Kitchen Table Conversations
Advance Care Planning, End of Life
and Grief Education
Advance Care Planning Webinar Series
Advance Care Planning Webinar Series
Advance Care Planning Webinar Series
Do it for yourself, for your family, and for those you love. Don't burden them with end of life decisions without giving them a road map of your wishes to guide them.
When should we do Advance Care Planning?
Click on "Learn More" to REGISTER FREE for the August Webinar Series
End of Life Education Webinar Series
Advance Care Planning Webinar Series
Advance Care Planning Webinar Series
What is Hospice, why should I consider it and when can I go on Hospice. How do go about choosing a Hospice provider?
What is palliative care, when do I need it and how do I access it?
What happens as we approach the end of our life? How do we know when the end is near?
We will be offering answers to all these questions and more in a new webinar series we are currently developing.
Grief Education Webinar Series
Advance Care Planning Webinar Series
Grief Education Webinar Series
Learn what to say and what not to say to someone grieving, how to heal your broken heart, where to finding meaning after loss and why men grieve differently and how to support them.
The 3 Ds of Advance Care Planning™ - Start TODAY!
Warm and meaningful conversations take place at kitchen tables across America every day. It’s a safe place for us to discover what we value and explore how to live our lives. Over time we share what we learn, and as we age, we have opportunities to start conversations with our loved ones about how we’d like to live at the end of our life.
According to The Conversation Project 2013 National Survey, 90% of people say that talking with their loved ones about end of life care is important, but only 27% have done so. The result is that too many people are dying in ways they wouldn’t choose, often leaving loved ones feeling guilty and uncertain. No doubt, talking about end of life choices can be tough. However, discussing how you chose to live at the end of life with loved ones and healthcare professionals has proven to ease anxieties and reduce stress – for everyone! The truth is it’s better to have these conversations at the kitchen table than in the Intensive Care Unit during a medical crisis.
If how you live at the end of your life matters, then you will want to learn three things;
- How to Decide on what you want and who you want to speak for you if you are unable to speak for yourself.
- How to Discuss your end of life wishes with your loved ones and healthcare professionals.
- How to Document your end of life wishes to make sure everyone is on the same page, literally!
Kitchen Table Conversations offers FREE webinars that include a screening and discussion of "Being Mortal" a PBS Frontline Documentary followed by - The 3 Ds of Advance Care Planning - How to Decide, Discuss and Document Your End of Life Wishes™. We invite you to learn how to decide what is most important to you at the end of life, how to have end-of-life conversations with your loved ones and healthcare professionals as well as learn how to document your end-of-life wishes.
If you're interested in sponsoring this webinar series for your company, faith community or special interest group, please call us today at 512-787-3402
FREE In-Depth "The 3 Ds of Advance Care Planning™" Webinars
How to Decide What You Want and Who Will Speak for You If You're Unable
How to Discuss Your End of Life Wishes with Your Loved Ones and Healthcare Providers
How to Discuss Your End of Life Wishes with Your Loved Ones and Healthcare Providers
The first webinar will focus on learning the facts and tips necessary to make sound decisions about what your end of life wishes are and who might be the best person to make medical decisions for
you if you are unable to make
them for yourself.
Date
Tuesday, August 17, 20231
Time
10:30 am to 12:00 pm CDT
Location
Via Zoom
Sponsor
AARP of Central Texas
How to Discuss Your End of Life Wishes with Your Loved Ones and Healthcare Providers
How to Discuss Your End of Life Wishes with Your Loved Ones and Healthcare Providers
How to Discuss Your End of Life Wishes with Your Loved Ones and Healthcare Providers
During the second webinar, you’ll learn how to openly and honestly discuss your end-of-life wishes with your loved ones and chosen health care agent. Next, we’ll show you how to talk with your health care providers. Sharing your end of life wishes gives everyone a better understanding of
what matters most to you.
Date
Tuesday, August 24, 2021
Time
10:30 am to 12:00 pm CDT
Location
Via Zoom
Sponsor
AARP of Central Tex
How to Document Your End of Life Wishes So Everyone Is On the Same Page
How to Discuss Your End of Life Wishes with Your Loved Ones and Healthcare Providers
How to Document Your End of Life Wishes So Everyone Is On the Same Page
The third webinar will be an opportunity to document your end of life choices. Our discussion will center around the Directive
to Physicians and Family or Surrogates (Advance Directives) and Medical Power
of Attorney (Your Healthcare Agent).
Questions will be answered, however
no legal advice will be given.
