Ep. 473 Death’s Apprentice: Planning for Life, Death and After with Christa Ovenell

Learn how a funeral director who is also an end-of-life doula merges “head and heart” in her work to help people prepare for the end of life.

My guest Christa Ovenell is a licensed funeral director, an end-of-life doula, and the founder of Death’s Apprentice Education & Planning. She shares how she helps people think about, talk about, and prepare for the end of life and what comes after. Her work highlights the importance of planning how to live fully during our last days so that we don’t waste any of our precious time, and how to navigate all the transitions of life as we age. Learn more at her website:

deathsapprentice.ca

YouTube Channel

Listen here:

This episode includes:

• Why Christa ended up becoming both a funeral director and end-of-life doula
• When people don’t plan for their funerals and disposition they often end up with expensive options that weren’t really wanted
• Tips for getting end-of-life planning done while we are still healthy
• 4 pillars of decision-making
• How “heart work” is the hard work we need to do
• How a “pre-need” for funerals can be helpful to families
• Why decluttering is part of death-preparedness
• How to navigate life-altering transitions while aging

Links mentioned in this episode:

• NEW Gift Guides for Caregivers, People Receiving Care, and People Who are Grieving
• Get my two new books!! Stories from the Dark Night and The Tao of Death
• Get EOLU Podcast Merch here
• Conversations on Death with ChatGPT – Audiobook here; Print Book here
• 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
• Subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Stitcher Radio
• Check out the Series