Resources

Advance Care Planning

The Conversation Project: Helps start the conversation about the end of life including how to choose a proxy.

Good End of Life: A super simple site offering free worksheets to work on advanced care planning (or advanced directives).

Advance Directive Forms State by State

Advance Directives: An excellent resource site offering information on advanced directives.

Five Wishes Form

My Directives

Compassion and Choices

POLST forms by state MOLST forms by state

Donate Life America

VSED Resources Information on Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking

Death with Dignity: The mission of the Death with Dignity National Center is to promote Death with Dignity laws based on the model Oregon Death with Dignity Act, both to provide an option for dying individuals and to stimulate nationwide improvements in end-of-life care.

Final Exit Network

Hospices are wonderful organizations that serve individuals with a life expectancy of 6 months or less. Individuals do not need to be actively dying to seek the help of hospice. Some individuals do better and even leave hospice. We recommend engaging their fabulous services sooner rather than later.

Caregiver Resources

Caregivers’ Resources: More and more people are caregiving for their aging or ill loved ones. Get the support needed if you are a caregiver.

Family Caregiver Alliance

Caring Bridge

Share the Care

Caregiver Action Network

Walk Her Up the Stairs: A Caregiver’s Healing & Spiritual Journey, by Loretta Fox https://amzn.to/3UnSVfb

Community Information

Death Cafés: Death Cafés are found all over the world and are a wonderful way to begin the conversation on death.

Death Over Dinner: A nonprofit organization supporting conversations on death through hosting dinner parties. From their website: “The dinner table is the most forgiving place for a difficult conversation. The ritual of breaking bread creates warmth and connection and puts us in touch with our humanity. It offers an environment that is more suitable than the usual places we discuss end of life. “

Reimagine End of Life: From their website: “Reimagine End of Life is a community-wide exploration of death and celebration of life through creativity and conversation. Drawing on the arts, spirituality, healthcare, and design, we create weeklong series of events that break down taboos and bring diverse communities together in wonder, preparation, and remembrance.”

Legacy

Story Corps

Forever Missed: Memorial Website

Ethical Will

Legacy Sites

Storied Legacy

After Death Care: 

National Home Funeral Alliance: Educates and empowers families who want to care for their own dead. Connects families with resources to "promote environmentally sound and culturally nurturing death practices". 

Funeral Consumers Alliance

Green Burial Council

The Inspired Funeral: readings, songs, rituals.

Peaceful Decisions End of Life Planning Resources and Guides

Natural Transitions: A magazine and resource to green and holistic approaches to end of life.

Spirit Vessel Handcrafted Ceramic Urns and Personalized Celebration of Life Ceremonies

Grief (see Media Section for more books)

What’s Your Grief: A website with articles on many types of grief

Compassion Books

The Dougy Center

The American Counseling Association

The Handbook for Companioning the Mourner, Alan Wolfelt

Pediatric Resources

Courageous Parents Network (Links to an external site.) is a non-profit organization and educational platform that orients empowers and accompanies families and providers caring for children with serious illness.
Through videos, podcasts, printable guides, Guided Pathways, and blogs, you will find wisdom from families and pediatric care providers.

Media List (Please respect copyrighted materials)

Book Recommendations (Note we are part of the Amazon Affiliate Program and we earn a small percentage of your purchase without any cost to you. Thank you.)

• By Your Side, Caring for the Dying at Home, Barbara Karnes

• Bold Spirit Caring for the Dying, Janet Booth * Gale Gagnier * Terrence Ho *Lesley James * Ashlee Jansen * Shannon Koppenhoefer * Janice Lombardo * Tamelynda Lux * Olga Nikolajev *Siby Varghese * Chrystal Waban

• The Art of Dying Well: A practical guide to a good end of life, Katy Butler

• Advice for Future Corpses and Those Who Love Them, Sallie Tisdale

• Awake at the Bedside: Contemplative Teachings on Palliative and End-of-Life Care, Koshin Paley Ellison and Matt Weingast

• Caring for the Dying, Henry Fersko-Weiss

• A Beginner's Guide to the End, BJ Miller MD and Shoshana Berger

• The Handbook for Companioning the Mourner, Alan Wolfelt

• Grieving Is Loving: Compassionate Words for Bearing the Unbearable, Dr. Joanne Cacciatore