Date
Tuesday, August 31, 2021
Time
10:30 am to 12:00 pm CDT
Location
Via Zoom
Sponsor
AARP Central Texas
Can't Attend? Here Are DIY Advance Care Planning Resouces
Conversation Starter Kit
How to Talk with Your Doctor
Conversation Starter Kit
Talking with your loved ones openly and honestly, before a medical crisis happens, gives everyone a shared understanding about what matters most to
you at the end of life.
Click above and follow along as Ellen Goodman, founder of The Conversation Project reads the Conversation Starter Kit.
Who Will Speak for You?
How to Talk with Your Doctor
Conversation Starter Kit
It’s important to choose a health care proxy/agent – the person who will make decisions about your medical care if
you become unable to make
them for yourself.
This user-friendly guide offers facts and tips necessary to make sound decisions about choosing, a health care proxy/agent.
How to Talk with Your Doctor
How to Talk with Your Doctor
How to Talk with Your Doctor
After you’ve had the conversation with your loved ones, and chosen your health care proxy/agent the next step is talking to
your doctor or nurse about your wishes.
Don’t wait for a medical crisis; talking with your doctor or nurse now makes it easier
to make medical decisions when
the time comes.
Watch "Being Mortal"
A Beginner's Guide to the End
How to Talk with Your Doctor
This film is based on the best-selling book "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End." by Dr. Atul Gawande.
It explores the hopes of patients and families facing a terminal illness, their relationships with their doctors, and the care they
receive near the end of their lives.
A Beginner's Guide to the End
A Beginner's Guide to the End
A Beginner's Guide to the End
An honest, surprising, and detailed
oriented guide to the most universal of all experiences, A Beginner’s Guide to the End,
is the one book that everyone needs.
A practical, compassionate, and comprehensive guide to dying—and
living fully until you do.
Conversation Game
A Beginner's Guide to the End
A Beginner's Guide to the End
Hello is a conversation game. It's the safe, easy, and fun way to talk about living and dying and what matters most.
Since we' re unable to gather in person these days, there is a Free short version of Hello called "Hi" adapted for play over video chat.
FREE "Being Mortal" Screening and Discussion
"The two big unfixables are aging and dying..."
Based on the best-selling book "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End." by Dr. Atul Gawande, this film explores the hopes of patients and families facing a terminal illness, their relationships with their doctors, and the care they receive near the end of their lives. The film follows Dr. Gawande as he shares stories from the people and families he encounters.
After the screening, there is a facilitated discussion about actions you can take to communicate your health care decisions.
If you're interested in sponsoring a FREE 90-minute "Being Mortal" online screening and discussion for your company, faith community or special interest group, please call us today at
512-787- 3402
Conversations On Grief - FREE Grief Education Webinars
What to Say and What Not to Say to Someone Grieving
What to Say and What Not to Say to Someone Grieving
What to Say and What Not to Say to Someone Grieving
Someone you care about has suffered a loss. As a supportive friend or family member, you instinctively want to offer comfort but don’t know what to say. Then in a moment
of emotional awkwardness and with the best of intentions, you say:
“He’s in a better place.”
“There is a reason for everything.”
“Aren’t you over him yet, he has been dead for a while now?”
"You can have another child still.”
"She was such a good person God wanted her to be with him.”
“I know how you feel.” “Be strong.”
You meant no harm; however, what you just said was not helpful or supportive. So, what do you say, and what do you not say when someone -is grieving?
When you attend this workshop,
you'll learn:·
64 of the Worst Things You Can Say and How to Avoid Them.
64 of the Best Things You Can Say and the Best Ways to Say Them.
Why Grief is a Journey, NOT a Destination.
How to “Companion” the Griever on Their Journey Through the Wilderness of Grief.
Six Common Grief Emotions and How They Impact a Griever’s Daily Life.
How to Deal with the Physical Symptoms of Grief.
6 Grief Myths and How They Can Prevent the Griever from Moving Forward.
Grief educator Garrick Colwell will facilitate this workshop. He has completed over 200 hours of study with author and grief expert David Kessler and 200 hours of coursework with grief expert, author, and Director of the Center for Loss and Life Transitions, Dr. Alan Wolfelt. Garrick holds a "Death and Grief Studies Certification” from the center.
Garrick is also a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist® and collaborates with Hospice Austin on developing innovative grief and bereavement support programs.
Date
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Time
10:30 am to 12:00 pm CDT
Location
Via Zoom
Sponsor
AARP Central Texas
Helping Yourself Heal: First Aid for Broken Hearts
What to Say and What Not to Say to Someone Grieving
What to Say and What Not to Say to Someone Grieving
Life is both wonderful and devastating. It graces us with joy, and it breaks our hearts. If your heart is broken, this workshop is for you.
