Preparation & communication are key.
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us continue the important, much-needed work of community death education!
EIN 42-3039921
To offer comprehensive death education to communities, providing people with the information necessary to understand their options and enable them to make informed decisions about their end-of-life and after-death care.
Non-Negotiable #1 - DWDE programming is free for all attendees. It is hard enough to get people to talk about death, never mind if you charge them money for it. Not only does a fee immediately dissuade people from attending, but it changes the whole dynamic - not in a beneficial way. Equally important is the fact that a fee-based offering immediately excludes a large portion of the population who need this information just as much as everyone else - if not more so.
Non- Negotiable #2 - Attendees are provided with hard-copy resource material - most notably the DWDE "Purple Packet" - at no cost to them. If people walk away with what they need, they are far more likely to do the recommended work & preparation. Having the information physically available reminds and motivates them to get it done.
Any presentation listed on the DWDE calendar is free and open to the public. You do not need to attend the presentations/sessions in order, nor do you need to attend them all. (Although it is certainly beneficial if you do!) We offer dedicated topic presentations on creating an end-of-life plan, legacy work & obituary writing, MAID (Medical Aid in Dying), VSED (Voluntary Stopping Eating & Drinking), the basics of a home funeral, and body disposition options. As part of the series, the topic-driven presentations are interspersed with topic-related films/documentaries, which help people view and better comprehend real-life experiences on the given topic.
Please consider attending Die Well Death Education programming, and learn more about your options for end-of-life and after-death care. You don't have options if you don't know what your options are!
If you are interested in bringing Die Well Death Education programming to your community, please contact us!
We can provide ongoing programming (typically a series of 13 sessions) or single session(s) on an identified topic.
Pricing structures and sliding scales are available; we will work with you to make it happen! (The programming does need to be free to attendees, however.) You may offer programming limited to your private community or open to the public; we do both! If your community programming is open to the public, we'll add it to the Die Well Death Education calendar to help promote attendance.
Death education is a topic-driven presentation on end-of-life and/or death-related subjects by a trained individual. Topics may include end-of-life preparation, funeral and body disposition options, legacy work and obituary writing, Medical Aid in Dying (MAID), Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking (VSED), home funerals, etc.
A Death Cafe is a group-guided open conversation about death. (with cake!) There is no agenda, objectives, or themes. A facilitator is present to keep the conversation going (rarely necessary), answer questions, and correct misinformation. It is a discussion group rather than grief support or counseling. (Death Cafes are not unique to Die Well Death Education. They are offered worldwide, developed by a man named Jon Underwood in the UK in 2011.)
Die Well Death Education offers
both Death Education and Death Cafes.
Gather your closest friends and family (or everyone you know) to socialize, eat, drink, and plan for a good death.
At a Die Well Dinner (or lunch, or hor dourves, or no food at all) I will join your gathered group and will provide information and guidance on creating an end of life plan, discuss the importance of legacy work, review funeral and body disposition options, answer questions, and so much more!
All topic/film offerings from the Die Well Death Education series are available for a Die Well Dinner event, including skull cakelets!
Contact me for more information, scheduling, and pricing. (It's affordable and worthwhile!)
We're all going to die, so why don't we talk about it? I'm not saying talk about it so incessantly that people generally avoid you, (although you can if you want - I usually do) but rather talk about what we would like our end-of-life experience, our death, and our disposition to look and be like. With clear and concise communication and preparation, you can - and will - create the strongest possibility that you will experience a "good death."
You can take simple steps to increase your chances of experiencing a "good death." While these steps do include completing an Advance Directive and Will, folks tend to think that about covers it, but there is SO MUCH MORE you can do to prepare! Most notably, create a comprehensive End-of-Life Plan, which not only clearly communicates your wishes for your end-of-life and after-death care, but will also provide a clear "road map" for the people who care about you. This road map has several benefits: it gives the people who care about you clear direction, and also provides them with the confidence and comfort that they are providing you with what you want. And, of course, it provides you with the greatest possibility of the experience you would like to have. You have more options for of end of life and after death care than you may realize, and we are here to provide you with the information you need to make informed decisions about what is right for you, or the people you care about. People don't have options, if they don't know what their options are - we are here to help you discover your options.
Leona Oceania has always been passionate and curious about end-of-life issues, and baffled by the fact that we don't talk about the ONE thing that is going to happen to all of us. Motivated by this, she decided to do what she could to encourage that conversation, and educate people about their options. She trained to become a Home Funeral Guide, End of Life Doula, Life Legacy Facilitator, and Death Educator. She also serves on the board of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Maine, and is an active bedside volunteer with Maine Death with Dignity. She offers several death education presentations and series, and facilitates Death Cafes in Maine. Leona's primary focus is to educate people about their end-of-life and after-death options, so they can make informed choices. Once we can talk more openly about death and normalize the conversation, the better we will be able to connect with our own mortality and be effectively proactive about preparing for and communicating what we would like for ourselves at the end of our lives. This in turn, creates the greatest possibility that you - and those you care about - will experience a "good death."
DWDE founder Leona Oceania always wondered why, if we are all going to die, we don't talk about it and prepare for it more. This question motivated her to train extensively in the realm of end-of-life; as a Home Funeral Guide, End-of-Life Doula (Death Doula), Life Legacy Facilitator, and Death Educator. She has been providing community death education in Maine since 2021 .
Our goal is to provide no-nonsense information about end-of-life and after-death care and options. Tip-toeing around the topic of death is counterproductive, in our opinion. We provide clear, concise information and answer questions. We do not use euphemisms or deliberately try to "soften" the topic. If people have to wonder what you're telling them, they will not truly hear or retain the information.
A bit of humor and levity also helps!
We strongly believe that when you engage with your mortality, think about and prepare for your own death, it enables you to live the remainder of your life in a more meaningful, intentional, and genuine way.
We also feel strongly that this information is for EVERYONE, not just the "senior population." The sooner you do this work, the better the rest of your life can be. (really)
Preparation and communication are key. While no one wants to think about their own (inevitable) demise, if we prepare for it, it enables us to live a better life and creates the possibility for a "good death." The Latin phrase "Memento Mori" means, essentially, "Remember to die." When we remember that we will die, it reminds us daily to live life to the fullest.
Few other people and organizations in Maine provide community death education as comprehensively as we do.
Some organizations offer presentations on their specialty (Maine Death with Dignity, hospice organizations, etc.). But Die Well Death Education provides comprehensive, informative, and easy-to-understand information on all aspects of end-of-life and death.
We have been doing this work since 2021, and the demand has been steadily increasing. Our programming is consistently well-attended and well-received, which has been motivating and rewarding for attendees and staff alike!
One of the best comments uttered at a DWDE presentation was by a woman who said, "Why don't we KNOW this stuff?!?" Die Well Death Education is here to help with that. We are ALL going to die, so we should ALL "know this stuff!"
Our goal is to bring this information to all corners of the State of Maine and beyond, regardless of communities ability to pay,
While we work primarily in Maine and therefore focus on Maine-specific information and options. However, other state-specific presentations are also possible.