A holistic well-being day is being launched this Saturday (22 October) to support those living with or caring for someone with a terminal condition, illness or diagnosis.
And the organisers, Angelic Aurora End of Life Charity Foundation, hope that the event at the Bedford Spiritualist Church on Ashburnham Road will be the first of many.
“The day aims to provide a healing, nurturing space to people who are often left ‘in limbo’ following a terminal diagnosis or overwhelmed with hospitals and medicalised settings,” said co-organiser, Simone McPherson.
“We hope this event will provide respite from this.”
On offer there will be different holistic therapies such as Reiki, reflexology, gentle aromatherapy massage, guided breathwork, meditation, hypnotherapy, pain and stress management techniques, as well as a space to just be, be listened to, to talk through things and just be heard.
Organisers Simone McPherson and Sam Lacey are advocates for talking openly about death and for sharing the choices we have around how we die, where we die and in doing so, remove the veil of scariness that death brings.
“I set up Angelic Aurora with Simone a few years ago now, after I’d completed my Soul Midwife training. I felt that there must be better ways to die and realised that in the West we do it badly,” said Sam.
“Sitting with people at the end of their lives is truly humbling. We begin that journey and are open to where it leads. It’s an ancient tradition that I believe the wise women, midwives and healers of the communities have done for hundreds if not thousands of years.”
The charity can help people write advanced care plans, look at funeral choices, help with end-of-life planning, making memory boxes, funeral planning, spiritual guidance.
“We are the only end-of-life charity currently in the country in the government’s social prescription model,” said Sam.
And if we don’t have the answers, we can signpost you to someone who does.
“We began holding the Death Cafes at the Spiritualist church in Bedford and they have been so popular, highlighting a real need for people to have a space to talk about their experiences with death and dying. We’ve extended this to hold what we call grief cafes, for younger people.”
The success of these events led Sam and Simone to develop the idea of a well-being day.
The day is also open to those who have lost someone, who are still grieving and need someone to talk to.
“We aren’t bereavement counsellors, but we can signpost to many different other therpies,” said Sam.
“We find actually just holding a space where people can talk and be heard, is enough.”
The day runs from 10am until 4pm this Saturday (22 October) at the Bedford Spiritualist Church on Ashburnham Road. There will be refreshments, biscuits and cakes provided and more information can be found at their Facebook page here.
It is free to attend and donations to the charity are welcomed.
