Death-Defying Discussions Podcast with Diane DeVivo and Michael Williams Diane DeVivo & Michael Williams

When it comes to end-of-life planning, having the help of a professional End-of-Life Planning Facilitator can ensure the process is an easy and smooth one. Whether it's help with your legal and financial paperwork, funeral and burial arrangements, or future health care planning, an End-of-Life Planning professional can help. In this short episode, Before I Go Solutions EOL Planning Facilitator and Trainer Michael Williams offers 10 reasons to consider hiring an End-of-Life Planning Facilitator to help you get your affairs in order.

Music by Tiny Putty by Blue Dot Sessions

End-of-Life Planning Facilitator Michael Williams shares his thoughts on supporting someone to cope with the fear of death. Dr. Williams is the co-host of Death-Defying Discussions and the Senior Facilitator and Trainer with Before I Go Solutions (www.beforeigosolutions.com).

Prince Edward Island writer Sue Woodworth-Scalia lost her partner of twenty years recently. In the throes of grief, she turned to poetry to find meaning and solace. Her new book, entitled Keening: Poems of love and loss, is a beautifully crafted chapbook containing a dozen heart-wrenching poems dealing with grief. Arranged in what she calls "the seven stages" they range through "shock and denial", "pain and guilt", "anger and bargaining", "depression and reflection", "upward turn", "working through" and "acceptance". By no means linear or chronological, Sue's poetry takes the reader on a soul's journey.

Listen as Diane and I enter into a deep conversation with Sue about her grief journey and how poetry is helping her make sense of her experience. While deeply personal, Sue's poetry has a universal appeal that will have anyone who's experienced or is experiencing grief engaged with her writing.

You can obtain a copy of Sue's book Keening: Poems of love and loss by emailing Sue at dancer2@eastlink.ca.

Michael Williams shares some reflections on "living wills" (also known as advance directives or letters of wishes).

A living will documents your wishes or instructions for the treatments or care you would want to be withdrawn during the final stages of life if the quality of life cannot be guaranteed. Of course, "quality of life" needs to be defined. What would you be prepared to live with or without?

People often ask that "heroic measures" not be taken. Again, these "measures" need to be detailed and could include CPR, antibiotics, mechanical ventilation, and feeding tubes. It's important to discuss your wishes with family and loved ones, especially with you power-of-attorney for personal and health care.

Storyteller and co-host of the Death-Defying Discussions Podcast, Michael Williams, tells a cautionary tale of poor Mrs. Thompson. When her health declines and she is hospitalized, her family discovers that their mother does not have her powers of attorney in place for health care and finances. The lack of a designated decision-maker adds a burden to an already grieving family. Don't let this happen to you.

Julie Saeger Nierenberg is an author, artist, educator, and an accredited End-of-Life Planning Facilitator. Her book Daddy, This is It (2020) Nierenberg describes her father's death as a "beautiful event". It's a touching tribute to him and tells how he prepared his daughter and how she coped with his loss. Her second book, Journey's End: Death, Dying, and the End of Life, co-written with Victoria Brewster, features numerous stories of people's experiences of death and dying from people around the world and shares the authors' personal and professional reflections on end-of-life matters. Her recent book, It Is What It Is explores the author's response and decision-making process when she is diagnosed with a brain tumour.

This hour-long podcast provides insight into an author who has had to deal with death and her own mortality. Her hope is that her words and experiences will help anyone facing similar challenges and help part the veil on end of life so that we can talk more openly about death, dying, and grief and how we can best prepare for the inevitable.