Completed Life Initiative Roundtable Death Café - July 2022

The Roundtable Death Café is an event series created by the Completed Life Initiative.

Each Roundtable is a 90-minute event that provides an open forum for panelists to deconstruct the stigma surrounding death and dying. For the first half of the event, our panelists will discuss how death cafés can work to destigmatize these conversations through local, small group connections; how these events can advance empathy and compassion towards grief and end-of-life suffering; and how individuals and organizations, on both a local and national scale, can further promote #deathpositivity. For the second half, our audience will be assigned into breakout rooms that will follow the traditional Death Café model of participant-led discussion. The second portion of the event is entirely confidential and private. Only the first half panel discussion will be recorded.

For our July session, we will be joined by three incredible panelists:

• Dr. Agapi Ermides (she/her), D.O. is a trained anesthesiologist who has worked in NYC and surrounding areas since 2008. She has had a long-standing interest for end-of-life work, and is a trained end-of-life doula. In 2020, she made the switch to hospice and palliative medicine. She facilitated virtual death cafes at the onset of Covid-19 for a year, to lessen the traumatic impact on people and fellow healthcare workers. She is a passionate advocate for raising death awareness and acceptance, and engages in conversations on various online platforms.
• Nathalie Bonafé (she/her), PhD is a women's health and end-of-life advocate. A trained molecular biologist, Nathalie explored human life as a biomedical research scientist for 25 years. In 2016, she founded A Gentler Parting LLC, based in New Haven CT, where she is a patient advocate, end-of-life consultant, and death doula. She provides individualized education and coaching, advocating for personal choices and autonomy. She has been diligently holding monthly Death cafés since 2018, first in person and now online.
• Ocean Phillips (they/them), PhD is the Owner of Sacred Homecoming Journeys, where they offer “Contemplative Care for Those Seeking Peace on Their Homecoming Journey as a Humanist Chaplain and End of Life Navigator.” They were a postgraduate student at Maryknoll Theological Seminary and received a master of divinity degree (MDiv) from Unification Theological Seminary. They are an INELDA-trained end-of-life doula and a founding member of the International Association of End of Life Doulas (INELDA) LGBTQIA2S+ Advisory Council.

*NOTE* Due to the participatory nature of this event, attendees will only be able to join via Cisco Webex on their computer. You will NOT be able to call-in to this event over the phone.