Ladner resident opens 'wind phone' booth where mourners speak to deceased loved ones
Teresa Reid installed a telephone booth at Schoolhouse Farm in Delta where anyone can call to share thoughts and feelings with people they've lost. The concept is rooted in Japanese grief practice.
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A telephone booth installed at Schoolhouse Farm in Ladner offers mourners a place to speak aloud to people they've lost. Teresa Reid, who works at a library and volunteers at Heron Hospice, won a small neighbourhood grant to build the booth after hearing about "wind phones" on the NPR program This American Life.
The concept originated in Japan. Users pick up the telephone and speak into it, sharing thoughts and feelings with deceased loved ones, in a practice rooted in the idea that grief is love with nowhere to go.
Reid became drawn to the idea after a striking moment: a person called her at the library, identified themselves as Milana, and it turned out to be the name of Reid's mother, who had passed away. "That got me thinking even more and more about the wind phone and what a dramatic change it could make for some people, particularly in a world where death and grief are not generally addressed in polite conversation," Reid said.
Reid has spent years working to destigmatize death. She took a course to become an end-of-life doula and began hosting "death cafes" four years ago — informal gatherings where anyone can attend to discuss mortality, whether they have experienced loss or are simply curious about death. Those sessions have been running successfully.
"I've always been interested in making death something that people will talk about more easily, so that it's not so taboo anymore," Reid said. At the booth's inauguration on September 13, Reid told visitors: "They say that grief is love with nowhere to go — well now, we have somewhere to go. Come to the wind phone whenever you need to talk to somebody that you're missing, somebody who is no longer here, and they will hear your words. I promise."
"I think a lot of people have nowhere to go with their grief," Reid added. "So this is a place that they can go do that."
The facts
Who installed the wind phone booth in Ladner?
Teresa Reid, a library worker and Heron Hospice volunteer, installed the wind phone booth at Schoolhouse Farm in Ladner.
What is a wind phone and how does it work?
A wind phone is a telephone booth where users pick up the phone and speak aloud to deceased loved ones, sharing thoughts and feelings in a practice rooted in the idea that grief is love with nowhere to go. The concept originated in Japan.
What inspired Reid to build the wind phone booth?
Reid learned about wind phones from the NPR program This American Life and was further motivated after receiving a call at the library from someone named Milana, the name of Reid's deceased mother. She won a small neighbourhood grant to build the booth.
