By Wilka Roig
Fundación Elisabeth Kübler-Ross México Centro is a non-profit organization inspired by the work of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926-2004), psychiatrist, humanitarian, and hospice movement pioneer. Popularly known for her theory of the Five Stages of Grief, Elisabeth was referred to as “the death and dying lady,” while she more aptly referred to herself as “the life and living lady.” Elisabeth published more than 20 books on the topics of loss, grief, and end of life.
Currently, Fundación EKR México Centro offers in-person and online support and consulting services throughout Mexico and internationally, and is dedicated to creating platforms for education, awareness, and didactic discussions; and to facilitate conversations about life transitions, how to live fully and thus prepare ourselves for a good death, and how to be responsible with the legacy we leave to future generations.
The EKR team is a multidisciplinary group of psychologists, thanatologists, therapists, and innovative specialists who share the goal of actively contributing to the evolution of our death culture and bringing dignity and humanity to our processes of loss, grief, end of life, and after death. The team is dedicated to advocating and training for compassionate care for the bereaved, the dying, and those who love them, as well as fostering awareness of the power of unconditional love as an essential element of a good life and a good death.
Endorsed by the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation Global, EKR México Centro collaborates with several international associations to advance our death culture worldwide. Among them the Green Burial Council, for the elaboration of a practical plan to establish and operate a replicable system of green burial sites for land conservation, natural resources preservation, and reforestation throughout Mexico. This is especially urgent now, as traditional cemeteries are among the most toxic modern landscapes, both because of their immediate and continuous environmental impact and because of the intensive use and consumption of resources. The standard funeral is fraught with risks to our health and the health of our environment, currently employing toxic practices and requiring the permanent installation of non-biodegradable vaults around non-biodegradable coffins, or spending vast amounts of energy, fuel and other resources on cremation, which generates toxic emissions. The difference and value of green burial is in the non-invasive and ecological methods used both to care for the body before and during burial, as well as to care for the ecosystem before, during, and after burial—practices that encourage healthy grieving and a healthy and thriving environment.
In Mexico we have a culture that already integrates death in a more natural way. Looking to the past, we return to our ancestral traditions and consider the legacy that we can leave to future generations while honoring our loved ones, our lineage, and our Earth.
For more information, contact EKR México Centro: 415 101 8244 / info@ekrmexico.org
