When You Die

Carol Reid and her husband were looking forward to spending their retirement together. But when Jim was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia , Carol found that although she had worked as a palliative care nurse, it did not prepare her to deal with the gradual loss of her own loved one. 

Briana Simmons is a lifecycle facilitator for black and LGBTQIA+ communities. She is also the founder of Unearthing Tradition, and works to reclaim dignified life cycles, and offering lifecycle support that creates unapologetic healing spaces for black folks.

Nicola Nuttall's daughter Laura was just starting University when she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. We talk about how the family has been living with this diagnosis, their drive to help others and the gratitude they feel for the many people have come forward to help Laura fulfill her bucket list - which includes driving a tank, a plane & a subway car! Since recording this podcast Laura has died. She is greatly missed by all and as Nicola said "She squeezed more joy in to her 23 years and 5 months than most people do in an entire lifetime."  

website:  https://www.doingitforlaura.com/our-story

Twitter:  ShitScaredMum

Grief is both emotional and felt experience. If we have the courage to really feel grief, feel our humanness, then we can process it more fully - even though we don't really know when it will end. Rev Olivia was trained in the 80's as a Death Midwife during the AIDS crisis and has been supporting people at the end of life ever since. She is founder of the Sacred Crossings Institute, which offers classes and workshops in End-of-Life preparedness, as well as a Death Doula certificate training program. Rev Olivia is also one of the stars of our documentary Saying Goodbye: Preparing for Death.

Death Doulas are important members of the team that make up, “Last Responders.” Jude Higgins is an Educator, Spiritual Care Coordinator, and Clinical Chaplain at Quality Home Health & Hospice in Salt Lake City, UT.  As such, she has much insight into the role Death Doulas play in end-of-life care.

When we talk about the role of end of life doulas we primarily think that they offer support to prepare for death, provide comfort, help with grief. But there's an aspect that we don't often realize is necessary and that is  advocacy within the health care system. When facing death, many feel helpless and unsure of what steps to take. In her work, Diane Gray focuses on advocating for patients, fascilitating conversation between physicians and families and communicating options so that they can make informed descisions together. 

Art and movement therapy can be a powerful ally on the grief journey. Integrating the death of a loved one can be overwhelming, but somatic movement and art therapy can often help.

In this episode host Johanna Lunn and Barbara discuss the future of dying. How hospice has changed. How to pick a hospice (not all hospices are the same.) The important role of end-of-life workers, and so much more.

Dr. Penny Sartori PhD is a skilled intensive care nurse, educator, and leading world expert on near death experiences. She has authored a number of books including The Wisdom of Near Death Experiences and also appears in the When You Die Trilogy.

In At Heaven’s Door (Simon & Schuster 2022), William shares his research on the many ways the living can and do accompany the dying on their journey into the afterlife. He is the Founder of the Shared Crossing Project, whose mission is to raise awareness of the profound and healing experiences that can be available to the dying and their loved ones at the end of life

Is it possible that our fear of death prevents us from living fully? For over 20 years Sue Brayne has been helping people to transform their relationship with mortality as a therapist specializing in trauma, as well as through her end-of-life research, workshops and books on spirituality, consciousness, and dying.

Since 1993, The Sharing Place in Salt Lake City has had a mission to “provide a safe and caring environment for grieving children, teens, and their families to share their feelings while healing themselves.”

Program director Jill MacFarlane talks to us about the value of this process and how telling the truth is the most important thing you can do when helping kids deal with their grief

After experiencing the devastating loss of their one-year-old baby boy, James and Catie Morgan found comfort in surrounding themselves with other couples who have also gone through the loss of a child. As a way of helping others, James devised the Buddys app, which allows people to connect with those who have had similar experiences.

For most of us, our own funeral is an afterthought or, even worse, something we avoid thinking about altogether. For Kathy Benjamin, the very thought of her own impending death brought on crippling fear. So she decided the best way to remedy that was to deal with it the best way she knew how. By writing something funny.


Julie McFadden has been working as a hospice nurse for the past five years, and prior to that she worked in Intensive Care for close to a decade. Julie is passionate about educating people on what happens as we die. Her wonderful TikToc videos have made waves with over half a million followers, making her a viral sensation.

She can be found on TikToc  @hospicenursejulie

Johanna Lunn speaks with Death Doula, Jill Schock, about what it means to be a death doula and death worker in the time of COVID-19.

Jill Chandler handled many roles in her life: performer, wife, mother. But when her husband Donald died, Jill became a young widow. She spoke with us about grief, loss, healing and the fact that life does go on.

The role of a funeral director is all-encompassing and ever-changing. But when you are part of a small community, you not only provide the services required, you also grieve with them. Andre Roupp talks about his life in the death business.

Michael Hebb and Johanna Lunn talk about Death over Dinner.

Sheree Fitch is known for many things: an author of witty and wonderful children's books, an award-winning poet, a bookstore owner and a teller of stories.

But in 2018 she became known as something else—a mother grieving the loss of her son.

Sheree Fitch is known for many things: an author of witty and wonderful children's books, an award-winning poet, a bookstore owner and a teller of stories.

But in 2018 she became known as something else—a mother grieving the loss of her son.

Dale Jackson—a licensed embalmer and funeral director with 46 years of experience and counting—shares his story (SPOILER: and his own near-death experience at 13:13) and lessons learned from his time helping families through the loss of a loved one.

Deborah is one of the facilitators of the Halifax Nova Scotia Death Café, and leads Death Matters workshops in the area. She acts as an end of life concierge, assisting during the transition, and post-mortem experience. Deborah has a passion for bringing people together around difficult conversations, like death and dying.

Katrina Spade is popularizing the idea of 'Recomposition', a green burial method that converts human remains into soil. It's among the most promising eco-friendly options that may be available in the near future. She discusses this unorthodox alternative to cremation and how it's rise could change our approach to saying goodbye.

As the 2018 Endwell Symposium: Design for the End of Life Experience approaches, we're revisiting last year's recap podcast from #Endwell 2017 with our favorite death doula.

Cambia Health Foundation President Peggy Maguire talks about the ins and outs of palliative care and what the rest of the healthcare system could learn from it.

Dr. Jessica Zitter, author of 'Extreme Measures' and star of the Netflix doc 'Extremis' on what she calls the 'End of Life Conveyor Belt' most Americans wind up on and how introducing Death Ed in schools could change a death-phobic culture in one generation.

Funeral Director Shawn LaValleur-Adame of DIY Dying discusses unorthodox burial methods like sending ashes to the moon, a volcano summit and the bottom of the ocean.

'Complicated Grief' with Charley Rosicky: Longtime hospice worker, grief counselor and meditation teacher, Charley Rosicky, discusses 'complicated grief' and shares stories of working with the dying and those left behind. ​

Jocelyn Roth, Co-owner of Resting Waters, Washington's first aquamation site, explains the growing trend of water cremation - legalized in California in October 2017. Kelly and Jocelyn discuss this and other "green burial" practices making their way into the mainstream.