Learn about the need for more education around death, dying, and grief to help us create more compassionate communities that are better prepared for the end of life.
About the guest:
My return guest Suzanne O’Brien is the founder and CEO of Doulagivers Institute and a pioneer in the global Death Doula movement. She is the recipient of numerous awards for her contribution to end-of-life care around the world and the author of the book The Good Death: A Guide for Supporting Your Loved Ones Through the End of Life. She discusses why this moment is right for expanding community education and awareness about end-of-life issues and how learning about death can help us fully live. In addition she describes her upcoming free webinar on “Death Doula Secrets” to mentor doulas on Suzanne’s framework for successful death doula business development. Learn more at her website:
Register for Death Doula Secrets Webinar:
In this episode:
- The evolution of end-of-life care and education over the past 15 years
- How COVID 19 awakened many people to the reality of mortality and exposed gaps in care
- Families are still largely overwhelmed and uneducated about providing care for their loved ones at end of life
- How political and healthcare decision-makers remain poorly informed about end of life issues
- Suzanne’s experience of community death care while traveling in Zimbabwe many years ago and how it informed her current work
- Why broader cultural change around death and dying requires mass education in our communities
- We need to help people with their fear of death through education if we want to see more change
- Options for the management of suffering at the end of life, including terminal sedation, are not fully understood by most people
- Death is the greatest teacher about how to live
- The importance of gratitude and presence for bringing meaning to life
Links mentioned in this episode:
Resources:
- The Good Death by Suzanne O’Brien RN
- Doulagivers FREE Level 1 Training
- The Journey from Ego to Soul by Karen Wyatt MD
- The Ego and It’s Immortality Projects – What Really Matters Podcast
- The Path of Presence from the Field Guide to What Really Matters
Related episodes:
- The Good Death: An End-of-Life Guide with Suzanne B. O’Brien RN
- Training End-of-Life Doulas for the World with Suzanne O’Brien RN
- Podcast Playlist: Death Education with Karen Wyatt MD
Other links:
- Hospice Wisdom with Barbara Karnes Resource Page
- 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying by Karen Wyatt MD
- Latest post on Substack: Letting Go of Guilt
- What Really Matters Podcast: How Do I Forgive Myself?
- Leave me a message by email: kwyattmd@comcast.net, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
- Support your local bookstore by buying my books on Bookshop and Indiebound: 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying and The Journey from Ego to Soul
- Join the team at Patreon.com/eolu
- Buy me a coffee
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