Helen is available for speaking engagements at universities and colleges, palliative care and hospice organizations, hospitals, libraries and civic organizations.
Helen shares ways we can be better prepared to care for our parents at the end of their lives. She focuses on issues we should anticipate and ways that help navigate through the maze of healthcare and life decisions.
Helen explores how life values influence dying. She teaches family and caregivers to consider parents’ and patients’ values and stories when helping them make decisions or when making decisions for them.
Helen teaches the importance of listening and how this can be done with empathy. She speaks about the skill of listening and how to prioritize it when in the role of caregiver or healthcare power of attorney. Helen also leads discussions about listening for team building in small groups.
Helen makes end-of-life planning easy by getting us to think about durable power of attorneys and medical directives in practical ways. “Who will make my healthcare decisions when I cannot?” and “What healthcare treatments do I want to receive or not receive when I am seriously ill?” are questions she asks us to consider.
Helen shares personal and professional stories to convey what she has learned about aging, dying and death. She believes that talking about what frightens us the most will ultimately lead to a decent and good death.
I think the most important thing I learned from watching Mom die is that her death was hers, not mine … just as her life had been hers and not mine.
When you book Helen to speak at your event, your Speaker Package can include the book, Without Regrets, and/or the video series, Ethics Thru Drama.