Our monthly Community of Practice 1-hour workshops offer member organisations a quality professional peer-to-peer development event. Each workshop combines the sharing of best practices, new approaches and innovations by a guest presenter and the opportunity for Q&A and small group discussions.

This month we are joined by Dr Hannah Gould from the University of Melbourne, who will be talking to us about the Dying Buddhish in Australia research project.

Buddhism plays an important role in 21st century global culture, with Buddhist-inspired contemplative practices and teachings influencing a new ‘way of life’, not just for coverts, but also broader society. However, Buddhism equally shapes our ‘way of death’. From mindfulness tools aimed at confronting terminal diagnoses and supporting hospice staff, to incense and chanting at otherwise secular funerals, Dying ‘Buddhish’ in Australia examines the current influence and future potential of Buddhist contemplative practice in mainstream end-of-life and death care. This project will generate new insights for scholarship and translate outcomes for community and state stakeholders, to create and deepen partnerships between Buddhist end-of-life practitioners and healthcare services.

University of Melbourne contributors:

Dr Hannah Gould, Research Associate, School of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts
Dr David Marco, Honorary Fellow, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
External collaborators:

Dr Anna Halafoff, Associate Professor in Sociology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University
Ms Deb Rawlings, Senior Lecturer, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University

A major outcome of this project has been the identification of a key gap in Australia’s end-of-life and deathcare system when it comes to the support of ‘religious nones’ or ‘spiritual but not religious’ populations.  The research made important connections within leading Buddhist, spiritual, and secular care providers, who came together at an Impact Forum in mid-2023. That collaboration will form the development of a Linkage Project grant application to the ARC.

You can download a copy of the report and find out more here: Dying ‘Buddhish’ (unimelb.edu.au)