Daddy, this is it. Being-with My Dying Dad by Julie Saeger Nierenberg
Julie Saeger Nierenberg is a freelance writer and editor, lifelong educator and artist.
Inspired by her father’s end of life, Julie published a short memoir about her family’s loss and her personal response to his death and dying. Daddy, this is it. Being-with My Dying Dad launched a true journey of connection and transformation, as Julie reached out to share it with those who assist the dying and bereaved.
Since her book's publication, Julie received numerous end-of-life perspective stories from others, some of which will soon be available in a book called Journey's End: Death, Dying and the End of Life, coauthored with Victoria Brewster, MSW.
Writing and publishing in this heart-led direction, Julie hopes to contribute to a cultural shift in how we prepare for and support others in the final chapter of life. Julie enjoys editing others' legacy writing, fiction and nonfiction works; she feels privileged to help writers succeed.
The Amateur's Guide to Death and Dying by Richard Wagner
Richard is psychotherapist/clinical sexologist in private practice since 1981. He lives and works in Seattle, WA.
He has been working with terminally ill, chronically ill, elder and dying people in hospital, hospice, and home settings for over 30 years. He facilitates support groups for care-providers and clinical personnel, and provides grief counseling for survivors both individually and in group settings.
He founded Paradigm Programs Inc., an innovative nonprofit organization as an outreach to and resource for terminally ill, seriously ill, elder and dying people.
He was honored with the prestigious University of California San Francisco Chancellor’s Award for Public Service in 1999 for his work with sick, elder and dying people.
He designs, develops, and produces long and short term in-service training seminars and workshops for helping and healing professionals.
I'll Shave My Head Too by Steve Dolling
Spencer was diagnosed with Stage IV neuroblastoma at the age of six.
Tracey and Steve did what most parents try to do: provide a fun and stimulating environment for their kids to grow in and reach their full potential. Foster did what brothers do: he offered up his bone marrow and rode shotgun in the all-terrain electric assault vehicle. Scupper did what sinister Portuguese Water Dogs do: he tried to eat the house one piece of furniture at a time and displace the “owner” from his spot in the bed. And Spencer? Spencer played soccer, sailed boats, built windmills, skipped a lot of school and developed a serious teenage drug habit.
Along the way, Steve wrote this deeply personal, hilarious, and utterly moving collection of stories. They spilled out of his brain and onto the keyboard as there is not enough room for happy optimism and utter terror to coexist. I’ll Shave my Head Too is an incredible balance between readability, humour, and emotional impact.
Birth, Breath and Death by Ami Wright Glenn
At the age of fourteen, Amy Wright Glenn began to question the Mormon faith of her family. She embarked on a life long personal and scholarly quest for truth. While teaching comparative religion and philosophy, Amy was drawn to the work of supporting women through labor and holding compassionate space for the dying. Amy shares moving tales of birth and death while drawing on her work as a birth doula, hospital chaplain, and her own experience of motherhood.
We are born, we die, and in between these irrevocable facts of human existence the breath weaves all moments together. Birth, Breath, and Death entwines story, philosophy, and poetic reflection into transforming narratives that are full of grace.
