By the Bedside: Stories of Grief and Courage

Talks on Tuesdays is a live event series bringing big ideas, real experts, and curious minds together - at your favourite local venues. Think thought-provoking lectures, audience questions, and post-talk mingling over drinks and dinner.

This isn’t a uni lecture. It’s a social, intelligent night out.Come alone or with friends, leave with something to talk about.

Event Schedule:

6.30pm Arrival & Doors Open

7pm Lecture Starts

7.45pm Q&A

8pm Talk Concludes

8.30pm Event Closes.

*Please arrive close to 6.30pm

A La Carte menu and full bar available throughout the night - pay as you go.

Your Topic:
By the Bedside: Stories of Grief and Courage
What does it mean to hold space for another human being at some of the most vulnerable moments of their life?

Throughout her career as a hospital social worker, Gina Strauss has worked alongside people and families navigating the uncertainty of illness, the arrival of a new baby, mental health crises, addiction, ageing, and the end of life. Behind every hospital admission is a human story. There are families hoping for good news, people confronting unexpected diagnoses, parents adjusting to new beginnings, and individuals facing losses that change the course of their lives.

Drawing on her experiences across hospital settings in Sydney, Gina offers an intimate and thought-provoking exploration of the moments when life feels most fragile, and the courage, connection and humanity that can emerge within them. Through reflections on the stories that have stayed with her, she explores what it means to truly listen, to sit alongside suffering without needing to fix it, and to recognise the person beyond the diagnosis.

Inspired by her book, 'Holding Space: Stories of Humanity and Courage', this talk invites us to reflect on what matters most from our first breath to our last.

Your Speaker:

Gina Strauss is a Sydney-based writer and Accredited Mental Health Social Worker with more than 16 years of experience supporting people through some of life’s most challenging moments. Her work across public and private hospitals has spanned medical and surgical care, mental health, addiction, postnatal care, intensive care and aged care. Her book, Holding Space: Stories of Humanity and Courage, reflects on the profound humanity, vulnerability and resilience encountered in caring for people at pivotal moments in their lives.