Gatherings + Events
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🖤 the dc death collective special event
💡 member event
✨ friend of the dc death collective event
…
🖤 Death Over Drafts DC
WHERE?
Duffy’s Irish Pub 1901 C St SE, Washington, DC 20003
WHY?
This is a free and informal gathering for the community that will be held every other month on the FINAL (get it?) Tuesday of the month. Come once or come monthly: no experience or expectations necessary! The event is co-hosted by Robin and Laura, our DC Death Collective co-founders.
What to expect:
The event is free!
All are welcome!
You can still come if you don’t love beer, there are other snacks and drinks! ;)
This is a super supportive community, but we are not a support group.
In this communal environment, we remind you to be responsible for your own engagement.
At Death Over Drafts, the public can enjoy a fun conversation where death is not avoided. There’s no lecture, but questions will be answered. You never know who you will sit next to, very interesting fellow guests will be in our midst. We will also have a game called “Death Deck” on the table, a Death Over Drafts favorite activity.
Any questions? Email the Death Doula in Residence at Congressional Cemetery, Laura: Deathdoula@congressionalcemetery.org
💡 Death Doula Marketing Workshop and Garden Walk
You’re invited to a death doula marketing workshop and garden walk, hosted by member Leslie Tolf.
We’ll gather to showcase where we are at with our businesses: we’ll talk logos, websites, marketing and clients, and writing our own biographies. Light refreshments will be served.
1026 Perry Street, NE
🖤 The DC Death Collective Virtual Check-in
Come gather with us for a one-a-month virtual drop-in ~ come say hi. What’s on your mind? How are you doing these days? What are you thinking about? What’s the news?
Simply, a way to have some gentle hellos in the Midst of it All.
✨ The Virginia End-of-Life Doula Collective presents: End-of-Life Doula Business Guide: ~ How Coaching Supports Success
Running an end-of-life doula practice is significant work, but navigating the business side can feel overwhelming. How do you set sustainable pricing? Attract the right clients? Structure your business for success while staying true to your calling.
Join us for an enlightening presentation with an experienced business coach specializing in helping small business owners build sustainable, ethical, and financially viable businesses.
Presented by Lee Van Dusen of KPL Coaching.
Lee has over two decades of experience as a senior leader and CEO. He presents nationally and internationally on the topics of quality improvement and organizational excellence. Lee has over 25 years of experience helping organizations on their journeys to become role model businesses. He is well versed and uses the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program’s Framework as a method to help leaders think of their business as a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts and individual activities. This systems approach is used by some of the most successful organizations in the world. Lee loves helping small businesses improve their results and achieve their vision.
He is a trained state-level examiner and Judge with the Quality Texas Foundation and has been a member of the national Baldrige Board of Examiners for many years.
RSVP here; admission is free.
✨ Annual Grief-in-Public
“Dear Death Workers,
More than ever, the global grief crisis (amplified by genocide, climate collapse, and the fall of empire, among many other collective and personal losses) calls us to create spaces where we can collectively acknowledge and bear witness to our sorrows.
The time of living under an overarching denial of this grief is over. Let's show our communities a different
way. We, as a collective of death workers, create symbiotic movements that upend this denial.
We give our communities safe places of welcome and affirmation to express collective grief.
If we combine our efforts in doing so, we may spark a new and significant wave of grief awareness.
Let's amplify our energies on April 27,
2025, for the 4th Annual Grief-in-Public Day.
Annual Grief-in-Public Day is ultimately a day for awareness to be raised about our global grief crisis. By creating grief-accepting spaces in public we begin to change the cultural narrative about where grief expression is acceptable. On Annual Grief-in-Public Day death workers, grief workers and anyone else who'd like to join them, create a public display that raises awareness about the Grief Crisis…”
This is where your creativity comes in! Follow this link to learn how you can join up with the movement.
✨ Film Screening and Q &A | The Last Ecstatic Days at Busboys & Poets, Takoma Park
Please join us at Busboys and Poets in Takoma Park on April 17th for our next community event: a screening of the movie The Last Ecstatic Days. Featured on PBS, this thought-provoking documentary explores the profound significance and transformative power of embracing death as a community.
Following the film, Reflection Park team members will host an interactive community discussion with Dr. Aditi Sethi, Executive Director of the Center for Conscious Living and Dying, based in Asheville, North Carolina. Dr. Sethi plays a significant role in the film, and her founding of the Center for Conscious Living and Dying was inspired in part by her experiences in the film.
This event aims to foster meaningful conversations around the end-of-life journey and the possibilities that arise when individuals and communities come together to support one another through one man’s journey of dying.
This film and live music to start the program are shared with us by the CCLD community as part of their We Are Remembering tour. RSVP HERE https://reflectionpark.org/events
✨ Film Screening: Before a Breath
In the midst of their grief for the death of their son, Willie, the Lincolns sought refuge at the Cottage. President Lincoln's Cottage opened the award-winning exhibit, "Reflections on Grief and Child Loss" in 2020 as a way to express the universality of grief across time, connecting the Lincolns to modern families.
