The When You Die Project:
Hosting the conversation you've been avoiding.
Latest
When You Die Sits Down with Dr. Jessica Zitter
This doctor wants to keep you off the ‘end of life conveyor belt’ where, she warns, most wind up.
Why Everyone Needs an Advanced Directive (And Where to Get Yours)
Advance Directives save families a lot of strife when planning end-of-life care — here’s your guide to choosing the right one.
End Well Symposium 2018: Here’s What You Missed
From doctors to actors to AI and VR researchers, the End Well Symposium brings together an eclectic group with one concern: doing death right.
What Happens When You Die in Winter: Icy Green Burial
Green burial is affordable and eco-friendly—but what happens when you die in winter? Here are 5 ways to conduct a green burial in the cold.
Features
We Need to Talk – How do we talk to someone who is dying? How can we help? Hear practical advice from a lead hospital chaplin and bereavement counselor on the importance of listening and some suggestions on how to start the conversation we’ve been ignoring. Just enter your email here for access to the full video.
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.
New Fresh Air interview explores the therapeutic value of psychedelics for the terminally ill:
Introducing In the Realm of Death and Dreaming, our 2019 Documentary
Since its origin, humanity has posed the question, ‘what really happens when you die?’ The presumed answers have defined culture, religion and community as we know them. Through a combination of near-death experiences, personal stories and scientific research, the documentary explores whether consciousness survives death, and why it matters when choosing end of life care.
Stories
20-Somethings Think About Death, Too
Given her willingness to talk about any topic, it’s perhaps no surprise that writer and TV star Lena Dunham experiences more flashes of what she calls “mortality awareness” than the average 20-something. But thoughts of death are not reserved for the aged.
Fear Is Natural. Now, How to Cope.
One of the biggest challenges for any of us when it comes to issues around death is facing our own fears about it.
Casket or Crematorium?
Los Angeles-based mortician, Caitlin Doughty, self-described death-acceptance advocate, and creator of The Order of the Good Death walks us through the two main options available for dealing with dead bodies in North America.
When Death Is Not Separate
The way of death in North America is not the way in other cultures. Anthropologist Kelli Swazey asks, “What would life be like if the dead literally lived alongside you?”
8 Ways to Be There
Teacher, writer and coach, Heather Plett found herself in the role of student when her mom was dying and her family brought her home to do so.
The When You Die Project: Hosting the conversation you’ve been avoiding.
From existential afterlife questions to palliative care and the nuts-and-bolts of green burial, if it has to do with death, we’re talking about it. We believe death awareness brings a happier end to a fuller life.
WhenYouDie.org is where you’ll find clips from our upcoming documentary along with stories that inspire us, intrigue us, and help further a healthy discussion about death in our culture.
We don’t endorse every point of view in these stories but respect them and offer them up in the spirit of reclaiming death as a rich, challenging, rewarding, exhausting, heartbreaking, heart-filling, integral part of our human journey.