Whether you’re struggling with a death, break-up, illness, unwanted life change, or loss of any kind, this workshop will help you both understand your predicament and figure out what to do about it.
Loss may be an unavoidable part of human life, but it doesn’t have to prevent you from living well. You can and will survive this. If you adopt the basic principles, revealed and tested by one of the world’s beloved grief counselors, you’ll learn in this workshop; you will even go on to thrive.
The workshop is based on a book written by Alan D Wolfelt, PH.D. titled First Aid for Broken Hearts.
When you attend this workshop,
you'll learn:
How to Honor Your Unique Grief
Why Mourning Is the Secret Sauce of Grief
The 3 Degrees of Brokenness and How They Affect Your Healing
How to Triage Your Broken Heart
How to Find Short-Term Care Where to Go for Long-Term Care
How to Let the Mending Begin
Alan D Wolfelt, Ph.D., is a respected author and educator on the topics of companioning others and healing in grief. He serves as the Director of the Center for Loss and Life Transition. Visit www.centerforloss.com to learn more.
Grief educator Garrick Colwell will facilitate this workshop. He has completed over 200 hours of study with David Kessler and 200 hours of coursework with grief expert, author, and Director of the Center for Loss and Life Transitions, Dr. Alan Wolfelt. Garrick holds a "Death and Grief Studies Certification” from the center.
Garrick is also a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist® and collaborates with Hospice Austin on developing innovative grief and bereavement support programs.
Date
Tuesday, September 21, 2021
Time
10:30 am to 12:00 pm CDT
Location
Via Zoom
Sponsor
AARP of Central Texas
Finding Meaning After Loss
What to Say and What Not to Say to Someone Grieving
Finding Meaning After Loss
Grief is extremely powerful. It’s easy to get stuck in your pain and remain bitter, angry, or depressed. Grief grabs you by the heart ad doesn’t seem to let go.
But if you can manage to find meaning in even the most senseless loss, you can do more that get unstuck. When circumstances are at their worst, you can find your best.
You can keep growing and finding ways to live a good and someday even joyful life, one enriched by the lessons and love of the person who died.
The search for meaning after a loss will lead each of us along divergent paths.
This workshop is based on a book written by David Kessler titled, Finding Meaning, The Sixth Stage of Grief.
When you attend this workshop,
you’ll learn:
Why the 6 Stages of Grief Were Never Meant to Be Linear
What Is Meaning Making in Grief
Types of Meaning Making
How Meaning Making Can Help You Remember the Person Who Died with More Love Than Pain
Why Meaning Making is the Key to Recovery from Grief
The Keys to Finding Acceptance and Moving into Meaning Making
Why Post-Traumatic Growth Is an Important Part of Meaning Making
David Kessler is an expert on healing and loss. He is the author of five bestselling books on grief. He co-authored the two bestsellers: On Grief and Grieving and Life Lessons with the legendary Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.
In 2016, David’s youngest son died suddenly at 21 years old. He shares his very personal journey of loss and healing in his new book Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief. Visit www.grief.com to learn more.
Grief educator Garrick Colwell will facilitate this workshop. He has completed over 200 hours of study with author and grief expert David Kessler and 200 hours of coursework with grief expert, author, and Director of the Center for Loss and Life Transitions, Dr. Alan Wolfelt. Garrick holds a "Death and Grief Studies Certification” from the center.
Garrick is also a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist® and collaborates with Hospice Austin on developing innovative grief and bereavement support programs.
Date
Tuesday, September 28, 2021
Time
10:30 am to 12:00 pm CDT
Location
Via Zoom
Sponsor
AARP of Central Texasi
Why Men Grieve Differently and How to Support Them
Men grieve differently than women. Their grief languages are not the same. Yet grief does not have to divide. We will explore the differences and learn practical, loving ways to support men in grief.
There is no right or wrong way to grieve. Our grief as a man or a woman is as unique and individual as we are, however, there are differences.
Men tend to think their way through grief, women seem to feel their way. Women often perceive men as being void of emotions, reluctant to share their feelings. Maybe it’s because men are taught to honor the pain of loss, then hide any feelings associated with it. And when men and women try to talk with one another about their grief they quickly find they are speaking two different grief languages.
In this workshop we will explore the root cause of these differences. We will discuss how to replace expectation and judgement with understanding and compassion. You will learn practical helping skills you can use to give the men in your life heart-centered support.
Grief Educator, Garrick Colwell who lost his wife to cancer in 2019 will facilitate.