Dying To Know

Andrew Blanche spent years working as a funeral director and celebrant. He sat with families in the early days of grief, helped them navigate decisions, and witnessed what happens when people are given space to show up honestly in the middle of loss. In this conversation with Belinda, Andrew reflects on what led him into the funeral industry and why he eventually chose to leave it. They speak abou...

Kathryn Gordon is an energy healer and the founder of Soul Activation. In this conversation with Belinda, she shares how grief shaped her work. And how she helps others process the emotions they’ve stored away. They talk about how emotion shows up in the body, how to move through grief without bypassing it, and why trusting your intuition can bring clarity when logic can’t. Kathryn explains what h...

What does it mean to lose someone twice? Keri Kitay was in her late twenties when her mum, Terry, was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s at just 54. In the years that followed, Keri and her family faced the slow, painful process of losing her. Memory by memory, function by function, until her death nearly a decade later. In this episode, Keri joins Belinda to talk about what that looked like u...

Water cremation is now available in Aotearoa, and Debbie Richards is the reason why. In this episode, Belinda speaks with Debbie, a former nurse and midwife who spent nearly seven years working to bring water cremation to New Zealand. After witnessing the impact of traditional funeral care, Debbie became determined to offer something more sustainable, affordable, and dignified. She explains how wa...

Funerals in Aotearoa can cost more than $13,000. Half of the people planning one this week won’t be able to afford it. In this episode, Belinda speaks with end-of-life doula Gaylene Delaney about the Death Without Debt movement. Gaylene is one of several volunteers running workshops across the country to teach people how to care for their dead, plan ahead, and avoid unnecessary financial stress. Y...

Go With Grace is a platform built from the hardest kind of knowing. After losing her daughter, her father, and then her partner Chris to suicide, Katy didn’t try to fix her grief. She chose to hold it, and then she chose to help others do the same. This conversation moves through the raw terrain of grief, suicide loss, end-of-life planning, and what it means to live in a world that rarely prepares...

https://leavinglegacies.co.nz/ Lynnie Phillips was never meant to get motor neurone disease.  Despite her dad and aunty both being diagnosed and losing their lives to it, she was never going to get it.  At least that’s what she told herself up until earlier this year when she was diagnosed.  She was told motor neurone disease wasn’t genetic. But that didn’t stop her from getting it....

https://leavinglegacies.co.nz/ What would you do if you suddenly lost a loved one and your life changed forever?  Part of Melissa Gordon’s role at Victim Support is guiding people through just that.  In this episode Melissa, general manager of service delivery at Victim Support, talks about what the service provider offers and how they help people through trauma. Melissa talks about why...

https://leavinglegacies.co.nz/ Nearly half of New Zealanders don’t have a will.  It’s not the nicest conversation to have with loved ones, but lawyer Richard Williams wants people to think about it differently. In this episode of Dying to Know I talk to lawyer Richard Williams about wills, trusts, what the heck probate means, and all the other legalities involved with dying.  As Richard...

https://leavinglegacies.co.nz/ If losing her eldest daughter in 2014 wasn’t enough, Sophia Perera was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2020.  In this episode you’ll hear Sophia talk about how she’s not the same person she was before losing daughter Valentina. Loss changes everything about you, she says. “Losing a child is the single most devastating trauma a person can ever go through in the...

https://leavinglegacies.co.nz/ Death is going to happen to all of us and affect all us, however it’s not always on our terms.  In this episode we explore assisted dying and choosing to take control over your death when a terminal illness has left you no choice.  Euthanasia Researcher Dr Jessica Young talks us through how she became one of New Zealand’s leading voices on assisted dying an...

https://leavinglegacies.co.nz/ While the concept of a death doula may be new to you, there’s actually a few out there.  In this episode we explore death doulas a bit more and what it is they do exactly. We also chat about all of the options people have after they pass.  Treza Gallogly helps people with anything they may need at the end of their life You’ll hear about what’s involved with...

Welcome to Dying to Know, a podcast by Leaving Legacies.   Let’s talk about death, baby. It’s going to happen to all of us so why not talk about it? Come along for the ride as Belinda Price, a qualified death doula, breaks the stigma around death by talking to different professionals about their experience, how to prepare, and the importance of sharing your stories while you’re still ear...