Decades after Jessica Mitford stunned America with vivid accounts of corruption and abuse in the death industry, not much has improved. Families are manipulated into buying expensive goods and services they don't need or want. Prepaid funeral money vanishes into thin air. Body parts are sold on the black market. Eight states force families to pay a funeral director even if they conduct a home funeral with no need for help. But a consumer movement is no awakening, and Americans are asserting their rights over a key part of life, just as they did in the past with the natural childbirth and hospice movements. The two most prominent leaders of that movement are the authors of this book: Joshua Slocum, executive director of Funeral Consumers Alliance, and Lisa Carlson, executive director of Funeral Ethics Organization. Here they join forces to expose wrongdoing, inform consumers of their rights, and propose legal reforms. The book includes state-by-state summaries of laws, regulations, services, and consumer concerns.

Philip Connors s Fire Season, an account of the decade he spent working in a fire-lookout tower high above the remotest part of New Mexico, won the Banff Mountain Book Grand Prize and the Reading the West Book Award, and Amazon named it the Best Nature Book of the Year. Now Connors returns with the story of what drove him up to the tower in the first place: the wilderness years he spent reeling in the wake of a family tragedy. This is an unforgettable account of grappling with a shattered sense of purpose, from his family s failing pig farm in Minnesota to a crack-addled Brooklyn neighborhood to the mountains of New Mexico, where he puts the pieces of his life back together. Like Cheryl Strayed s Wild, this is a finely wrought look back at wayward youth and a redemptive story about discovering one s place in the world."

Rapid advances in modern medicine have revolutionized the way we think about death and the processes of dying. Once death was defined as the absence of respiration or heartbeat; today patients hooked up to a respirator and feeding tube can be kept alive for months or years. Ivan and Melrose carefully explain the various medical processes involved in death and dying. In doing so they also confront the many ethical, moral and legal dilemmas that face doctors today, as well as the decisions that must be taken by relatives.

Restore Your Spirit after Sudden Loss "The Sudden Loss Survival Guide is a must-read guidebook for everyone who has experienced an unexpected loss of any kind in their life." - The Grief Reiki Healing after loss. When a loved one passes unexpectedly, the person left behind can lose their bearings. After the sudden death of her mother, Chelsea Hanson, a nationally-recognized grief educator and founder of With Sympathy Gifts and Keepsakes, didn't know where to turn for help, what to do next, or how to put the pieces of her life back together. Hanson's The Sudden Loss Survival Guide gathers everything that she learned during her own recovery process and provides an indispensable road map to aid those who've experienced a life-changing loss. A proactive, intentional approach. While you cannot control losing a loved one, you can consciously guide your own recovery. Through the application of simple, proactive practices, The Sudden Loss Survival Guide will empower you to overcome the darkness and anxiety of grief. Action-based tools. The Sudden Loss Survival Guide includes heart-lifting prompts and action steps that guide you towards reengaging in life and discovering deeper meaning. Through Hanson's grief healing practices, this book delivers the essential answers and tools needed to survive, cope, and heal from the devastating impact of sudden loss. The Sudden Loss Survival Guide is a distinctive grief recovery handbook. In this book, discover: Seven practices for healing, including creative memorialization and maintaining an ongoing spiritual connection Skimmable, stand-alone passages with immediate, usable information for the trauma you're facing A transformative method for living a meaningful, fulfilling life in remembrance of your loved one Readers of grief books like Your Grief, Your Way, I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye, or Grief Day By Day will learn how to live again with the help of The Sudden Loss Survival Guide.

