Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
My guests this week are Bess Welden a playwright who wrote the play Death Wings and Laura Cleminson an end-of-life doula and the founder of Pre-Dead Social Club. Together they have developed the Death Wings Project and Toolkit to invite people to come together in community and foster open conversations about loss and grief. They share how art-making and storytelling are used in their workshops to help people navigate loss together through creativity. Learn more at the following websites:
deathwingsproject.org
predeadsocialclub.com
besswelden.com/death-wings
In this episode:
-How Laura was inspired to become and end-of-life doula
-What inspired Bess to create the play Death Wings and to make her first pair of Death Wings
-How Laura and Bess were inspired to work together on this project
-What Death Wings are and how they are constructed
-How the creation of Death Wings help people create meaning and memories of their loved ones
-Why "putting our hands into grief" allows us to open to it
-How Death Wings might be used in schools to help children with grief
-The value of rituals for grief
-You don't have to be an artist or crafter to participate in this project
-Creativity as an opportunity to open conversation about the end of life
-Using Death Wings as a gift for someone experiencing grief
-How to host a Death Wings workshop in your own community
🍃 Subscribe to my email list: eepurl.com/ExfLL
🍂 Support your local bookstore by buying my books on Bookshop: bookshop.org/lists/books-by-karen-wyatt-md and Indiebound:
7 Lessons for Living from the Dying : indiebound.org/book/9781786783110
The Journey from Ego to Soul: indiebound.org/book/9780982685563
🍃 Subscribe to this podcast on
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/end-of-life-university/id1033282990
Google: podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9sZXNzb25zZnJvbWR5aW5nLndvcmRwcmVzcy5jb20vZmVlZC8
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/7bdr4odBlaaDy8NoJhcFsL
iHeart Radio: iheart.com/podcast/256-end-of-life-university-31099550
Stitcher Radio: stitcher.com/show/endoflife-university
🍂 Check out the Series I’ve recorded in the past: eolupodcast.com/series
🍃 Join the team at my Patreon page patreon.com/eolu and get access to the EOLU mug: “Mind if we talk about death?” (only Patrons can purchase it). PLUS get our new bonuses: the monthly EOL News Update, movie reviews from 2 Doctors and a Movie, and automatic access to A Year of Reading Dangerously!
🍂 Intro Music Credit:
"Bright Wish" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
My guests this week are Bess Welden a playwright who wrote the play Death Wings and Laura Cleminson an end-of-life doula and the founder of Pre-Dead Social Club. Together they have developed the Death Wings Project and Toolkit to invite people to come together in community and foster open conversations about loss and grief. They share how art-making and storytelling are used in their workshops to help people navigate loss together through creativity. Learn more at the following websites:
deathwingsproject.org
predeadsocialclub.com
besswelden.com/death-wings
In this episode:
-How Laura was inspired to become and end-of-life doula
-What inspired Bess to create the play Death Wings and to make her first pair of Death Wings
-How Laura and Bess were inspired to work together on this project
-What Death Wings are and how they are constructed
-How the creation of Death Wings help people create meaning and memories of their loved ones
-Why "putting our hands into grief" allows us to open to it
-How Death Wings might be used in schools to help children with grief
-The value of rituals for grief
-You don't have to be an artist or crafter to participate in this project
-Creativity as an opportunity to open conversation about the end of life
-Using Death Wings as a gift for someone experiencing grief
-How to host a Death Wings workshop in your own community
🍃 Subscribe to my email list: eepurl.com/ExfLL
🍂 Support your local bookstore by buying my books on Bookshop: bookshop.org/lists/books-by-karen-wyatt-md and Indiebound:
7 Lessons for Living from the Dying : indiebound.org/book/9781786783110
The Journey from Ego to Soul: indiebound.org/book/9780982685563
🍃 Subscribe to this podcast on
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/end-of-life-university/id1033282990
Google: podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9sZXNzb25zZnJvbWR5aW5nLndvcmRwcmVzcy5jb20vZmVlZC8
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/7bdr4odBlaaDy8NoJhcFsL
iHeart Radio: iheart.com/podcast/256-end-of-life-university-31099550
Stitcher Radio: stitcher.com/show/endoflife-university
🍂 Check out the Series I’ve recorded in the past: eolupodcast.com/series
🍃 Join the team at my Patreon page patreon.com/eolu and get access to the EOLU mug: “Mind if we talk about death?” (only Patrons can purchase it). PLUS get our new bonuses: the monthly EOL News Update, movie reviews from 2 Doctors and a Movie, and automatic access to A Year of Reading Dangerously!
🍂 Intro Music Credit:
"Bright Wish" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
