Community-Led Death Care with Kelly Butler

Seeing Death Clearly

Content provided by Jill McClennen. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Jill McClennen or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://staging.podcastplayer.com/legal.

8M ago 38:32

MP3•Episode home

Send us a text

Kelly Butler, based in Ottawa, Ontario, has lived in various parts of Canada and the U.S. She’s a mother of five and has worked in the realm of death and dying for 30 years, starting with hospice work in Atlanta, Georgia. For Kelly, the cycle of birth and death reflects life itself—beginnings and endings intertwined in a continuous flow. Her work has spanned decades, and she recently completed her master’s in health sciences.

Kelly is the founder of Community Deathcare Ottawa, a collective of practitioners and allies committed to family-led, community-based death care. The group’s mission is to shift death and dying from the medical system and funeral industry back into the hands of the community. This collective hosts events such as grief rituals, home funeral demonstrations, and educational talks on topics like natural burial. While the group doesn't provide direct care, they help connect individuals to the right resources within their community.

Her organization aims to inform the public about death, something society often avoids discussing. Members include death doulas, herbalists, and massage therapists, all bringing different skills to support people at the end of life. Kelly acknowledges the challenges of defining the role of a death doula, especially with varying levels of training and experience within the profession. She reflects on whether death doula work should be formalized or remain as a community-driven practice.

Kelly also teaches a mindfulness-informed end-of-life course, both as a practice of mindfulness and a contemplation of mortality. She emphasizes the importance of being present during death, noting that the body knows how to die, and it's essential to approach death with a sense of acceptance rather than fear. She likens this to facing climate change, noting that while we can't always change the outcome, we can choose how we navigate it—with presence, love, and acceptance.

https://www.facebook.com/people/Reclaiming-Death/100066604446905/?_rdr

https://communitydeathcareottawa.com/

https://learn.utoronto.ca/programs-courses/certificates/mindfulness-informed-end-life-care

Support the show

Support the show financially by doing a paid monthly subscription, any amount large or small help to keep the podcast advertisement free. https://www.buzzsprout.com/2092749/support
Subscribe to Seeing Death Clearly and leave a 5-star review if you are enjoying the podcast.
I appreciate the support and it helps get the word out to more people that could benefit from hearing the podcast.
Don’t forget to check out my free workbook Living a Better Life.

You can connect with me on my website, as well as all major social media platforms.
Website www.endoflifeclarity.com
Instagram
Facebook
Facebook group End of Life Clarity Circle
LinkedIn
TikTok

115 episodes

#Fitness #Society #Podcasting Education #Mental Health #Jill McClennen