About In Conversation with an End-of-Life Specialist
What if talking about death could change how you live?
- In Conversation with End-of-Life Specialists brings honest, deeply human conversations with physicians, doulas, grief specialists, hospice nurses, attorneys, and chaplains — exploring Medical Aid in Dying (MAID), green burial, dementia care, digital legacy, and more.
- These aren't morbid discussions. They're practical wisdom about what truly matters — for caregivers, professionals, and anyone who wants to live more intentionally.
- Because the best time to talk about the end of life is while you're still living it.
Human Dignity — Kevin Dieter on Rebuilding Collaborative End-of-Life Care
Dr. Kevin Dieter spent more than three decades in family medicine and hospice care before stepping back to ask a hard question: what happened to the model Dame Cicely Saunders actually built? In this conversation, Kevin traces hospice's drift from Saunders's total pain approach toward something medicalized, monetized, and institutionalized, then walks through what he found after four months and sixty-plus conversations with end-of-life doulas across the country. We talk about the ...
22 Aug 2026
Death Isn't the Darkness, It's the Light: Dr. Karen Wyatt on Forgiveness, Impermanence, and Listening Well
Recorded live August 19, 2026 Dr. Karen Wyatt is a hospice physician, spiritual teacher, and author of What Really Matters: 7 Lessons for Living from the Stories of the Dying, along with The Journey from Ego to Soul, Stories from the Dark Night, and Wild and Holy: A Journey Through Grief, Guilt, and Grace in Italy. She is the founder and host of the End-of-Life University podcast, now nearly 560 episodes deep, where she has spent over a decade in conversation with leaders in deat...
16 Jul 2026
Die Empty — Darnell Lamont Walker on the Stories We're Still Carrying
What does it feel like when everything is finally said? Darnell Lamont Walker knows. He's been in those rooms — the ones where a sweet surrender settles over everyone, where people say it was hard, but it was beautiful — and the ones where nothing was said, which he describes as summertime in the south, humid, wearing a blanket. He knows the difference in the air. Darnell is a death doula, Emmy-nominated writer, fifth-year faculty at Esalen Institute, and author of Never Can Say Goodbye — a b...
22 Jun 2026
90% of End-of-Life Care Is Knowledge — Barbara Karnes on What Families Actually Need
Barbara Karnes, RN, started her hospice nursing work in the 1970s — before hospice was even a word most Americans knew. She didn't join a movement. She helped build it. And more than fifty years later, she is still writing, still teaching, and still asking the field harder questions. In this conversation, Barbara and Patricia talk about what it actually takes to walk with someone toward the end of life. Barbara's answer might surprise you. End-of-life work, she says, is far more about s...
26 May 2026
The Last Lesson: A Conversation with Dr. Ken Gorczyca
Dr. Ken Gorczyca has been sitting with death since he was eight years old. His guinea pig, Squeaky, died, and no one helped him. No ritual, no guidance. So he put her in a shoebox, added flowers, dug a hole in the backyard, and figured it out on his own. He didn't know it then, but that was the beginning. Ken graduated from veterinary school in 1983 and moved to San Francisco — straight into the center of the AIDS pandemic. His very first client was a physician asking whether people wit...
16 Apr 2026
When I Die, I'm Really Going to Miss Mint Jelly — In Conversation with Diane Button
What do we reach for when time gets short? Not the accomplishments. Not the carefully managed image. Something simpler. Something we wish we'd said out loud sooner. This conversation is for anyone who has been putting off a conversation they know they need to have. Which is most of us. The conversation doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to start. Guest: Diane Button End-of-Life Doula | Author | Educator | Founder, Bay Area ELDA UVM End-of-Life Doula Certificate Program Instructor What we...
20 Mar 2026
Street Wisdom at the Threshold: What 35 Years of Bedside Ministry Taught Me About Dying Well
What does it take to stand in a room where someone is drawing their last breaths — with no clinical training, no script, and no way to fix it? Pastor Larry Wall has been doing exactly that for 35 years. As the founding pastor of Newport Church of God in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom and the visionary behind the Living Waters Hospice House, Pastor Larry brings something most bedside training programs don't cover: street wisdom, spiritual discernment, and an unshakable belief that death done well...
