Erin Whalen, founder of Compassionate Coaching, is working to help end of life and grief professionals love their work again.  Using her unique gifts, Erin and the Compassionate Coaching theater troop employ “playback theater” to develop engaging programming that centers around giving and receiving empathy.  They work with end of life teams to mitigate burnout, enabling the teams to continue providing care for those who are dying. Erin understands grief, loss, and the importance of caring for ourselves as we care for others.  Erin lived her whole life in a state of anticipatory ..read more

Pharmacist Ellen Fulp is passionate about using medications appropriately to care for patients who are at their most vulnerable.  As a part of the hospice interdisciplinary team, Ellen collaborates with the hospice director and nurse to ensure quality of life is supported, and a patient’s suffering is reduced.  Caregivers and patients often misunderstand how medication is used in hospice care.   Ellen believes in symptom resolution, keeping the patient’s goals of care in mind.   In hospice care, pharmacists do more than just review medications for side effects or adver ..read more

Funeral director and author Jodi Clock knows personally how each person finds a grief style that’s the best, healthy fit for themselves.  As host of the “I Woke Up Dead - Now What?” podcast, Jodi is having conversations about our common experiences with death, shares best practices, and asks the tough questions in order to prepare for end-of-life realities we all will face.   Jodi learned valuable life lessons about grief and loss after experiencing the death of both her parents when Jodi was in her 20’s.  As a funeral director, she’s seen all the aspects of grief and how e ..read more

Hospice nurse Eileen Spillane of Befriending Death has learned to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. Eileen is the Founder of Befriending Death and has been a Registered Nurse for over thirty years, specializing in Oncology, Critical Care, and Obstetrics.  She is a certified Life Coach from New Ventures West, a former Zen Hospice Project Volunteer, a Meditation Teacher, and an Active Travel Guide.  She has been at the bedside of many as they transition through the dying process and cares very deeply about this topic. On the Befriending Death website, Eileen writes that “if we hav ..read more

“What do I need to know about you as a person to take the best care of you?”  This is how integrative palliative medicine physician Ddr. Delia Chiaramonte starts conversations with her patients. It’s a Dignity Question that lets her patients know she cares about them as a person.  Delia works in integrative palliative medicine to care for the whole person.  Dr. Delia Chiaramonte is a caregiver coach as well as an integrative palliative medicine physician. She’s the founder of the Integrative Palliative Institute and host of The Integrative Palliative Podcast. Dr. Chiaramonte is ..read more

End of Life Doula Trina Wacasey works to ensure that clients and families have the kind of personalized death care they want. Using family-guided care customized to fit their beliefs, needs, and wants, Trina guides caregivers through deaths, post-mortem care, and rituals after death.   After working in the corporate world, Trina was drawn to the work of an end of life doula. She volunteered at a hospice agency with their bereavement program, and completed training at the Conscious Dying Institute. The deep and meaningful conversations had great meaning for her. Sh ..read more

Today’s guest Dr. Qwynn Galloway-Salazar is a Veteran, death doula, compassionate educator, and the founder of In Their Honor, a national initiative raising awareness and addressing Veterans' unique challenges as they approach the end of life.  Qwynn is also the spouse of a combat veteran and understands the role of veteran caregivers.   1 in 4 Medicare hospice patients is a U.S. military veteran - a quarter of the Medicare hospice population.  Those veterans have special needs when it comes to the end of their lives.  Qwynn recognizes the importance of identifying mor ..read more

Dr. Kenneth Doka and Alex Lamorie of the Hospice Foundation of America’s Autism and Grief Project are advocates for people with autism.  Dr. Doka is a prolific author, editor, and lecturer, past president of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, and a member and past chair of the International Work Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavement.  Alex Lamorie is an undergraduate student at the University of Maryland Global Campus and an autism advocate.  He serves as an advisor on the Hospice Foundation of America's Autism & Grief Project.  Alex's expressive grief ..read more

Devin (D.S.) Moss brings a sense of reverence for life and a curiosity about death to his work as a chaplain. During a conversation with a Zen Master about Buddhist beliefs about the afterlife, the suggestion was made to him that he would make a good chaplain. Devin didn’t think he could do the work of spiritual care because of his humanist beliefs. He doesn’t believe in God. Turns out the Zen Master didn’t believe in God, either.  Despite a religious upbringing, Devin embraces nontheistic, or humanist, beliefs. His sense of exploration led him to attend seminary and b ..read more

1 in 4 Medicare hospice patients is a U.S. military veteran.  End of life workers need to know how to take care of their special needs and enhance their quality of life.  It’s important for EOL teams to know the signs of PTSD and how to listen when these patients (and their caregivers!) are communicating what they need. Many military veterans experience trauma, guilt, and anger, causing what is identified as “soul injury”.  Having a soul injury or PTSD creates a need for specialized care.  Opus Peace has a great inventory tool for assessing whether someone has experienced a ..read more