Learn about the paradigm-shifting work of Dr. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross and how her son carries on her legacy through the EKR Foundation.
My guest Ken Ross, son of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, is the founder and current president of the EKR Foundation. He discusses the foundation’s mission, which is to enhance compassionate care for the seriously ill and dying, as well as his mother’s important work and legacy. We talk about Elisabeth’s life and pivotal moments that influenced her to focus on death and dying, as well as the resistance she met during her lifetime and the criticisms of her work that continue to this day. Learn more about the EKR Foundation at this website:
This episode includes:
- What is was like for Ken growing up in the midst of his mother’s groundbreaking work
- How Elisabeth was inspired to focus on death and dying as a medical doctor
- The many challenges and controversies Elisabeth faced throughout her life
- Elisabeth’s book On Death and Dying (published in 1969) and how she conceived of the stages she observed in her work with terminal patients
- The criticisms of the 5 stages model and why they represent a misunderstanding of Elisabeth’s original intention
- How Ken supports his mother’s legacy through the global work of the EKR Foundation
- Upcoming classes being planned by the foundation
- Elisabeth’s final journey as a patient needing care from others
- Lessons Ken learned as a caregiver
- How Elisabeth’s personal interest in mysticism and the afterlife helped her at the end of her life
Links mentioned in this episode:
- A Year of Reading Dangerously – Register here
- Download 2022 Book List on this page: www.eoluniversity.com/yearofreading
- Book: On Death and Dying by Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
- 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
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- Check out the Series I’ve recorded in the past here
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