The founders of S.O.L.E., a For Freedoms offering, will lead a group meditation. Letting go of what might be on our minds, and starting the day in the same head-space, together.
When illness enters the picture, partners need to navigate the changes in a relationship from couple, to “patient” and “caregiver”. What changes over this time period, and what new ways are there to connect and find love and safety?
Narrative medicine is a practice used with patients and families, but it’s something all of us can tap into at any time. In conversation with Chris Adrian, Ben Trappey will cover the importance of “story” throughout our lives, the science of story, and thinking about how to change your story.
How and where can clinicians take helpful cues from their colleagues? Emily Silverman and Natalie Crittendon discuss learning to sit with pain and suffering, as a clinician, in order to help them to sit with the pain and suffering of others.
Physical spaces for care are designed for the institution, but ultimately are experienced on an individual level. BJ Miller and Michael Murphy discuss how our clinical spaces compare to our homes, and how might we think about design of spaces for death and dying.
Psychedelics are a new and novel way that people are alleviating their fear of illness, death and dying. But they’re not yet accessible to all. Ladybird Morgan, Chris Adrian and Wendy MacNaughton discuss other ways to can tap into thinking, and seeing, our reality differently.
There are multiple aspects of grieving: the difficult and painful, as well as the hopeful. Bridget Sumser and Tom Grothe discuss how to engage with the losses we all experience on a daily basis and honor them so that when we get to bigger losses, we are better prepared for their effect.
The ability to share information on social media is notably more expansive than in a traditional clinical setting. Julie McFadden will speak on using online tools to educate the general public on death and dying; and what clinical settings can learn from this mode of dissemination.
Our healthcare system is not broken. It was designed poorly and is working exactly as designed. It’s time to consider a redesign, and to reframe dying as a movement of economic empowerment that also brings dignity to our final years.
A personal story of loss and the incredible gains received by exploring and reaching out for tools to examine the many aspects of the dying process and of grief.
The world of touch is a spectrum that helps us feel alive. BJ Miller and Karen Schanche cover sensuality and the senses, potent tools to bring you back into your body and create connections to yourself and others around you.
If life is a gift, what can we say about death? What is beyond loss and pain? Just before a plant dies, it offers up its last few seeds with the hope of new life. Death always provides fruits for us to harvest but to acknowledge them is often anathema to the torch of love we carry by way of grief. Let us explore together the many fruits we've been provided by the loss of our most treasured loved ones.