It was April of 2017 when Garrick and the late Kinsloe Kelley Colwell, LMFT, invited over 20 Austin area healthcare professionals to meet and discuss ways in which they could
assist the Central Texas community in becoming aware of the importance
of completing their advance care directives.
Over the next few months, the group met and decided to offer educational programs and resources through a non-profit organization they would call Kitchen Table Conversations.
They felt the name of the organization would encourage people to have the end of life conversations in the comfort of their homes instead of during
a medical crisis in the ICU.
July 1, 2017, this web site was launched. The first workshop was offered the following month.
In October, AARP of Central Texas began sponsoring The 3 Ds of Advance Care Planning:
How to Decide, Discuss, and Document Your End of Life Wishes workshops.
In 2020 AARP will sponsor four such webinars that will reach
thousands of Central Texans.
These workshops are facilitated by Garrick Colwell, President, and CEO of Kitchen Table Conversations. Garrick has been a Hospice Volunteer since 1987, serving as an on-call
hospital and hospice chaplain. He is a Respecting Choices® Person-Centered Care
First Steps® Advance Care Planning Certified Instructor and Facilitator.
As a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist, he co-created with Hospice Austin Conversations
On Grief, a monthly online grief support program. As a volunteer, he
co-facilitates drop-in and loss of spouse grief support groups.
Garrick has completed over 200 hours of study with a grief expert David Kessler at grief.com. David is the author of five bestselling books on grief. His first book, The Needs of the Dying,
is a #1 best-selling hospice book praised by Mother Teresa. He co-authored with the
legendary Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, MD, both On Grief and Grieving and Life Lessons.
David's most recent book Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief, was
published in November 2019.
Recently, Garrick completed 240 hours of training with the author, educator, and grief
counselor Alan Wolfelt, Ph.D., CT, and holds a Death and Grief Studies certificate from
the internationally recognized Center for Loss and Life Transition, a private
an organization founded by Dr. Wolfelt that is dedicated to
furthering our understanding of grief.
In 2020 Kitchen Table Conversations began offering their Grief Education webinar series.
Topics, dates, and times can be found on our Home Page; click on Grief Education.
Garrick can be reached at 512-787-3402 or
garrick@KitchenTableConversations.org
Host a Kitchen Table Conversations Webinar, Activity, or Event
If you're interested in hosting a FREE workshop, activity, or event on
Advance Care Planning for your company, faith community or
special interest group, please call us today at
512-787- 3402
