Top 10 Tips to Keep Your Tribe In the Know: Mastering updates on your loved one’s illness
When a loved one faces a life-altering diagnosis, the burning question on everyone's mind is, 'How can we help?' Discover 10 powerful tips and resources to keep family and friends updated on the journey towards healing.
What He Didn’t Say Before Dying is Breaking our Hearts: Talking about dating and remarriage before one of you dies
Of all the conversations to have with your spouse as you prepare your end-of-life plans and wishes, the topic of remarriage may be the trickiest. And the unfortunate challenge is that you may not know the difficulty of that conversation until one of you faces life without the other.
Cemetery Selection Guide for Families
If your end-of-life plans involve a burial, cemetery selection can be one of the hardest decision-making processes you go through. There are many factors to consider when choosing the right cemetery for you and/or your loved ones and it can be a stressful process.
How Hurricanes Answer the Question, “Should I Have an End-of-Life Plan?”
Tropical storm Hilary hitting California is a reminder that disasters can strike anywhere at any time. It should also serve as motivation to have our affairs in order through end-of-life planning to protect family members from unnecessary hardships when an accident or illness impacts your family.
What is the Difference Between Palliative Care and Hospice?
What is the difference between palliative care and hospice? These two terms are often misunderstood and used interchangeably. In this week’s blog we describe the difference as they may come up when you complete your advanced directive and living will.
How Do You Explain Death to Children?
Explaining death to children is a difficult, but important, task. In this week’s blog post we’ve included links to articles written by professionals who offer great advice and counsel about how to talk to kids about death and prepare them for loss, as well as how to support children who are grieving now.
The Great Family Council
One of the most important steps in end-of-life planning is to communicate your wishes with the family. Sharing your plans helps ensure that they are conducted according to your desires and helps eliminate family squabbles over post-mortem activities.
Comforting the Grieving
Whether intentional or not, hurtful and offensive comments are a part of life. Widows and widowers are especially vulnerable to well-meaning, but painful comments of others.
The Love Letters Kept
One of the things we hear most often about loss is that when a parent/spouse/loved one passed away, survivors immediately look for something written that had their name on it. Whether it was a letter, a journal entry, a calendar, ANYTHING in their loved one’s handwriting that mentioned the survivor by name. I this week’s blog, we discuss one of our HIGHLY RECOMMENDED things to add to your end-of-life planning to do list. Write letters to your people. A journal is for you. A letter is for them.
Preparation for Peace
Preparing emotionally and spiritually for the death of a spouse is a challenge, but doable. Conversation is the key.
Don’t Poke the Care BEAR!
Don't poke the care bear! Being a caregiver to a loved one during a long-term illness was a life-changing, difficult, yet very meaningful experience. Turns out caregiving brings its own set of challenges while your person is also having life-changing, difficult and hopefully meaningful experiences.
Planning for a Funeral
Whether it’s called a funeral, memorial, or celebration of life, honoring the deceased is a custom upheld by most families and communities. Many decisions must be made to prepare for and carry out a service. What happens to the body? Where will the remains reside? What kind of casket or urn is desired? Though each of these components could be a blog all by themselves, this week’s blog addresses what may be the driving force behind how you answer each these questions -- cost.