Ten years after Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's death: "An inspiring...guide to life, distilled from the experiences of people who face death" ("Kirkus Reviews")--the beloved classic now with a new introduction and updated resources section.
Is this really how I want to live my life? Each one of us at some point asks this question. The tragedy is not that life is short, but that we often see only in hindsight what really matters.
In her first book on life and living, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross joined with David Kessler to guide us through the practical and spiritual lessons we need to learn so that we can live life to its fullest in every moment. Many years of working with the dying have shown the authors that certain lessons come up over and over again. Some of these lessons are enormously difficult to master, but even the attempts to understand them can be deeply rewarding. Here, in fourteen accessible chapters, from the Lesson of Love to the Lesson of Happiness, the authors reveal the truth about our fears, our hopes, our relationships, and, above all, about the grandness of who we really are.

Help for people coping with and preparing for death from a general Christian perspective The aim of this book is to help people who are coping primarily (but also with any kind of major loss or change) from a general Christian perspective. It will offer resources and help to people asking fundamental questions about death. It includes poetry and prose, prayer and liturgical resources, and a chapter on preparing your funeral. There is a bibliography and a list of organisations which might be able to offer support. The book is popular, but thoughtful and reflective style and includes exercises on understanding, and quotations from people reflecting on their experience.

Those who have been bereaved are in need of support, and groupwork is an effective way in which people can come together and support each other in a trusted environment. This book provides a practical introduction to setting up and facilitating bereavement support groups, giving facilitators the confidence to run a group. It guides the reader through all the stages of setting up a group, and examines different types of facilitation and the skills needed. Case studies illustrate different types of group, such as closed, time-limited groups and open groups, with a discussion about the potential of online groups. Chapters also cover group dynamics, handling challenging situations, and overcoming problems that may arise. This accessible book helps to make groups successful for both participants and facilitators, and is a valued source of information and guidance for those working with bereaved people, including hospice and hospital staff, counsellors, trainers, managers and social workers.

With a foreword by Judy Woodruff, The Unexpected Journey of Caring is a practical guide to finding personal meaning in the 21st century care experience. Personal transformation is usually an experience we actively seek out-not one that hunts us down. Becoming a caregiver is one transformation that comes at us, requiring us to rethink everything we once knew. Everything changes-responsibilities, beliefs, hopes, expectations, and relationships. Caregiving is not just a role reserved for "saints"-eventually, everyone is drafted into the caregiver role. It's not a role people medically train for; it's a new type of relationship initiated by a loved one's need for care. And it's a role that cannot be quarantined to home because it infuses all aspects of our lives. Caregivers today find themselves in need of a crash course in new and unfamiliar skills. They must not only care for a loved one, but also access hidden community resources, collaborate with medical professionals, craft new narratives consistent with the changing nature of their care role, coordinate care with family, seek information and peer support using a variety of digital platforms, and negotiate social support-all while attempting to manage conflicts between work, life, and relationship roles. The moments that mark us in the transition from loved one to caregiver matter because if we don't make sense of how we are being transformed, we risk undervaluing our care experiences, denying our evolving beliefs, becoming trapped by other's misunderstandings, and feeling underappreciated, burned out, and overwhelmed. Informed by original caregiver research and proven advocacy strategies, this book speaks to caregiving as it unfolds, in all of its confusion, chaos, and messiness. Readers won't find well-intentioned cliches or care stereotypes in this book. There are no promises to help caregivers return to a life they knew before caregiving. No, this book greets caregivers where they are in their journey-new or chronic-not where others expect (or want) them to be.

A reassuring and thoroughly researched guide to maintaining a high quality of life--from resilient old age to the first inklings of a serious illness to the final breath--by the New York Times bestselling author of Knocking on Heaven's Door. The Art of Dying Well is about living as well as possible for as long as possible and adapting successfully to change. Packed with extraordinarily helpful insights and inspiring true stories, award-winning journalist and prominent end-of-life speaker Katy Butler shows how to thrive in later life (even when coping with a chronic medical condition), how to get the best from our health system, and how to make your own "good death" more likely. This handbook of step by step preparations--practical, communal, physical, and sometimes spiritual--will help you make the most of your remaining time, be it decades, years, or months. Butler explains how to successfully age in place, why to pick a younger doctor and how to have an honest conversation with her, when not to call 911, and how to make your death a sacred rite of passage rather than a medical event. This down-to-earth manual for living, aging, and dying with meaning and even joy is based on Butler's own experience caring for aging parents, as well as hundreds of interviews with people who have successfully navigated a fragmented health system and helped their loved ones have good deaths. It also draws on interviews with nationally recognized experts in family medicine, palliative care, geriatrics, oncology, hospice, and other medical specialties. Inspired by the medieval death manual Ars Moriendi, or the Art of Dying, The Art of Dying Well is the definitive update for our modern age, and illuminates the path to a better end of life.

