“My hope is that by holding these conversations, people feel safer to honor their grief and to not feel like they need to tuck it away,” local resident Jennifer Heglar said. “It’s been really beautiful because it can be empowering for people who are grieving to know that they’re not alone.” Through creating and facilitating a Death Cafe group, local resident Jennifer Heglar is changing the way the community views grief.
“My hope is that by holding these conversations, people feel safer to honor their grief and to not feel like they need to tuck it away,” Heglar said. “It’s been really beautiful because it can be empowering for people who are grieving to know that they’re not alone.” Heglar shared that Death Cafe is a movement that has been occurring throughout the globe.
While the Johnson City Death Cafe is not officially registered yet on the Death Cafe website, it still is able to impact community lives. Heglar became involved with Death Cafe after seeing an Instagram account host a virtual Death Cafe session for queer and polyamorous people. After seeing it, Heglar became intrigued by the Death Cafe movement and found it appealing to the personal grief story of her own, as well as her career interests.
“My father died almost a decade ago, all my grandparents are gone, and right now I’m in grad school for counseling,” Heglar said. “People don’t have a lot of space to talk about grief, and especially after COVID there’s been so much loss, .
