2019-20 Annual Report Final - Flipbook - Page 40
Rebecca Lyons
To investigate human relationships
to death and ceremony through
alternate approaches and
technologies - UK, Sweden, Czech
Republic, Italy, USA, Mexico
We sit on a threshold in Australia in
the changing relationship to dying
and death in the Western world.
There is a movement to increase
death literacy both on an individual
and a community level, to enhance
community capacity and social capital,
to reclaim agency in how we care for
our dead.
I am a part of the movement for
change and this research project is
looking at a large number of different
aspects of this change and the
effects these are having on the space
- through the disruptive influences
of emerging technologies and
approaches.
My Fellowship was essentially in two
parts, looking at both the different
approaches to body disposal being
suggested and developed in the
Western world and also the different
approaches being taken to death and
ceremony.
The purpose of my Fellowship
was to document and understand
the different approaches and
technologies and look at how they
are changing the human relationship
to death and ceremony with a view to
enhancing the Australian experience.
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2019-20 Annual Report
The informing context for my research
was thus as follows:
1. We are missing out on the
empowerment that is known to
come with being involved in end of
life care
2. There is a real need to increase
community involvement at end of
life
3. Current end of life approaches
are not delivering the outcomes in
dying, death, grief or bereavement
that society increasingly says they
want
4. There is a sharp increase in the
projected numbers of people
dying in the next 35 years
5. Our current trajectory of
care is considered financially
unsustainable
6. There is a growing number of
medical professionals lending their
support to the call for a change
in the approach to end of life and
the importance of the roles that
community and other non-medical
supports play in this space
7. After death care is only considered
in a limited capacity and remains
largely unexplored
8. There is increasing academic
interest and engagement in
this space but there is a lack
of government and health
commitment to the development
and implementation of the policies,
processes and other structures
required to make a positive
difference
9. The space held by End of Life
doulas is relatively new and still
being defined
In my travels I met with doulas,
funeral directors, community
members, CEOs, entrepreneurs,
advocates, inventors and volunteers
looking at alternative approaches to
contemporary burial and cremation
as body disposal techniques and
also at the ways in which alternate
approaches to end of life are
increasing community capacity
and offering improved grief and
bereavement outcomes for families.
I found that there are some viable and
environmentally friendly methods
of body disposal in use and in
development in the Western world
and they are on track to be better
alternatives to what is being offered
in Australia. There are also a growing
number of disruptive products and
technologies changing the way
that people interact with death and
how they experience their grief and
bereavement. Much of this is not
yet present in Australia and we are
in a unique position to define how
all of this is going to work. Most
importantly we have an opportunity
to put in place the structures and
supports to facilitate some of these
new and environmentally sustainable
alternatives and approaches.