“Befriending Mortality” 6-Week Series

What does Befriending Mortality mean to you? Join me to reflect on many facets of this time-honored question.

SUMMER 2024 UPDATE: FALL OFFERINGS ARE AVAILABLE FOR PREVIEW ON MY NEW WEBSITE.

WHAT: A series of six on-line classes, each centered on a specific topic, and include presentations, poetry, questions for reflection, and detailed follow-up materials. Recordings of sessions are available to registrants. See topics below.

“Honestly, this was one of the best workshop series I’ve ever been involved with. It was a perfect blend of facts and feelings. The beauty of the poems, songs, and films was essential for me. Holly is thorough and compassionate. It was a safe space for a subject that calls out for one.”

Scroll down for topic descriptions.

BONUS SESSIONS!

• DEATH CAFE: Each month during the series, a no-cost conversation for Befriending Mortality participants to give voice to whatever is on your mind regarding death, dying, and grief, in the company of others.
• 1-1 CONSULT: Those registering for the full series also have the option of a complimentary one-hour session with Holly by phone or Zoom on the topic of your choice, to be completed by June, 2024.

“Holly has a lovely, relaxed manner that is so easy to listen to, such a generous way of holding various options open, honoring different perspectives. She inspires trust through the energy her presence generates, her honesty and humor, and the breadth of her knowledge.”

Session Descriptions

The six-week series presents the following content. Any of the topics can also be explored through personalized consultation or education sessions for individuals, couples, or community groups.

Befriending Mortality – Death as our teacher, that we might know better how to care for the dying in our midst, to live in the presence of our mortality, and to die when it’s our turn. Grief as a skill, the skill of heartbrokenness, essential to the times we’re in. Considering these perspectives, you’ll be in good company as you reflect on your relationship to mortality.

Final Disposition – What will happen to your body when you die? We’ll review pros and cons, costs and where to find final disposition options from conventional burial and flame cremation, to long-established and emerging eco-friendly options including green burial, alkaline hydrolysis (sometimes called water or flameless cremation), and natural organic reduction (also known as human composting).

Remembering Together – How do we honor, and strengthen, the continuity of relationships across the veil of life and death? Along with remembering, together, those we are missing, we’ll share inspiring examples of creative ceremonies of bereavement and remembrance, including meaningful funerals, living memorials, and “re-dos” of ceremonies that went wrong or never happened.

The Dying Time – How do we support the dying in our midst? What supports might we want for our dying time? We’ll look at the landscape from diagnosis to death: palliative care and hospice, medical aid in dying (MAID) and voluntary stopping eating and drinking (VSED), assembling a care team and the role of an end-of-life doula, and the deaths that don’t go “according to plan.”

From Death to Disposition – ​Historically, care for the dead was handled by family and community – and legally, it is still our right to do so. But for many, our ancestral ways of caring for each other after death have been forgotten. We’ll review the aspects of deathcare now outsourced to professionals – bathing, dressing, and transporting the body; sourcing a casket, shroud or urn; handling the paperwork – and consider the benefits of more hands-on engagement.

Making a Death Plan – Birth plans have been promoted as a way for expectant parents and their care team to clarify and communicate their values, needs, and preferences for both optimal and unforeseen scenarios. A written death plan can do the same. We’ll review all the elements you may want to consider: physical/ medical, legal/ logistical, emotional/ spiritual, and social/ cultural along the time spectrum of before illness, during the dying time, and after death.

“This series is a wonderful opportunity to gather information about resources, supports, and options for the dying process. It’s a reality check that we each will die, and demonstrates how talking about that reality can bring us more fully into living with the preciousness of  life.”

For More Info

All sessions are designed and led by Holly Pruett, drawing from work with hundreds of clients, eight years of death cafés, and scores of presentations for groups such as Rose Villa, Hopewell House, Friendly House Planning with Pride, The Peaceful Presence Project, Green Burial Council, Holladay Park Plaza, Assoc. of Professional Chaplains–OR, NW Assoc. of Death Education & Bereavement Support.

Read more about my qualifications. Contact me if you have questions!

“Holly’s gentleness, firmness, and deep knowledge and writings are so well matched to her chosen life work.”