WYD Team 
Jennifer A. O’Brien, MSOD, has 35+ years in healthcare leadership. She pairs professional acumen with her intimate experience as a family caretaker to each of her parents and her husband. With compassion and hard-earned wisdom, she teaches readers how to lead the care their loved one deserves. Today, so many people are serving as unpaid … Read more
Hospice Nurse Penny Hawkins Smith is an expert on death and dying. Known on social media as @hospicenursepenny, Penny has used different platforms to educate the public about hospice care, death and the dying process. “Using down-to-earth, compassionate storytelling, she transports readers into the room with dying people and their families, laying bare the raw … Read more
Suddenly Without Warning takes readers on the grief journey of Miriam Tarcov, whose oldest child, Joshua, died unexpectedly in a car accident. The book title comes from a traditional Buddhist daily contemplation of the truth of impermanence. It begins with the shock and disbelief of sudden loss, as experienced by Miriam and her daughter Tara … Read more
Earla Dawn Legault and Monica Murphy share a common bond. They both lost sisters, leaving them with a deep and profound grief that isn’t often discussed in our society. In telling their stories, they realized that there was a void in grief literacy that would help those who have lost a sibling. So they came … Read more
From internationally recognized death expert, Joanna Ebenstein, comes Memento Mori, The Art of Contemplating a Better Life. This book offers you a 12 week program to befriend death in your own way, creating your own personal, daily meditation on what it means to be mortal and live along side death without fear. It’s about discovering … Read more
Written by Shanice McLeish and illustrated by Maria Finocchiaro, Grief on the Playground is beneficial for all children who have lost someone they loved. This picture book can be used as an aid to help children and adults talk about this very tough subject. Designed for kids coping with the loss of a parent, sibling, … Read more
Grief is something everyone will face at some point in their lives. It’s hard to deal with life’s losses and it can be doubly difficult for kids. The ABCs of Grief is a children’s book that walks through each letter of the alphabet to unpack different aspects of the grief experience. Grief is messy, confusing, … Read more
Alua Arthur is an experienced Death Doula who works with dying clients and their loved ones. She also trains the death-workers through her company Going with Grace. Alua has spent thousands of hours with folks as they contemplate their mortality. She has guided many toward their last breath, holding a sacred space for each one. … Read more
Known online as “Hospice Nurse Julie”, Julie McFadden shares the valuable lessons she’s learned in her fifteen years as an RN in the ICU and in hospice. McFadden compassionately and expertly blends emotional insight and practical advice. Nothing to Fear demystifies end-of-life care for both patients and caregivers, covering topics including the biological details of … Read more
“Among the things we have learned about death is that there are also some exceptional experiences that occur around the deathbed that can have a profound impact on those experiencing or witnessing them. These are deathbed visions and deathbed dreams. “ In this article by Psychology Today, we see how these phenomena are not only … Read more
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