Caitlin Doughty is not your average mortician. For years, Doughty has been one of the most well-known in the profession, serving as an activist, author, speaker, YouTuber and historian. Her playful, informative and outspoken attitude towards death has given her acclaim on the international scale as an educator, best-selling author and TED talk speaker.

Doughty’s YouTube channel, called “Ask a Mortician,” has over half-a-million subscribers (or ‘Deathlings,’ as they call themselves). Her channel aims to answer the tough, yet intriguing, questions about the end of life.

Often tinged with humor, Doughty aims to break the stigma surrounding death and dying while educating people about their options and rights regarding the end of one’s life.

Next month, Doughty will pay a visit to Springfield. Doughty will speak on Nov. 1 at the Relics Event Center from 7 to 9 p.m. The event is free and no reservations are necessary.

What happens to a body during embalming? What happens to breast implants when a person is cremated?

These questions are hardly routine and probably will not come up at Thanksgiving dinner. But these are just a couple of the unusual questions which Doughty addresses in her YouTube videos.

Doughty is not just a vlogger: she is the author of two books, “From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death” and “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons From the Crematory.”

During her Springfield visit, Doughty will focus on her most recent publication, “From Here to Eternity,” which was just released this month.

Photo via Creative Commons.

Mission to de-stigmatize death

Death and dying are not comfortable topics for people of any age, but death is an inevitable part of life and must be discussed. The Springfield-Greene County Library District is working to challenge the community to have these crucial conversations by putting on a series of events related to death.

Doughty’s presentation is part of the Library’s mission to foster open dialogue about end-of-life decisions. Her presentation will include a question and answer session, which will hopefully spark these conversations within the community.

 A club for people who are “death positive”

In 2011, Doughty founded “The Order of the Good Death.” Doughty coined it a “death acceptance collective” which is committed to the “death positive movement.” Simply put, members of “The Order” are people who believe that society should handle death differently — without fear.

“Death itself is natural, but the death-anxiety and terror of modern culture are not,” Doughty stated.

Outreach events, like the upcoming presentation in Springfield, help bring up these taboo topics and foster a sense of acceptance and peace surrounding death and dying.

“Accepting death doesn’t mean you won’t be devastated when someone you love dies,” Doughty explained. “It means you will be able to focus on your grief, unburdened by bigger existential questions like, ‘Why do people die?’ and ‘Why is this happening to me?’ Death isn’t happening to you. Death is happening to us all.”

Written by Olivia Thompson.