Episode Details

Our guest for this week is Stephen Jenkinson, a culture activist, teacher, author, ceremonialist and founder of the Orphan Wisdom School.

Stephen’s educational background includes masters degrees in Theology and Social Work. He is renowned for his work regarding grief and dying all over North America. Years of working with people who are either dying or experiencing the loss of a loved one have given him profound insight into how we perceive, interpret and deal with death. Throughout his career, he was performing roles such as programme director in a major Canadian hospital and assistant professor in a prominent Canadian medical school. He has also worked as a consultant to palliative care and hospice organizations and educator and advocate in the helping professions.

Stephen founded Orphan Wisdom School back in 2010, a teaching house and a learning house for the skills of deep living and making human culture. The name “orphan” describes people whose culture has been built upon mass migration, but as Stephen puts it “not knowing where you are from is not the same thing as being from nowhere”. The philosophy of Orphan Wisdom School is rooted in “knowing history, being claimed by ancestry and working for a time we may not see”.

He was also the subject of the feature-length documentary film titled “Griefwalker” released in 2008. In the film, you get to experience and witness not only Stephen’s work and teachings of palliative care but his thoughts on culture, community, and the need for elders. He has produced a 10 part series called “The Haiku Sessions” which are created based on his live recorded teachings.

Stephen has authored two books. In 2015, he published “Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul” which works as a guide for dying well by learning the right skills through the process of living well. His latest book is called “Come of Age: The Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble”. It was released in 2018 and in it, Stephen makes the case for birthing “a new generation of elders, one poised and willing to be true stewards of the planet and its species”.

For the next several weeks, Stephen will be touring Australia and New Zealand with his latest book. You can expect events such as author reading and reportage, all day talks and festival appearances. Check out the dates of his tour here!

Connect with Stephen:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orphanwisdom/
• Website: https://orphanwisdom.com/

Stephen’s Journey of Inspired Evolution

“Anyone who speaks with authority about one’s own life has been reading the wrong mail.” - Stephen Jenkinson

Stephen plays an active role in something that he likes to call “the death trade”. To give a better explanation of what he means by that, he takes us back to a moment in his life when it all began. He was approached with an offer and the idea behind it was that Stephen would organize a support group for men who were having trouble coping with losing important people in their lives.

“I would take the little job which was to do a six-week group for these guys and I didn’t have any idea what I was going to do.” - Stephen Jenkinson

Even though he wasn’t a “corporate guy”, he decided not to pass on an opportunity to help others in their time of need. But he was faced with a new conundrum. It became