Learn about Stephen’s teachings on death phobia in our society and how palliative care and the medical system fail to address this problem.
In this episode I share an excerpt from an interview with Stephen Jenkinson, author of the book Die Wise, founder of Orphan Wisdom and subject of the documentary Griefwalker. Stephen discusses some of the problems with our approach to death in modern society, including the medical system.
Learn more about Stephen’s work here.
Get Die Wise here.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Thank you to my latest supporter on Patreon.com/eolu: Bernadette Koch. I appreciate your willingness to contribute to this podcast and the End-of-Life University Series to keep them on the air. If you’d like to join the team, support this work, and get awesome bonuses at the same time, go to Patreon.com/eolu to learn more and sign up!
On July 24th I’m hosting Suzanne O’Brien RN for a free webinar where she’ll be teaching “End-of-Life Doula Training for Caregivers and Volunteers.” If you’d like to know more about the work of end-of-life doulas and learn important skills for caring for the dying, this webinar will be valuable for you.
Learn more at: eoluniversity.com/obrien.
Click here to sign up for the webinar (it’s free and you’ll receive the replay if you can’t attend live.)
FEATURE PRESENTATION:
My guest Stephen Jenkinson is a palliative care consultant, teacher, author and ceremonialist who is “revolutionizing grief and dying in North America.” As the author of Die Wise he teaches that “Dying well is a right and responsibility of everyone.”
Dying well is a right and responsibility of everyone. – Stephen Jenkinson
In this interview we discuss:
- The origin of death phobia in our society
- How the fear of non-existence is the greatest fear of most people
- Why “lost” and “loss” are not helpful terms to use when discussing death
- The danger of the “fighting illness” mentality of modern medicine
- Why dying and grief are things that we “do” rather than events that “happen to us”
- Why palliative care should be dying-centered rather than relief-centered
(This is an excerpt from the interview with Stephen. The full interview can be found at Patreon.com/eolu as a bonus for Platinum level supporters ($5 per month.))
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Until next week:
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