People First Radio – December 07, 2023People First Radio – December 07, 2023
People First Radio
Kelsie Kilawna shares a trauma-aware media guide for communities in crisis, while Carmen Lavoie discusses training end-of-life doulas and easing the taboo around death. The episode closes with a brief look at accentism through the lens of language and discrimination.
0:00•7 Dec 2023
Heart, Stories, and Final Goodbyes: Media, Grief, and Talking About Death
Episode Overview
- Trauma-aware reporting starts with cultural awareness and respect for existing community protocols around crisis and grief.
- Journalists are urged to avoid extractive practices such as door-knocking bereaved families and creating sensational “trauma porn.”
- Communities and individuals are reminded that they do not have to speak to media and can use tools like Kelsie Kilawna’s kit to protect their wellbeing.
- End-of-life doulas focus on trust, non-judgement, and client autonomy, helping people define what a “good death” means for them.
- Simple tools such as death decks, death cafés, and phones with the wind can gently open up conversations about death and support people’s grief.
“Not every story is your story to tell.”
Get ready to be moved by real-life accounts of how care, culture, and communication shape our responses to crisis, death, and even language itself. This People First Radio episode brings together voices that ask tough questions about harm, healing, and respect. First up, storyteller and media creator Kelsie Kilawna shares why she built a free media kit for communities facing wildfires and other emergencies.
Drawing on Syilx laws and teachings, she explains how “being trauma-informed is truly being culturally aware,” and why door‑knocking grieving families or chasing “trauma porn” isn’t just bad practice, it’s deeply harmful. Kelsie talks about self‑locating within her cultural teachings, the responsibility to care for people’s hearts, and her firm stance that “not every story is your story to tell.” Journalists, community leaders, and anyone who consumes news will hear practical ways to keep people’s wellbeing at the centre.
The conversation then shifts to death and dying with Vancouver Island University social work professor Carmen Lavoie, who has launched the school’s first end‑of‑life doula course. She describes students practising with actors in realistic scenarios and seeing “their eyes… wide open” afterwards, as they grasp how complex it is to support someone who is dying and their family.
Carmen offers down‑to‑earth ideas for talking about death, from using a “death deck” at the dinner table to hosting death cafés or setting up a “phone with the wind” to help people speak to loved ones who have died. To round things off, there’s a taste of a future interview with language lover Malé Fafana on “accentism” – discrimination based on accent – and why language always keeps changing, wherever you are.
If you care about mental health, grief, media ethics, or just want kinder conversations in hard times, this episode might give you plenty to chew on. What stories are yours to share, and which ones are better held with quiet respect?
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