Here are resources I’ve come across in my exploration of the modern death care movement. If you have something you recommend please pass it along and feel free to ask any questions, I will do my best to direct you to the appropriate resource. Thanks and enjoy your journey.
“Hope is not a plan.”
“Death is not a medical emergency.”
Death Doula Jane‘s TED Talk: What I learned about life from death
Death Doula Jane (And the TED Talk Jane references on her page: BJ Miller: What Really Matters at the End of Life)
Podcast: In Sickness: An Interview with End of Life Doula Jane Whitlock
Barbara Karnes’s Resources (website)
Preparation for EOL & the Continuing Conversation about What Matters:
Go Wish Cards by Coda Alliance
Compassion and Choices: Tools to finish strong
Advanced Care Planning Resources (myriad from Stanford)
Coalition for Compassionate Care of California – Resources
The Dartmouth Dementia Directive
Advanced Death Care Directive from Sacred Crossings
Free Death File Checklist from Sacred Crossings
Willow EOL Planning & Education
Death Care Education:
Art of Death Midwifery from Sacred Crossings
The Center for Sacred Death Care
Film:
100 Things, a chapter from Consider the Conversation: A Documentary on a Taboo Subject
Jack Has a Plan – MAiD
How to Die in Oregon – MAiD
Death Positive and Green Funeral Homes, Burial Grounds and Resources:
Minnesota Threshold Network – lots of resources!
Sacred Crossings (Funeral home in Los Angeles area)
Herland Forest (Natural Burial Forest in Wahkiacus, Washington)
Colorado Burial Preserve (Natural burial preserve in Florence, CO)
Natural Organic Reduction (NOR) aka human composting as of 2023 is legal in WA, CO, OR, CA, NY, VT & NV – legalization tracker here)
Recompose (Natural Organic Reduction/human composting funeral home in Seattle, WA)
The Natural Funeral (Lafayette, CO NOR/human composting, and other green burial options, funeral home)
Return Home (Auburn, WA NOR/human composting funeral home)
Earth (Auburn, WA NOR/human composting funeral home)
Home Funeral Resources
Deathwives Home Funeral Course
Aquamation Resources
Bradshaw Funeral Home (Stillwater, MN)
VSED (Voluntary Stopping Eating and Drinking):
End of Life Concierge Services
Meditation:
Virtual Living Funeral Ceremony
Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD):
Film: How to Die in Oregon
Podcast: “Good Death” from Terrible, Thanks for Asking regarding Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD)
Film: Jack Has a Plan
Podcast: Best Life Best Death: Patient-Centered Care and Medical Assistance in Dying – Dr Stefanie Green
Final Exit Network:
Grief:
Listening Line from A Sacred Passing – you can call and chat with a trained listener, or become a trained listener
Grief and Death Anxiety Support from the Virtual Death Doula Network (15 minutes free and then sliding scale)
Modern Loss – Blog
What’s Your Grief? Online resources
Refuge in Grief, from the author of “It’s OK That You’re Not OK”
The Center for Loss & Life Transition, from Dr. Alan Wolfelt
Books for Grieving a Spouse from Allina
Allina’s grief support group resources
Media:
What if we treated death like birth? By Jane Whitlock
To Be a Field of Poppies by Lisa Wells
Swedish Death Cleaning:
Swedish Death Cleaning on ITV
Books:
Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them): A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying by Sallie Tisdale
That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour by Sunita Puri
The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life by Katy Butler
Knocking on Heaven’s Door by Katy Butler
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death by Joan Halifax
A Beginners Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death by BJ Miller, MD and Shoshana Berger
Walking Each Other Home: Conversations on Loving and Dying By Mirabai Bush and Ram Dass
Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul by Stephen Jenkinson
An Energy Healer’s Book of Dying: For Caregivers and Those in Transition by Suzanne Worthley
Accompanying the Dying: Practical, Heart-Centered Wisdom for End-Of-Life Doulas and Health Care Advocates by Deanna Cochran
At the Bedside: An end-of-life guidebook for clinicians, caregivers, volunteers, friends and family members who provide comfort and care to those who are dying by Gabrielle Elise Jimenez
Choosing to Die: A Personal Stoy by Phyllis Shacter
Greening Death: Reclaiming Burial Practices and Restoring Our Tie to The Earth by Suzanne Kelly
Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind by Barbara Becker
Holding Space: On Loving, Dying and Letting Go By Amy Wright Glenn
LGBTQ-Inclusive Hospice and Palliative Care: A Practical Guide to Transforming Professional Practice by Kimberly D. Acquaviva
Love and Fear: Stories from a Hospice Chaplain by Renshin Bunce
My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem
Preparing for a Better End: Expert Lessons on Death and Dying for You and Your Loved Ones by Dan Morhaim and Shelley Morhaim
Re-Imagining the End of Life: Self-Development & Reflective Practices for Nurse Coaches by Janet Booth
Sacred Dying: Creating Rituals for Embracing the End of Life by Megory Anderson
The Afterlife of Billy Fingers: How My Bad-Boy Brother Proved to Me There’s Life After Death by
Annie Kagan and Dr. Raymond Moody MD PhD
The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford
The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett: A Novel by Annie Lyons, Nicolette McKenzie, et al
The Lost Art of Dying: Reviving Forgotten Wisdom by LS Dugdale
Walking Each Other Home: Conversations on Loving and Dying By Mirabai Bush and Ram Dass
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi and Abraham Verghese
Hello, Goodbye: 75 Rituals for times of loss, celebration and change by Day Schildkret
Children’s Books:
Cry, Heart, But Never Break by Glenn Ringtved
Huffington Post list of 25 Books that explain Death and Grief to Kids