End-of-Life University Ep. 493 The Good Death: An End-of-Life Guide with Suzanne B. O’Brien RN
Learn what it means to have a “good death” and how and why we all need to prepare for the end of life to benefit ourselves, our loved ones and our planet.
My guest Suzanne B. O’Brien RN is the founder and CEO of Doulagivers Institute and a “pioneer” in the global death doula movement. She has trained hundreds of thousands of people from all around the world to care those at the end of life. Most recently Suzanne is the author of The Good Death: A Guide for Supporting Your Loved One Through the End of Life. She discusses the book and why it’s so important that we facilitate a shift in how we experience death at this time in our world. Learn more at her websites:
This episode includes:
- How Suzanne first got started offering free end-of-life trainings to lay people as a hospice nurse
- Why hospice care alone can’t fix all the problems with how we approach the end of life
- How as a society we lost generational knowledge about caring for the sick, dying and dead at home
- Why allowing natural death can be a better choice than aggressive life-prolonging treatment
- Most family members lack the skills and training to care for their dying loved ones at home
- As the physical body goes through the dying process the spiritual aspect of life becomes more apparent
- Contemplating mortality helps us shift our mindset about death and changes how we live our lives
- How rituals help us cope with the losses we experience in life and death
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Register for Caritas Consciousness Project event on March 28th (I will be presenting) https://tinyurl.com/WyattCaritas
- Access to Competent Caregiver Course with Suzanne (Buy 3 books and get the course for free)
- NEW Gift Guides for Caregivers, People Receiving Care, and People Who are Grieving
- Get my two newest 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 I’ve recorded in the past here
- Join the team at Patreon.com/eolu and receive free gifts like the “Mind if we talk about death?” mini-poster or Love Your Life sticker or coffee mug. PLUS get our regular bonuses: the monthly EOL News Update, monthly What to Watch recommendations, Behind the Scenes Bonus content, and automatic access to A Year of Reading Dangerously!
- Buy me a coffee
- Donate on Paypal
If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, especially my newest donor Connie WS and to John Wadsworth for renewing your pledge. Also thanks to Someone who became a monthly member of Buy Me a Coffee! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.