• Bearing the Unbearable, Dr. Joanne Cacciatore

• The Modern Loss Handbook: An Interactive Guide to Moving Through Grief and Building Resilience, Rebecca Soffer

• What's Your Grief?: Lists to Help You Through Any Loss, Haley and Williams

• The Wild Edge of Sorrow, Francis Weller

• A Grief Observed, C. S. Lewis

• A Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion

• What to Do When I am Gone: A Mother’s Wisdom to Her Daughter, Suzy Hopkins.

• Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking: A Compassionate, Widely-Available Option for Hastening Death by Timothy E. Quill (Editor), Paul T. Menzel (Editor), Thaddeus Pope

• The VSED Handbook, Kate Christie

• The Day I Die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America, by Anita Hannig

• In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss, Amy Bloom

• Being Mortal, Atul Gawande

• The Three Regrets, Tenzin Kiyosaki

• When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalinithi

• Die Wise, Stephen Jenkinson

• Holding Space on Loving, Dying, and Letting Go, by Amy Wright Glenn

• Re-Imagining the End of Life: Self-Development & Reflective Practices for Nurse Coaches, Jan Booth

• The Five Invitations, Frank Ostaseski

• The Grace in Dying, Kathleen Dowling-Singh

• A Year to Live, Stephen and Ondrea Levine

• Who Dies? Stephen and Ondrea Levine

• Dying Well, Ira Byock

• How to Enjoy Death: Preparing to Meet Life’s Final Challenge without Fear, Lama Zopa Rinpoche

• Walking Each Other Home, Ram Dass

• The Conversation, Volandes, MD

• At Home With Dying, Collett

• Extreme Measures, Jessica Zitter, MD

• The Lost Art of Dying, L.S. Dugdale

• Tuesdays With Morrie, Mitch Albom

• Marrow, Elizabeth Lesser

• Graceful Exit, Ferber, MD

• The Tibetan Book of the Dead

• Dancing with Elephants, Jarem Sawatsky

• From Here to Eternity, Caitlin Doughty

• The Good Funeral, Long and Lynch

• Making Friends with Death: A Buddhist Guide to Encountering Mortality, by Judith L. Lief

• No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life, by Thich Nhat Hanh (Riverhead)

• Living in the Light of Death: On the Art of Being Truly Alive, by Larry Rosenberg

• Leaning Into Sharp Points: Practical Guidance and Nurturing Support for Caregivers, by Stan Goldberg

• Staring at the sun: Overcoming the terror of death, by Irving Yalom

• Being with Dying: Cultivating compassion and fearlessness in the presence of death, by Joan Halifax

• The End of Fear: A spiritual path for realists, by Richard Schaub

• Overcoming the Fear of Death: Through each of the 4 main belief systems, by Kelvin Chin

• Share the Care, by Capossela and Warnock

• At the Time of Death: Symbols & Rituals for Caregivers and Chaplains, by David Bieniek

• You’ve Reached Sam, by Dustin Thao - a Young Adult Novel
  

Books for Children

(Caregivers are encouraged to read these books first, they may not all be appropriate for every age or situation.)

• When Someone Dies, Sharon Greenlee

• What Color is Death, Daddy?, Dr. Joanne Cacciatore

• How Do You Care for A Very Sick Bear, Vanessa Bayer

• The Goodbye Book, Todd Parr

• I’ll See You in Your Dreams Tonight: A Book of Hope for Grieving Kids, Katie Cosgrove

• Duck, Death and the Tulip, Wolf Erlbruch

• Always Remember, Cece Meng

• The Dragonfly Story: Explaining the death of a loved one to children and families, Kelly Owen

• Badger’s Parting Gifts, Suan Varley

• Bear and Bird, James Skofield and Jennifer Thermes

• The Memory Tree, Britta Teckentrup

• Lifetimes: The Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children, Brian Mellonie and Robert Ingpen 

