Dealing Creatively with Death


Book Description

"This manual on death education is a 'must' for any involved in hospice care or work with the terminally ill. It covers everything from living with terminally ill individuals to the right to die, memorial societies, and death ceremonies. Its focus on the emotional and economic costs of death is unparalleled".--"Midwest Book Review".




The Survivor's Guide


Book Description

Thornton brings more than a decade of experience in human resources and financial education to an extremely emotional issue--that of what a person needs to know when someone close to them dies.




Seven Steps for Handling Grief


Book Description

“Let me know if there is anything I can do.” This well-meaning offer is frequently expressed when a relative or friend suffers a death or other heart-wrenching loss such as divorce, termination of a job, having to put a parent in a nursing home or Alzheimer’s facility, loss of one’s home, or the “empty nest” syndrome. This book moves beyond that offer and other platitudes and gives practical steps to take to help alleviate the pain of loss—the heartbreak from a variety of shattering experiences. These steps are drawn straight from real-life experiences; the stories of people demonstrate how one or more of these seven steps helped them turn grief of futility and despair into understanding, faith, and hope.




The Corpse


Book Description

Throughout the centuries, different cultures have established a variety of procedures for handling and disposing of corpses. Often the methods are directly associated with the deceased's position in life, such as a pharaoh's mummification in Egypt or the cremation of a Buddhist. Treatment by the living of the dead over time and across cultures is the focus of this study. Burial arrangements and preparations are detailed, including embalming, the funeral service, storage and transport of the body, and forms of burial. Autopsies and the investigative process of causes of deliberate death are fully covered. Preservation techniques such as cryonic suspension and mummification are discussed, as well as a look at the "recycling" of the corpse through organ donation, donation to medicine, animal scavengers, cannibalism, and, of course, natural decay and decomposition. Mistreatments of a corpse are also covered.




Living With Grief


Book Description

First published in 1996. This book was produced as a companion to the Hospice Foundation of America's third annual teleconference. The Foundation, begun in 1982, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing leadership in the development of hospice and its philosophy of care for terminally ill people. The Foundation conducts educational programs related to hospice, sponsors research on ethical questions as well as the economics of health care at the end-of-life, and serves as a philanthropic presence within the national hospice community. Close to 90 percent of hospices in the United States reach beyond their own patients and families to become, in a variety of ways, a community resource on grief and bereavement That is part of the hospice mission and an important service which the Hospice Foundation of America encourages and tries to support Our annual teleconference is a major part of our effort and it, like all of our projects, is largely underwritten by contributions from individuals. The Hospice Foundation of America is a member of the Combined Federal Campaign through Health Charities of Americas. The Hospice Foundation of America is a member of the Combined Federal Campaign through Health Charities of America.




Baptismal Ecclesiology and the Order of Christian Funerals


Book Description

Throughout this e-book, Fr. Stephen S. Wilbricht, csc, emphasizes the link between Baptism and death, assisting Christians in grasping who we are called to be in this life as disciples and who we are promised to become in eternal life as saints. As the author points out the centrality of baptismal identity to the funeral liturgy, he makes apparent that the union established at Baptism continues until all reach Christ. Such an appreciation for life in the Body of Christ will help the community recognize both their responsibilities at the death of a member and the union that remains with that member as all journey to the divine. Wilbricht explores the Church’s theology of Baptism and death, and provides pastoral suggestions that will encourage communities to carry out their commitment to care for the grieving and bury the dead.




A Windfall Homestead


Book Description

In volume one of Henry Buckberry's stories (Get Poor Now, Avoid the Rush), we followed Henry from his early childhood in central North Dakota to the dark, dangerous woods of northern Wisconsin. Get Poor Now concluded in September of 1933, with Henry about to survey the devastation of a forest fire that almost burned up his log shack. A Windfall Homestead takes us into the next two decades of Henry's productive, energetic life, as he logs and hunts, clears land for farming, marries, has children, builds a new barn and house from windfall lumber. Henry's life exemplifies the fate of an essentially preindustrial rural culture about to be overwhelmed by post-World War II technology with its comprehensive commercial "culture" extruded by fossil fuel affluence. Henry's was not so much the "greatest" generation as it was the last unself-conscious rural subsistence generation of European heritage. These stories, all told in Henry's voice, were taken down shortly before Henry's death in 2009 by Henry's son Charles Darwin Buckberry, also known as C. D. or Seedy Buckberry. Seedy claims these stories are accurate and true. Readers are advised to suspend their civilized disbelief.




Imperfect Control


Book Description

In her remarkable national bestseller, Necessary Losses, Judith Viorst explored how we are shaped by the various losses we experience throughout our lives. Now, in her wise and perceptive new book, Imperfect Control, she shows us how our sense of self and all our important relationships are colored by our struggles over control: over wanting it and taking it, loving it and fearing it, and figuring out when the time has come to surrender it. Writing with compassion, acute psychological insight, and a touch of her trademark humor, Viorst invites us to contemplate the limits and possibilities of our control. She shows us how our lives can be shaped by our actions and our choices. She reminds us, too, that we sometimes should choose to let go. And she encourages us to find our own best balance between power and surrender.




Grave Matters


Book Description

Examines the embalming process and the impact the standard funeral has on the environment while also discussing alternative eco-friendly burials.




Creative Interventions in Grief and Loss Therapy


Book Description

Get the tools to help the grief that comes when a dream dies Every person at one time or another suffers when his or her dreams are shattered. Creative Interventions in Grief and Loss Therapy: When the Music Stops, a Dream Dies provides truly innovative approaches to therapeutically help individuals work through and survive grief and loss. Leading experts explore creative interventions for common, yet emotionally devastating problems faced by those weathering the storms of grief after their dream has been destroyed. Therapists and counselors get the effective tools to creatively help people through the difficulties of dealing with death, addiction, trauma, changes in life circumstances, divorce, heartbreak, miscarriage, co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder (COD), suicide, adoption, and issues with children. The chapters in this innovative volume cite existing research on specific grief and loss issues and illustrate a clinical application for each situation using various creative mediums such as music, writing, or ritual. Each approach can be expanded and modified with care by clinicians of all types to better help clients through the process. This resource is extensively referenced. Topics in Creative Interventions in Grief and Loss Therapy include: how storytelling, journaling, and correspondence can be used to process the experience of a counselor’s loss following the death of their client using psychodrama and the utilization of empty chair techniques to address addiction related grief and loss the use of rituals as an intervention to help clients trauma and loss during times of natural disasters the process of gatekeeping by counselor educators Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) as an approach to help student athletes deal with life after the sport a literary exercise to help clients work toward forgiveness after divorce using books, songs, and projects to assist clients experiencing grief after the death of their adolescent child creative strategies to aid clients through the grief and loss of love effective interventions to assist clients through loss from miscarriage using music, videography, visual arts, literature, drama, play, and altar-making in the grief process innovative interventions for individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder suicide high risk factors—and a Pre-suicide Preparation Plan that mental health practitioners can implement creative intervention for the client who is adopted using super heroes and science fiction therapeutic storytelling for children in grief Creative Interventions in Grief and Loss Therapy: When the Music Stops, a Dream Dies is a creative, reaffirming resource perfect for mental health professionals, therapists, counselors, social workers, educators, and students.