You've lost someone you loved, and now the pain seems unendurable. June Cerza Kolf understands. She, too, has suffered the wound of grief, and as a veteran of hospice work, has counseled many mourning people. In this gentle, empathic book, Kolf leads you through the stages of grief, helping you understand what to expect as time goes on and making you mindful of potential pitfalls such as feeling anger or guilt, dealing with holidays, and experiencing physical distress. No matter what the loss has been, it takes time and heart-wrenching work for the wound to heal. Kolf takes you by the hand and helps you do this painful--yet vital--work. She offers practical and therapeutic ways of dealing with depression and easing pain and gives creative ideas for expressing your love and remembrance. The grief exercises provided in this book are an outlet for working through your pain on your own or in a small-group setting. Most of all, as When Will I Stop Hurting? guides you through the rough terrain of grieving, it will also point you to God, the one true source of healing.

Fear of death is nearly as inevitable as death itself, so we have used modern medicine and the funeral industry to create an ever-increasing distance between us and our mortality. But these interventions have stripped death of its mystery and mysticism. Taking readers on a journey through history, guided by the mystics, Awakened by Death shows us how our psychological and spiritual relationship to death has changed over time, and helps us to reclaim a healthy engagement with our own mortality. Ultimately, readers will gain a deeper understanding of how facing the fear of death, and embracing rather than eschewing its mysteries, can help us live richer, fuller lives.

Many people who suffer the death of a loved one cling to the experience of grief long after the actual pain of loss goes away. This is because grief itself is a complex issue, fraught with misinformation and unrealistic expectations, often leading to interpersonal isolation at the times people need connection the most. Ironically, it is often by embracing the experience of grief that people become most fully mindful of life. Grieving readers will find, in this book, a new understanding of their own grief process. They will learn about the spiral staircase, a metaphor used to describe the ebb and flow of emotional pain that typically follow loss. The book offers readers ways to cope with the events and situations that trigger personal grief by using mindfulness exercises and radical acceptance, a concept that encourages the experience of grief rather than its denial. Ultimately, the book presents strategies for making life more meaningful by acknowledging death and working to embrace life.

In THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, Elizabeth Alexander finds herself at an existential crossroads after the sudden death of her husband. Reflecting with gratitude on the exquisite beauty of the intimacy they shared, grappling with the resulting void, and finding solace in caring for her two teenage sons, Alexander channels her poetic sensibilities into rich, lucid prose that universalizes a very personal quest for meaning and acceptance in the wake of loss. THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD is both an endlessly compelling memoir and a deeply felt meditation on the blessings of love, family, art, and community. For those who have loved and lost, or for anyone who cares about what matters most, this book is required reading.

A source of comfort and expert guidance

Like a knowing and sympathetic companion, this unique journal is designed to help you work through the painful emotions, thoughts, and memories that surface when you have lost someone dear to you. Written by a professional counselor, this book supplies you with important information about grief and the grieving process. But, more importantly, it invokes the healing power of writing to provide you with a means for collecting your thoughts, sorting out your feelings, and taking an active part in your own recovery.

Acclaim for The Healing Journey Through Grief . . .