Join the folks at Lincoln’s Cottage for a free screening of "Before a Breath," a documentary film that explores stillbirth, maternal health, and meaning-making after loss. This is an independently organized event inspired by reporting from ProPublica, an award-winning nonprofit newsroom. Following the screening, join us for a conversation featuring:
Kanika Harris is a birth justice advocate and doula. She holds a doctorate in health behavior and health education and is the executive director of the National Association to Advance Black Birth.
Callie Hawkins is the CEO and Executive Director of President Lincoln's Cottage. She curated the exhibit, "Reflections on Grief and Child Loss" which won the National Council on Public History's Outstanding Public History Project Award in 2023.
Erin Wallace Morrison facilitates DC Pregnancy Loss and Infant Death Support group, the only regularly-meeting peer support group for pregnancy loss and infant death in DC.
Nadia Sussman is a filmmaker and journalist at ProPublica. She is the director of "Before a Breath."
Debbie Haine Vijayvergiya is a stillbirth parent advocate and the mother behind the SHINE for Autumn Act, named in honor of her daughter, Autumn, who was stillborn in 2011.
💡 Memento Mori Book Club with People’s Book
Interested in creating community around our shared mortality? Join us every other month for casual chats, guided member Ali Brill. Our readings focus on death, dying, grief, and ultimately, life. This club typicallu meets the last Sunday evening every other month. Upcoming read: The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker. For more information, click here.
💡 Yoga for Perinatal Loss with Love Yoga
The DC Pregnancy Loss & Infant Death Support Group (DCPLIDS) is partnering with President Lincoln's Cottage and Love Yoga Studio to offer 2 sessions of yoga specifically for parents who have experienced pregnancy loss or infant death.
Location:
President Lincoln's Cottage - 140 Rock Creek Church Rd NW, Washington DC 20011 on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home
Free, on-site parking is available.
All visitors need to have a valid, government issued ID for the gate
Cost: $20/person
Register here (there is a 15 person/session cap)
💡 Yoga for Perinatal Loss with Love Yoga
The DC Pregnancy Loss & Infant Death Support Group (DCPLIDS) is partnering with President Lincoln's Cottage and Love Yoga Studio to offer 2 sessions of yoga specifically for parents who have experienced pregnancy loss or infant death.
Location:
President Lincoln's Cottage - 140 Rock Creek Church Rd NW, Washington DC 20011 on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home
Free, on-site parking is available.
All visitors need to have a valid, government issued ID for the gate
Cost: $20/person
Register here (there is a 15 person/session cap)
✨ Discussing Death Differently
“Come join us at The Salt Sanctuary of Maryland for an event that aims to change the way we talk about death. This in-person gathering will provide a safe space to explore diverse perspectives on this often taboo topic. Let's have open conversations, share experiences, and challenge societal norms together. Don't miss this opportunity to engage in thought-provoking discussions in a supportive environment. See you there!”
Event tickets are available here.
The Salt Sanctuary of Maryland: 6020 Meadowridge Center Drive #Unit T Elkridge, MD 21075
🖤 Death Over Drafts at Duffy’s Irish Pub
WHERE?
Duffy’s Irish Pub 1901 C St SE, Washington, DC 20003
WHY?
This is a free and informal gathering for the community that will be held every other month on the FINAL (get it?) Tuesday of the month. Come once or come monthly: no experience or expectations necessary! The event is co-hosted by Robin and Laura, our DC Death Collective co-founders.
What to expect:
The event is free!
All are welcome!
You can still come if you don’t love beer, there are other snacks and drinks! ;)
This is a super supportive community, but we are not a support group.
In this communal environment, we remind you to be responsible for your own engagement.
At Death Over Drafts, the public can enjoy a fun conversation where death is not avoided. There’s no lecture, but questions will be answered. You never know who you will sit next to, very interesting fellow guests will be in our midst. We will also have a game called “Death Deck” on the table, a Death Over Drafts favorite activity.
Any questions? Email the Death Doula in Residence at Congressional Cemetery, Laura: Deathdoula@congressionalcemetery.org
💡 Mortality Tea Room: A Death Doula Pop-Up Event
Get ready for a unique experience this February at the Historic Congressional Cemetery! This pop-up project will be in the chapel, open most days in February from Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 5 pm, where you can freely explore the often-taboo topic of death in a warm and inviting atmosphere. Laura, our DC Death Collective co-founder and HCC’s Death Doula in Residence will welcome you to stop by to engage in meaningful conversations, discover valuable resources, and partake in activities that promote understanding and acceptance of this universal experience called death.
No reservations are necessary, but check Laura’s Instagram to make sure we are open before you come down.
AMONG AVAILABLE EXPERIENCES: Write your own obituary, play Death Deck, make a nature mandala, exchange plant cuttings, or participate in a mini-death cafe. Learn about advance directives, living wills, green burial, hospice, and death binders. Come on your own or bring friends and family. Children are more than welcome to join in and will find activities designed just for them. While the event is free, your generous donations to the cemetery foundation will be immensely appreciated, helping us preserve this historical site for future generations. Come, share, and be part of this life-enhancing experience.