• Maybe Dying is Like Becoming a Butterfly, Pimm van Hest

• Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, Tomie dePaola

• Death is Stupid, Anastasia Higginbotham

• The Invisible String, Patrice Karst

• Tear Soup, Pat Schwiebert

• Little Tree, Loren Long

• The Flat Rabbit, Bardur Oskarsson

• Cry Heart, But Never Break: Glenn Ringtved, Charlotte Pardi

• When Miss Bluebird Died, Jennifer Reich, Kristine Kollasch

• When Dinosaurs Die, Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown

• I Miss You: A first look at death, Thomas and Harker

• Wherever You Are, my love will find you, Nancy Tillman

• Sad Isn’t Bad, Mundy

• A Stone for Sascha, Aaron Becker

• Tess’s Tree, Jess M. Brallier

• A Terrible Thing Happened, Holmes and Mudlaff

• When I Feel Sad, Cornelia Maude Spelman

• Where Do They Go? Julia Alvarez

• The Funeral, Matt James

• The Purple Balloon, Raschka

• The Heart and the Bottle, Oliver Jeffers

• Lasting Love, Wright and Heath

• When Sadness is at Your Door, Eva Eland

• Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White

• The Memory Box: A book about grief, Joanna Rowland

• Boats for Papa, Jessica Bagley

• Map of Memory Lane, Arnoldy

Movies

• The Fault in Our Stars - a love story between two young cancer patients

• Paddleton - Two friends deal with Medical Aid in Dying

• Tuesdays With Morrie

• Lullabye

• The Life of Death (animated on YouTube)

• Departures

• The Farewell

• A Monster Calls

• A Good Death

• Two Weeks (Starring Sally Fields)

• My Girl

• Terms of Endearment

• After Life

• Soul (Disney)

• Coco

• Ms. White Light Amazon Prime
  

Documentaries

• Zen and the Art of Dying - profiles Zenith Virago

• Griefwalker - profiles Stephen Jenkinson

• Speaking Grief https://speakinggrief.org/documentaryAn Honest Death

• Dying Wish (VSED)

• The Handmade Death of Herta Sturmann (VSED)

• Rosemary Bowen (VSED)

• End Game

• Extremis

• Go in Peace

• Surviving Death (Netflix)

• The Last Ecstatic Days

Podcasts

• End of Life University - Karen Wyatt, MD - over 200 episodes! End of Life University: Created by Dr. Karen Wyatt, a website, podcast, and resource for anything and all Death Education.

• Death: the Podcast

• Dead Funny, Dead Serious with Mitzi Weiland

• Death by Design Kimberly Paul

• Death, et seq. Tanya Marsh

• Doing Death: Amanda Blainey

• Death in the Afternoon: Caitlin Doughty

• Grief Refuge

  Songs

• I Don’t Want to Die in the Hospital, Connor Oberst

• I’ll Fly Away, Multiple artists

• Sirens, Pearl Jam

• Paths That Cross, Patti Smith

• Keep Me In Your Heart, Warren Zevon

• When I Go Away, Levon Helm

• Brokedown Palace, Grateful Dead

• I Shall Be Released, The Band, Joe Cocker, and others

• People Get Ready, Eva Cassidy

• Fixin’ To Die, Rory Block, Bonnie Raitt, and others

• Company of Friends, Danny Schmidt

• Tears in Heaven, Eric Clapton

• For a Dancer, Jackson Browne

• Say, John Mayer

• Long May You Run, Neil Young

• Take it with Me, Tom Waits

• Time, Tom Waits

• Shiver Me Timbers, Tom Waits

• You Can Never Hold Back Spring, Tom Waits

• No One Knows I’m Gone, Tom Waits

• Let The Mystery Be My Life, Iris Desment

• Not Afraid To Die, Avett Brothers or Gillian Welsh

• When All is Said and Done, Geoff Moore and the Distance

• Wide River to Cross, Buddy Miller

• 
  

Other Websites

• Conscious Dying Collective  Doula Training

• Center for End of Life Transitions  

• National HealthCare Decisions Day

• Organ Donation

• When You Die Resources

Apps

• WeCroak

• For Caregivers (free)

• Grief Refuge

 Other

• The Artists’ Grief Deck

• The Death Deck

• Go Wish Cards