The Natural Death Centre

In The Hill House, Watley Lane, Twyford, Winchester, SO21 1QX

Telephone: 01962 712 690; Email: rosie@naturaldeath.org.uk

Registered Charity No 1091396

Discussion Salon

Death, Dying and Exceptional Experiences
Introducing recent research of death bed visions and after death communications

Saturday 23 July 2011, 10.30am – 4.30pm

Venue: Heber Road NW2 6AA
Fee: £45 (£40 concessions)

http://www.bath.ac.uk/cdas/news/events/index.html#deathbed

To encourage lively discussion and reflective sharing of experiences we have invited two speakers, Prof. Erlendur Haraldsson and Una MacConville, to present results of recent research. We hope that the day will make a small contribution towards a more general acceptance of these common yet little addressed phenomena, to make them more widely known and to think about the affects of these experiences. Josefine Speyer, co-founder of the NDC, will host the event. Limited to 15 participants. A vegetarian lunch and refreshments will be provided. Advance booking only. See ‘events’: www.naturaldeath.org.uk

Capturing the invisible: exploring deathbed experiences in Irish palliative care
Una MacConville PhD, Ireland

This paper presents the result of a study undertaken in 2010 with Dr. Regina McQuillan (consultant in Palliative medicine, St Francis Hospice, Dublin) and members of the Irish Association of Palliative Care to explore their observation and understanding of a range of deathbed experiences such as deathbed visions.

Una MacConville PhD, is a sociologist and a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Death and Society. Her research interests are palliative care, religion and spirituality, roadside memorials, after-life communication, end-of-life care needs for people with dementia and cultural aspects of death, dying and bereavement.

The Departed among the Living
Erlendur Haraldsson PhD, Iceland

Presenting findings of a comprehensive Icelandic study that asked: “Have you ever in a waking state personally perceived or felt the presence of a deceased person?” A recently completed book on this project will soon be published in English.

Erlendur Haraldsson PhD. Professor Emeritus in Psychology at the University of Iceland is widely regarded for his research in this field. Among his five books is “At the Hour of Death”, (1997) on an intercultural study (USA and India) of deathbed visions, which he co-authored with Dr. Karlis Osis. For more information see: www.hi.is/~erlendur