TEDxAberystwyth 2025 Speaker
Alexandra Derwen is a death doula, grief worker, poet, pilgrim and social entrepreneur living in the Eryri mountains of North Wales. Alexandra has been in service of the dying, dead and bereaved for 30 years and for the past 8 years has travelled internationally teaching and speaking on the subject.
Director of a Social Enterprise dedicated to death consciousness and grief literacy, also a founder and co-director of a Community Benefit Society called Earth Hospice, author of three books on the topics of death rites and shared mourning practices, honorary lecturer in spiritual care at Bangor University and a skilled group facilitator, Alexandra’s particular passions include social justice, community care of the dying and the ancient practices of lament and keening.
Alexandra’s spare time is spent walking the hills, swimming in rivers, writing poetry and taking long siestas with Gillie and Bungee, 2 now rather elderly Labrador dogs.
When you think of death, what rises in you—fear, curiosity, or something else entirely? In this talk Alexandra explores the various lessons learnt from “Death as a Teacher” as they apply to our collective losses and endings that we are all living through globally.
Listen to Alexandra talk about the subject of death, grief and living through dying times on YouTube now.
TEDxAberystwyth 