Nobody Talks about Dying
A ‘zine for caregivers with practical suggestions on facing into death
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Book recommendations
Embers Health resources
Preparing for the End of Life
A PDF with questions to consider and discuss for end of life planning
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Practical Advice on End of Life
A Beginner’s Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death by BJ Miller, MD and Shoshana Berger
Achieving a Good Death: A Practical Guide to the End of Life by Chris Palmer
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande, MD
Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real about the End by Alua Arthur
Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul by Stephen Jenkinson
Gone from My Sight: The Dying Experience by Barbara Karnes, RN
The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters during Life’s Final Moments by Hadley Vlahos, RN
Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes by William Bridges and Susan Bridges
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, MD
Healing Words
It’s Okay to Laugh. (Crying is Cool Too) by Nora McInerny Purmort
Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice from Dear Sugar by Sheryl Strayed
[a poem] “Blessing the Boats” by Lucille Clifton
[a poem] “Love Letter from the Afterlife” by Andrea Gibson
The Systems and Processes of End of Life
Death and Dying by Nicole Piemonte, PhD and Shawn Abreu, MD
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty
Why we Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality by Venki Ramakrishnan, PhD
Organizations and other resources to know
Planning for End of Life
Getting your affairs in order. A checklist from the NIH with resources and specific sites linked.
Preserve keepsakes and stories.
Consider if you want to write down any stories or memories. Doing so can benefit you, and those who remain after your death. This article has tactical suggestions.
The Smithsonian has a great article on preserving mementos
Gray Monster. A weekly free newsletter for caregivers with tactical support
Inevitable app
Created by a fellow Going with Grace death doula. A single place for capturing end of life wishes, documentation, and plans
Actions for After a Death
AARP Checklist
A vetted checklist published by AARP for actions to take after someone dies. Organized by when you need to do what, it links to the right places. It’s the list my family has used and found helpful.Managing Grief
Active Support in End of Life
Find a hospice agency. If you are considering hospice, you may already be connected with an agency option. If you’d like to review quality ratings for different options, use the Medicare.gov link here
Find a death doula. Death doulas can provide a range of support in end of life, including end of life planning, hands on support during active-dying, funeral planning and preparation, and documenting stories. They can complement hospice nurse support and home
“How to visit a loved one who is dying.” It can be scary to visit someone who is dying. You might worry about saying the wrong thing. This article has tips and suggestions for how to visit, what to say, and how to support when someone you care for is dying.
Community Support
Death over Dinner. A group that brings people together for a guided discussion over a meal about mortality, end of life care, and personal values.
Organizations I admire merging creativity with end of life
Use art and storytelling for death education. Focus on funerals and natural burials. They’ve written a children’s book, Midnight Moth on understanding and coping with mortality
Moth: Design for Life and Death
A design group that creates publications and tools around deathSocial-model community hospice homes. These small scale community-based hospice homes are offering a new vision for what end of life care can be. I was first introduced to the model via The Lily House in Wellfleet, MA. They are part of the Omega Home Network which is a national membership group championing this model.
