OUR CONFERENCE PRESENTERS
Presenter Name: Catherine Tornbom
Title: Manager
Organization: Center for Community Dialogue & Training- A Program of Our Family Services
Description of Workshop: Old hurts and unresolved family issues can get in the way of having a respectful, thoughtful, peaceful and productive conversation while planning for your EOL. Learn how to manage the triggers that can create family conflict and the crucial communication techniques that allow peaceful conversations to occur.
Presentation Materials: Posted with Permission
Presenter Name: Stephanie Ludwig, Ph.D, M.Div, M.A.
Title: Director of Spirituality
Organization: Canyon Ranch
Description of Workshop: Dying invites us to grow through the letting go of ordinary awareness and the receiving of wholeness and joy. Join us in an open discussion about the transformation of self during the journey of dying and embracing the joy that naturally arises in the midst of spiritual and psychological growth.
Presenter Name: Julee Gell, LCSW
Title: Grief Therapist
Organization: The Center for Creative Grief
Description of Workshop: This workshop will explore the grief rules that we place on ourselves and that others (friends, family, society, religion, culture) place on us, both overtly and covertly. It will also offer a brief educational piece around the natural, non-pathological grief process, with an emphasis on how individualized it is and the importance of compassion with self and the process. This will include education around the unpredictability of grief and how one can be “triggered” in social settings. Emphasis on the importance of receiving compassion from others as one navigates the grief journey and the difficulty in truly asking for what one wants for fear of being perceived as selfish, too sensitive or that we may hurt another’s feelings. The workshop will culminate in an interactive process where participants will be invited to create their own “Grief Message Board” that will serve to communicate their changing needs/wants and educate others around the best way to respond to and support them.
Presentation Materials: Posted with Permission
Presenter Name: Erin Russ, Director of Programs
Organization: Southern Arizona Gender Alliance
Description of Workshop: Unique end of life planning issues face the LGBTQ+ community including: directives around identity, family of choice inclusion, family of origin restrictions (as needed), unique estate planning considerations and legacy preservation, as well as disposition of estates and remains. This session will look through the lens of the Transgender community and the preservation of the essence of a life lived differently.
Presenter Name: Frank Williams
Title: Community Educator
Organization: Casa de la Luz Hospice
Description of Workshop: Forgiveness confronts us, our families, our caregivers and our community. Forgiveness is one of the most difficult issues of our lives and often it becomes especially meaningful as death nears. For Dr. Ira Byock, one of the major figures in the palliative care and hospice movement, Forgiveness is one of the four things that matter most in our lives- especially as we face the end of our lives. Dealing with forgiveness issues is a significant part of "preparing for the trip" and working through the process often becomes a significant joy at the end of the journey. This workshop will be experiential (interactive) and didactic. It will especially involve participants in "telling their stories," confronting issues around forgiveness, understanding what forgiveness is and is not, and processing forgiveness.
Presentation Materials: Posted with Permission
Presenter Name: Kiel Hogan and Trevor Anderson, Co-Founders
Organization: LivesOn
Description of Workshop: Imagine, for a moment, that you’ve been asked to speak with a loved one in the moments before they pass. What would you say? Can you feel the anxiety building? How can you possibly encapsulate the impact and meaning they’ve had in their career, their hobbies, acts of kindness with total strangers, or the deep devotion to their family? And what about the impact they’ve had on you personally? Let’s say you could capture that information. Don’t you owe it to your loved one to let others know of their impact? Shouldn't future generations know of the profound impression your loved one left on the community around them?
Our goal for this workshop is to reimagine how life's fondest memories can help those facing end of life—and their families—experience joy while navigating what can be one of the most challenging moments we experience.
Participants of our workshop will learn how to use technology to generate a repository with a life’s worth of wonderful shared experiences that can be enjoyed by those in palliative or hospice care, or the families of those that have recently passed for generations to come. This repository creates a living library of these memories that can be visited at the beginning of the end of life journey, through the mourning process, and well into the future.
Dr. Rebecca Powell
Piper Frithsen
Presenter Name: Dr. Rebecca Powell, MD, HMDC and Piper Frithsen, MAdmin, RN
Organization: Casa De La Luz
Description of Workshop: As Alzheimer’s disease progresses, behavioral challenges - including agitation – can increase. Current management of these behaviors with prescription drugs do not always work and the lack of clinical studies can be frustrating. In the context of Casa de La Luz Hospice’s innovative agitation program, Dr. Powell and Piper Frithsen will share practical, non-pharmaceutical approaches to treating dementia behaviors and their underlying causes like boredom, restlessness, and sensory overload. They will also share the project’s important findings demonstrating the significance of these often overlooked tools.
Presentation Materials: Posted with Permission
Presenter Name: Kristine Bentz
Title: Co-Owner & Spiritual Counselor
Organization: Embraced by Earth, LLC
Description of Workshop: By exploring together through open inquiry, this workshop will build participants’ increased understanding of natural burial alternatives and ability to express personal wishes for final arrangements that may exist outside of contemporary norms. Participants will see, feel, smell and hear examples of natural and conservation burial locations and materials; enter small group discussions about personal fears, wishes and resources; and leave with new ideas for enacting their own wishes or supporting a loved one’s wishes related to natural burial.
Interested in next year's End of Life Conference, please fill in the interest form and we'll add you to our list as plans are happening. Thank you!
Request for Information about the End of Life Conference
Casa de la Luz Foundation was established in 2000 as a nonprofit organization to support end of life care.
Honor a Loved one through Casa de La Luz Foundation.
Read the stories of families who have experienced the help of the Casa de la Luz Foundation.
Address:
7740 North Oracle Road,
Tucson, AZ 85704
Phone: 520.351.5441
Fax: 520.618.5473
Email: Casa de la Luz Foundation