"A wonderful guide for the bereaved. This journal not only provides valuable information, but it also allows the griever to make his or her own way through the painful mourning process." —Catherine Sanders, PhD, Author of Grief: The Mourning After, Surviving Grief . . . and Learning to Live Again, and How to Survive the Loss of a Child

Other books in the Healing Journey series include:

• The Healing Journey, 208 pp., Paper (0-471-24712-X)
• The Healing Journey for Couples, 288 pp., Paper (0-471-25470-3)
• The Healing Journey Through Divorce, 264 pp., Paper (0-471-29575-2)

Contents:
Part I: General Perspectives on Loss, Trauma, Coping and Positive Impacts of Loss. From Vulnerability to Growth: Positive and Negative Effects of Stressful Life Events. The Other Side of Trauma: Towards a Psychology of Appreciation. Bereavement. Helping Victims of Loss and Trauma: A Social Psychological Perspective. Victim Thinking. The Ranking of Personal Grief: Death and Comparative Loss. Parallel Selves as Ending of the Grief Work. Rational Suicide. Part 2: Loss and Trauma Associated with Specific Populations. The Role of Perceived Control in Coping with the Losses Associated with Chronic Illness. Coping as a "Reality Construction": On the Role of Attentive, Comparative, and Interpretive Processes in Coping with Cancer. Loss, Adjustment, and Growth after Cancer: Lessons from Patients' children. The Few Gains and Many Losses for Those Stigmatized by Psychiatric Disorders. The Human Costs of Organizational Downsizing: The "Irrational" Effects of The Justice Motive on Managers, Dismissed Workers, and Survivors. Transcending A Lifetime of Losses: kers, and Survivors. Transcending A Lifetime of Losses: Grief and Loss. On Being Homeless and Mentally Ill: A Multitude of Losses and the Possibility of Recovery. Part 3: Loss and Trauma Associated with Close Relationships. Loss, Resources, and Resiliency in Close Interpersonal Relationships. Negotiating Terminal Illness: Communication, Collusion, and Coalition in Caregiving. Caregiver Loss and Quality of Care Provided: Pre-Illness Relationship Makes a Difference. Adjusting to Infertility. Widowhood in Later-Life. The Loss of Loved Ones: the Impact of Relationship Infidelity. Unyielding custody disputes: Tempering Loss and Courting disaster. Cognitive Interdependence and the Experience of Relationship Loss. Part 4: Conclusion. Commentary on Field of Loss and Trauma and Chapters.

John Bell is sought after by Protestant, Catholic and non-denominational churches worldwide

The question of what happens to us before we are born is one which is little explored, yet the route between life and death is a journey that everyone takes. Drawing on the prayers and meditations of Rudolf Steiner, Arie Boogert offers a detailed description of the journey we take from the moment of death, and beyond. Considering how experiences and actions in our lives impact on our future, this profound book offers a guide to the path which awaits after death. A supportive and insightful companion for readers keen to explore the journey from death to birth and beyond.

"Beautifully written, complex, provocative, painful, genuine...an unforgettable memoir."-ROXANE GAY "Wonderfully lyrical and uncomfortably honest in a way that is so rare, yet so needed."-JENNY LAWSON "Disturbing and profound, this intimate book also reveals the sometimes-labyrinthine nature of the bonds that unite people in love...A provocative and memorable work."-Kirkus Reviews After years of struggling in a tumultuous marriage, writer Rebecca Woolf was finally ready to leave her husband. Two weeks after telling him she wanted a divorce, he was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. Four months later, at the age of forty-four, he died. In All of This, Woolf chronicles the months before her husband's death-and her rebirth after he was gone. With rigorous honesty and incredible awareness, she reflects on the end of her marriage: how her husband's illness finally gave her the space to make peace with his humanity and her own. Stunning, compelling, and brilliantly nuanced, All of This is one woman's story of embracing the complexities of grief without shame-as a mother, a widow, and a sexual being-and emerging on the other side of a relationship with gratitude and relief.