The Team
Who We Are
Keri-Lyn Durant
Co-Host
Keri-Lyn Durant, PhD Education, is Research Project Lead on the SSHRC Insight Research Grant “Disrupting Death” which funds this podcast. She is a researcher at Lakehead University and supply teacher with Bluewater District School Board and lives in Wiarton, Ontario. Keri-Lyn is also a passionate educator, particularly keen to support ‘littles’ in elementary school as they face ongoing grief-related and socio- emotional challenges brought on by the pandemic. She gets to work with a puppet, Phoebe the Sloth, using play to meet and explore grief with tiny griefsters on their level. Keri-Lyn’s background in applied theatre sparked a desire to learn more about digital storytelling and podcasting; she gratefully studied both through The Story Center (Berkeley, CA) and hones her craft teaching teacher candidates how to use both tools in their own classrooms. Her research interests include how people, especially children and adolescents, navigate grief experiences, medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in Canada, and the programming and delivery of grief camps across Canada. In her (rare) spare time, Keri-Lyn prefers to be in the out of doors, especially with her wife, Paula, and dogs, Frank & Nitro.
Kathy Kortes-Miller
Co-Host
Kathy Kortes-Miller, MSW, PhD is the principal investigator on the SSHRC Insight Research Grant “Disrupting Death” which funds this podcast. She is an Associate professor in the School of Social Work and the Director of the Centre for Education and Research on Aging and Health at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada. Kathy has a passion for contributing to improving the end-of-life care for all and through this podcast wants to provide people with access to conversations that contribute to their understanding of MAiD. Kathy’s goal is that the podcast will encourage people to think about what will be important to them at the end of their lives and what might matter to those close to them. On a personal level, she hopes the podcast will also address some of the areas of MAiD that she is still wrapping her head and heart around including access and healthcare provider distress. Kathy’s research is interdisciplinary and collaborative contributing to a broad range of fields of study including: palliative care, end-of-life, MAiD, LGBTQ2S+ and gerontology. In March 2018 she published the book “Talking About Death Won’t Kill You” with ECW Press.
Sadie Mallon
Editor
Sadie Mallon, BFA, MSW candidate, is a Research Assistant on the SSHRC Insight Research Grant “Disrupting Death” which funds this podcast. Sadie is currently living in Thunder Bay, Ontario to pursue her MSW at Lakehead University under the supervision of Kathy Kortes-Miller. Sadie is motivated daily by the magic of birth, life and death. Up until a few years ago, Sadie solely used her camera to spark important and difficult dialogues. Nowadays, Sadie integrates the power of art (both as a source of healing, and knowledge transfer) into her social work practice and research. Outside of academia, Sadie loves to photograph births, draw, sew, and make children’s books.
Sarah McInnis
Music Composer
Music for Disrupting Death was created by the ever lovely Sarah McInnis. Sarah is a music therapist, a songwriter, a multi-instrumentalist and End-of-Life Doula. In 2021, Sarah began The Legacy Song Project, writing original songs for folks at the end-of-life, and for folks who have lost loved ones. She has received commissions from people from all over the country, and is currently working on a Canada Council for the Arts and Arts Nova Scotia funded sub-branch featuring the stories of 8 Atlantic Canadians. Sarah McInnis's music is one of confessional candor. Her writing connects our larger stories to her own pocket-sized vignettes, allowing each of us to expand our hearts alongside; her stories are our stories too. To learn more about Sarah, visit her website https://sarahmcinnis.com/
