Panelists
"Embracing Difference as a Bridge for Connection"
International Roundtable: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation
“Make your choices based on love, not fear”, Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross perspective on loss, grief and end of life support focusing on what unites us: that loss, death and grief unify us and remind us of our sameness; the fact that we are all equal as people who go through a loss, who grieve, and who are going to die, with the intention to bring us back to a collective experience, through and beyond our differences, connecting through our human impulse for compassion and unconditional love.
Ken Ross
Founder and President
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation
Wilka Roig
MA, MFA, President Fundación
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross México Centro
Rodrigo Luz
EKR Foundation
Director of Education (USA) President (Brazil)
Cynthia Frahne
EKR Argentina Uruguay
Dr. Laura Aresca
M.D., Board Member, EFR Argentina Uruguay
Liese Groot-Alberts
Director of Liese Groot-Alberts Consultants, Ltd.
"Financial and Estate Planning Roundtable"
Estate planning can be a neglected part of financial planning. It’s hard to answer uncomfortable questions such as “What happens to my assets and my loved ones when I die?” It’s no surprise that about half of Americans do not have a will and even fewer have an estate plan. Learn from a panel of experts about the purposes and functioning of the basic documents that comprise an estate plan and why they are important.
Joe Adamo
CPM®, Financial Advisor, Senior Portfolio Manager at Morgan Stanley
Denise Arand
Five Rings Financial
David DaCosta
Realtor
President DaCosta Properties
Adam Englund
Esq., Law Office of Adam Englund
"Always With Us - Maintaining Special Family Connections After the Death of a Child"
Join our accomplished panel as they explore how families can maintain spiritual and emotional connections with their child after death. Through the lens of multiple disciplines, including Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Child & Adolescent Therapist and Parent Coach, Certified End of Life Doula, and Bereaved Mother, panelists will discuss the different ways family members may experience anticipatory grief and how bringing great intention to death can ease familial grief. Learn beautiful ways to support families in honoring their child as they move forward with them in spirit.
Bonnie Compton, APRN, BC, CPNP
End of Life Doula, Child and Adolescent Therapist, Parent Coach, and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner
C. Robert Bennett, CPNP-AC, PhD (c)
Pediatric Palliative Care Researcher, Pediatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and End of Life Doula
Rachael Klos, MA
Certified Death Doula
End of Life Educator
"Grief Through the Years: A Panel Discussion about the Evolution of Grief"
Widowhood is an evolving life experience. Each year of widowhood is accompanied by new revelations, new sets of challenges and new perspectives relating to having outlived the person with whom we planned to share our lives. For this unique workshop, we’ve gathered a panel of your widowed peers with varying backgrounds, professions, life experiences and amounts of time widowed to explore the way widowed life changes through the years. Soaring Spirits Founder, Michele Neff Hernandez, will moderate this panel of widowed people willing to share their hearts, their experience, and their widowed life with you. Join us for a look at how widowhood changes day to day and year to year.
Michele Neff Hernandez
CEO and Founder of Soaring Spirits International
Ron Hyrchuk
Retired Hospital Chaplain and Grief Counselor
Bobby Moss
Cisco Systems Sr. Program Manager
Shekoofeh Manzoor Sussman
Artist and Teacher
Tanya Villanueva Tepper
Soaring Spirits International
End of Life on Your Own Terms; Beyond the Oregon Aid In Dying Model
The model for assistance in dying has been the Death with Dignity law first passed in Oregon in 1994. In the intervening 36 years a modification of this law has been passed in ten states. Though immensely helpful it is restrictive; it is for people with terminal illnesses, who can swallow, who can find two doctors, who can survive a 15 day waiting period, and who are mentally competent. There are other choices for a peaceful death that we will discuss here which would serve a broader population. Faye Girsh will contrast the End of Life Option Act with the Canadian model. Dr. Uslander will talk about VSED, and Gary Wederspahn will examine the model used by Final Exit Network.
Faye Girsh, EdD
Founder, Hemlock Society of San Diego
About
Faye Girsh was President of the Hemlock Society USA in Denver from 1996 to 2004, following its founder, Derek Humphry. In 1987 she began the Hemlock Society of San Diego and was president from 1987 to 1996 and again from 2006 to 2019.
She was also President of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies. She initiated the Caring Friends program at
Hemlock which has become the Final Exit Network, where she serves on the Advisory Board. She is on the board of
ERGO (Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organization) For many years she was on a board member and Newsletter Editor for the World Federation of Right to Die Societies and is Past President. In 2003, she was awarded Hemlock’s
Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2016 she was the recipient of the Marilyn Sequinn award from the World Federation of Right to Die Societies
Dr. Girsh received her doctorate in Human Development from Harvard University. She was Associate Professor and Chair of the Psychology Department at Morehouse College for nine years. From 1974-78 she was a Research Associate at the University of Chicago and also taught at Roosevelt and Northwestern Universities. For 18 years she practiced as a clinical and forensic psychologist in San Diego. She has lectured extensively in the U.S. and abroad and appeared in numerous radio and TV shows.
Website
https://www.facebook.com/HemlockSocietySanDiego/
Dr. Bob Uslander
Founder and Medical Director
Intergated MD Care
Gary Wederspahn
Final Exit Network
"Navigating the Wild Ride of Grief for Young Adults in the midst of Covid-19"
If you are in your 20s and 30s, and have lost someone to COVID-19, or have a dear friend or family member who is seriously ill with COVID-19, this panel discussion is for you! If you’re a provider or grief worker who supports folks in this age range, this is for you too!
Illness and death of loved ones can be devastating for anyone at any age. But grieving as a young adult can sometimes come with its own unique kinds of isolation, and grief support focusing specifically on this age range tends to be scarce in comparison to offerings for children and older adults. This round table discussion opens up dialogue with young adults who are experiencing grief in their communities.
Join our discussion as our Millennials and Generation Z help us understand what it’s like to be a young adult who’s lost someone, how it feels to work in the grief field as a young adult, and how young adults are finding ways to offer mutual aid and support to each other in the midst of a global pandemic.
Noah Cochran, MSW
Co-Founder, COVID Grief Network
Clinical Social Worker
Charly Jaffe, M.A.
Crisis Counselor,
Executive Producer, & Author
Naomi Fedna
Project Coordinator,
Institute for Healthcare Improvement
The Conversation Project
Dying Your Way End-of-Life Doulas
Roundtable Discussion
We are all physical, emotional, mental beings having a spiritual experience, and from womb to tomb we should all seek the best integrated, interdisciplinary care available to us … certainly when facing a possible life-threatening diagnosis.
Let’s consider our own end of life plan, start a conversation and be curious together. Dying Your Way certified End Of Life Doulas will answer your questions in the panel discussion that will be following immediately after DYW Co-Founder Claire O’Berry’s workshop presentation.
Claire O'Berry, CEOLD
Co-Founder, Dying Your Way
Valerie Armand, LPN, CEOLD
Exiting Gracefully, DYW Affiliate
Kerry MeKeel, CEOLD
Soul to Soul Care, DYW Affiliate
Denise Reed, CEOLD
Tranquil Transitions, DYW Affiliate