19 Feb 2026
Dealing the Cards on Death: How Lisa Pahl Is Getting Families to Have the Conversations That Matter
What if talking about death could actually be fun? Lisa Pahl, licensed clinical social worker, hospice veteran of 18 years, and CEO and co-founder of The Death Deck, believes that humor and the right questions can open doors that fear keeps shut. In this conversation, Lisa shares how a friendship forged through loss led her and co-founder Lori to create a suite of conversation tools — The Death Deck and The End of Life Deck. Lisa collaborated with Compassion & Choices to create the ...
22 Jan 2026
When Loss Isn't Death: Jenny Filush-Glaze on Validating Every Kind of Grief
Grief counselor Jenny Filush-Glaze joins us to discuss the losses that don't come with funerals but hurt just as deeply — from chronic illness to broken relationships. After her own alpha-gal syndrome diagnosis, Jenny brings both clinical expertise and lived experience to conversations about youth grief, permission to feel, and why "at least no one died" is one of the most damaging things we can say. With 15 years in hospice care and current work as a school-based therapist, Jenny shares insi...
18 Dec 2025
Presence Over Perfection in Hard Conversations
We live in a culture that prizes eloquence and timing - say the right thing at the right moment, or don't say it at all. But Gabrielle Elise Jimenez, author of The Conversation, knows something most people don't: the "perfect" deathbed conversation doesn't exist, and waiting for it might mean never speaking at all. In this tender exchange, Gabby reveals why showing up imperfectly matters more than showing up polished, and how becoming someone's voice when they can no longer speak mig...
20 Nov 2025
Why No One Talks About Dementia Caregiver Burnout
In this National Hospice Month episode, the Second Season's first episode, host Patricia M Sears of Graceful Transitions speaks with Lori Rizzo, a certified end-of-life doula and dementia practitioner from Compassionate Crossings, about the urgent need to reduce stigma around dementia and transform how we support families navigating this journey. With nearly 7 million Americans living with dementia and 12 million providing unpaid care—often quietly and exhausted—Lori shares practical gu...
25 Oct 2025
Angela Shook on How to Plan for Your Pet After You're Gone
In June 2025, we were fortunate to talk with Angela Shook an End-of-Life and Companion Animal Doula. Angela Shook is an end-of-life doula, Hospice volunteer, and instructor for the Doula Programs at the University of Vermont, and offers multiple end-of-life educational workshops and grief support groups. She is a veterinary doula with Pet Well Mobile Vet, where she assists with euthanasia and the end-of-life care and support of companion animals. Angela has received the Animal Hospice Advocat...
25 Oct 2025
The Hidden Costs of Dying Without a Will
If you die without a will, your estate will go through probate—and your will will become public information. But that's not the scariest part. Without an advance directive, the court can keep you alive and 'comfortable' even if you don't want to be intubated or have limbs removed. Your family can override your unspoken wishes. Angela Ross, an attorney with 31 years of experience and current probate judge in Orleans County, Vermont, shares what most people don't know about estate planning—and...
25 Oct 2025
What Really Happens with Medical Aid in Dying
Medical aid in dying (MAID) is legal in Vermont—but what does it actually look like? And where do you go if you don't want to die at home? Kasey March, a certified MAID Wayfinder and end-of-life doula with Doula Care for Dying, guides us through the realities of medical aid in dying in Vermont—from the process itself to finding a safe, appropriate location to take the prescribed medicine. This conversation addresses: What MAID actually is (and what it isn't)The role of a MAID doula or Wayfind...
25 Oct 2025
Francesca Arnoldy on The Secret Ingredients of a Supported Death
What if just starting the conversation—the one you've been avoiding—brought you relief instead of dread? Francesca Lynn Arnoldy, death literacy advocate and author of 'The Death Doula's Guide to Living Fully and Dying Prepared,' believes that transforming our relationship with death begins with a single step. In this conversation, we explore: What 'death literacy' actually means and why it mattersThe surprising pleasure of starting difficult conversationsWhat makes a 'good death' (hint: prese...
20 Oct 2025
Funeral Poverty: How to Afford a Dignified Death
What if you could turn your body into a tree after you die? What if you couldn't afford a traditional funeral—what are your options? Lindsey Warren, green burial specialist, opens our eyes to end-of-life choices most of us don't know exist. Motivated by watching 'funeral poverty' devastate families after sudden deaths, Lindsey is passionate about helping people understand all their options for disposition planning. In this touching conversation with 'aha moments' throughout: What green buria...
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