In his career, Fred engaged clients adapting to diverse life changing conditions and experiences. As part of his duties, he was honoured to serve on the palliative care unit for 10 years. These experiences helped Fred to embrace a lifelong journey to appreciate the diversity of the never-ending cycle of life and death.