Preparing for Grief, Embracing It and Moving Through It
ABODE Academy 6 is all about grief – how we can plan and prepare for it and how we move through it – whether it be our sadness for the loss of our loved ones or our loved ones’ sadness for, well, the loss of us!
Join us for five complimentary sessions (via Zoom) on this basic human emotion and ways we can make the most of our grief.
Please RSVP for any or all of these five sweet (and free) programs, in partnership with Willow EOL Education & Planning. If you’d like to make a tax-deductible gift to ABODE, please use our DONATE button.
Date
Five Thursdays starting April 13
Time
6:30-7:30 pm
Location
Via Zoom
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5 Steps for Successful End of Life Conversations: A Willow Workshop™
Thursday, April 13
Have you ever started to talk about some aspect of end-of-life planning with someone and got shut down? Or maybe you’ve been wanting to talk about it, but you’re lost on how to even broach the topic? Perhaps you have ideas in your mind about how your family and friends are going to react, and it’s just too uncomfortable to go there.
Many of us understand the importance of preparing for our someday, one-day, inevitable death while you’re still healthy enough to do that. But talking about death in a death-phobic and death-denying culture can be a challenge. The thought of grieving our losses can be far too overwhelming. Yet, the more we talk about it, the more smoothly our grief process will go.
Whether you’re thinking about your own end-of-life planning or you want to facilitate plans for someone else, let’s get the conversation started!
In this workshop you will:
- Articulate your core values and how they impact your living and dying.
- Get present to your hopes and fears around your inevitable death.
- Gain some clarity about who and what matter most.

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Conscious Health, Personal Care & Final Wishes: A Willow Workshop™
Thursday, April 20
We all have hopes and fears about what might happen (to us and/or the people we leave behind) in the time leading up to our death, at the moment of our death – and the grief that comes after we die.
Based on three tools from Willow’s holistic and pragmatic workbook, 7 Tools for Making Sense of Life & Death, Conscious Health, Personal Care and Final Wishes will ensure that our choices around end-of-life planning reflect our values and priorities. Whether we have days or decades to live, thinking about and preparing for our death will change how we die and inspire us to live our best life now.
In this workshop you will:
- Learn how past experiences with death and dying can shape your own end-of-life plans.
- Discover what is most important to us regarding our health and personal care wishes.

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Understanding Grief: Fireside Chat with Peg Armstrong
Thursday, April 27
Peg Armstrong, ME, LPC, Psychotherapist, has a 40-year practice specializing in grief and bereavement counseling, propelled by an early personal tragedy. Coping with loss also is a major theme in her academic research, training and teaching, her work with psychotherapy clients and in her spiritual practices.
Peg studied psychology and philosophy with Viktor Frankl in Vienna. Other highlights in her training include a workshop by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and working with Mother Teresa in India. Her book “I-Openers” is now in its third printing, and she regularly participates in videos and Zoom sessions on dealing with grief and loss. An original board member of ABODE, Peg also offers workshops and seminars nationally.

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Your Brain on Grief with Jeffery M. Benzick MD
Thursday, May 4
Jeffrey M. Benzick MD has been a psychiatrist in private practice since 2004 and is currently a consultant psychiatrist to the San Antonio Spurs. He is a former United States Air Force Flight Surgeon/Psychiatrist, and a graduate of the Baylor College of Medicine and of Texas A&M University, 1992, summa cum laude. Jeff is also a regular ABODE volunteer, inspired by the loss of his dear friend Tom, whom we were honored to care for in 2022.

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The Journey Through Grief
Thursday, May 11
As you know, ABODE does not charge our Guests for our services. If you’d like to make a donation to ABODE to support this or any of our other upcoming education programs, please use our DONATE button. Thank you!