Deadly Serious Conversations Fiona Garrivan

I am often asked how to support children who are grieving I am no expert but I am delighted to share this episode of the podcast, where I have a chat to Scott Andrews from the National Centre for Childhood grief.Knowing how to support a child deal with loss and grief can feel overwhelming. It's hard to know what is the right thing to do to help them. Scott offers gentle suggestions on language to use, whether they should be involved in the process and how grief may show up...

Most people are familiar with the traditional burial and cremation practices, such as using a cemetery, or storing the ashes in an urn. Some people choose to scatter their loved ones ashes but do not realise that this may be harmful to the environment. Mornington Green Legacy Gardens in Victoria are beautiful botanical gardens situated on the Mornington Peninsula. They offer an environmentally safe way for people to go back to nature after they die. The cremated ashes...

On this episode of the podcast, I have a wonderful conversation with Lesley who works as the co-ordinator of the Body Donation program at Melbourne Uni. Body donation is when someone chooses to donate their body after their death so that it can be used in the training and education of future healthcare professionals including medical, dental, physiotherapy, science and nursing students. Through the incredible generosity of donors, the university can provide these students wit...

This episode of the podcast is one that challenges the conventional narratives surrounding end-of-life ceremonies and funerals. In it, I have a wonderful chat with Tim and Paul, whose mum Mary Anne decided to face her own mortality and embraced the idea of a living wake after deciding not to continue treatment for Bowel cancer. Often at funerals, people remark to me that it is a shame that the person who died didn’t hear all the lovely things that others had to say about the...

We hear it all the time that life changes in a second, and nothing can prepare us for it when that does happen. We all think and hope it will never happen to us. Jacinda has been living with the loss of her son Harper and his dad Matt, when they were both killed in a freak accident. Losing 2 people you love at the same time seems unimaginable. In today’s episode, Jacinda shares with us a glimpse into what life after the loss of a child looks like 4 years on, the un...

As the cost for a traditional burial rises each year and as people have become more environmentally conscious about our land shortage, Cremation has become the preferred choice for many Australians, With over 70% of funerals now involving a cremation. There is no textbook to tell you what to do in these circumstances, and suddenly you find yourself in a situation having to decide whether to cremate or bury your loved one. Subsequently, you then have to make a decision ...