#1315 Samantha Waite: Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About Death
RECORDED ON SEPTEMBER 28th 2026.
Samantha Waite is a PACFA-accredited psychotherapist, certified practicing counsellor, and international speaker on death literacy. She is the founder of Taboo Education, an independent business based in Perth, Western Australia, dedicated to improving how medical professionals approach death, dying, and end-of-life care. Taboo Education provides psychological education, consultation, and resources to reduce death anxiety and challenge the “death is a failure” mindset often found in clinical environments. She also has a YouTube channel, Taboo Education - Let’s Talk Death (@TabooEducation).
In this episode, we talk about death literacy. We talk about what it is about, where death anxiety stems from, and common misconceptions people have about death and dying. We discuss whether people should fear death, and whether most deaths are peaceful. We talk about end-of-life care and death denial, how death tends to be approached by medical professionals, and toxic positivity. We discuss attitudes toward suicide, medical assistance in dying, and the importance of funerals and other death-related rituals. We talk about how sexuality might relate to death. Finally, we discuss how death anxiety can be dealt with in the context of psychotherapy, and how we can learn to deal better with death in modern industrialized societies.
Time Links:
Intro
What got Samantha interested in death-related topics?
What is death literacy?
Where does death anxiety stem from?
Common misconceptions about death and dying
Should people fear death?
Are most deaths peaceful?
End-of-life care and death denial
How death tends to be approached by medical professionals
Toxic positivity
Attitudes toward suicide
Medical assistance in dying
Funerals and death-related rituals
Sexuality and death
Dealing with death anxiety
Follow Samantha’s work!
Follow Samantha’s work:
Support Samantha’s book project: https://tinyurl.com/3bbymm4h
Website: https://tinyurl.com/44fnrv4x
Instagram: @tabooeducation
Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/3n6zx8js