Video Resources
Grief: A Path to Wholeness
Teacher and author (The Five Invitations) Frank Ostaseski has decades of being with people at end of life. Here he considers the wisdom in grieving in the healing process, and the importance s of allowing the constellation of responses to loss. He offers how the pain of loss can be be embraced and gradually released. His talk was to the Hospice of Santa Barbara.
A Completed Life
Faith Sommerfield, 82, founder of the Completed Life Initiative, chose to complete her life on Sept. 27, 2022 at the Pegasos Swiss Association in Basel, Switzerland. Faith was a life-long advocate for a person’s right to self-determination. She intended that her choice serve as a model and inspiration for the expansion of individual autonomy in end of life decision-making. In the U.S., medical aid in dying (“MAiD”) is legal in select states, but only available for those who suffer from a terminal illness. Were the assisted dying laws in the U.S. more inclusive of individuals without a terminal illness who reasonably choose to complete their lives, Faith might have pursued MAiD in the U.S. at a later time, rather than choosing to end her life in Switzerland.
Faith experienced chronic pain for many years, and chose to complete her life at a time of her choosing, when she had a strong sense of her life being complete while still having both the soundness of mind and physical freedom to end her life on her own terms.
Vanquishing Fear
This panel discussion is really good! Heart, compassion, and the poignant realities.
Let’s Talk Honestly About Dying
Alliance Director Rebecca Brown addresses the Franconia Community Church on the need for better conversations around terminal illness and mortality, and the need for medical aid in dying in New Hampshire. Her talk starts at 33:55.
Courage, Love, and Compassion
Roshi Joan Halifax addresses “Courage, Love, and Compassion” with the Hospice of Santa Barbara. Halifax is a remarkable teacher and a leading voice on death and dying. Her book, Being with Dying, Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death is an insightful, practical, and profound reading.
Good Death- Panel Discussion
What is s good death? Alliance Director Rebecca Brown joins a palliative care nurse, a spiritual director, and an end-of-life doula for this panel discussion at the Portsmouth Public Library. The event was sponsored by Hospice Help Foundation and Brookhaven Hospice in conjunction with the library.
Myths about Medical Aid in Dying
Lonny Shavelson, MD started Bay Area End of Life Options in 2016 to serve patients under California’s medical aid in dying law. His talk covers his bedside experiences, and offers important real world information about the process as well as insights on the politics of the issues and what we mean by a “dignified” death. Offered by the Completed Life Initiative.
God and Death: Examining Suffering from Faith Perspectives
Panel discussion from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish perspectives. Provocative stories and insights from three faith leaders. Offered by the Completed Life Initiative.
What is a Completed Life?
A physician and two bioethicists, all thought leaders in the right to die movement, consider what it means to lead a completed life. Questions are examined from medical, ethical, cognitive, and spiritual points of view, including the implications of dementia /Alzheimer’s. Part of the Completed Life Initiative.
Can We Still Die from Natural Causes?
Alliance advisor Marianne Jackson, MD presents a history of how we die, including the advent of technology and the medicalization of what had been a mostly in home experience.
