Most relevant to my work with you, I have been a Respecting Choices® Certified Advance Care Planning Facilitator since February 2017 and have been facilitating Mindful Endings workshops since 2019. Much of my prior training and life experience make me uniquely qualified to guide you as you complete your directives:
I am a master educator with extensive experience in curriculum development and content delivery spanning early childhood through university education. I have prepared and presented workshops at international conferences. I have expertise in transforming research findings into personal practices that enhance the quality of individual lives and support healthy families and communities.
I am a certified life coach and Restorative Justice facilitator. I am passionate about creating trustworthy spaces for deep, meaningful, generative conversations that expand our thinking and our belief in what is possible.
I accompanied my mother through her dying process in 2012, staying at her hospital bedside for six days and nights without any social-emotional support, knowledge of her wishes, or authority to direct her care. While it was comforting to be there for her and hold her hand when she took her last breath, my grief and trauma were amplified by lack of preparation for this event. Since my mom’s death, I have been on a mission to learn what it means to prepare for a good death.
I completed Transformational Coach certification with the Blue Mesa Group in 2014, and have been self-employed as a personal coach since that time.
In 2015, I began volunteering with Pathways of Northern Colorado as a hospice companion. Each hospice patient I’ve accompanied has contributed to my understanding of death and the dying process in significant ways. I am indebted to each of them for sharing with me one of the most profound experiences of their lives. This gift helps me guide others in discerning what it means to die well and continues to enhance the quality of my days.
My husband, Joe, and I completed our advance directives in January 2017 with a neighborhood writing group that I initiated. In October of that year, Joe was diagnosed with an advance and aggressive form of cancer. (See Teri’s Story for more details.) I acted as Joe’s medical agent (MDPOA) and cared for him at home with the help of our daughter Paula, Pathways Hospice, and our neighborhood community. Joe died at home, 10 weeks after his diagnosis, in accordance with the wishes he articulated in his advance directives.
I continue to invest in a daily commitment to build healthy, sustainable communities. I am deeply grounded in the work of Parker Palmer’s Center for Courage and Renewal. I completed the C&R Foundations training in April of 2022, and the C&R Practicum in March of 2023.
I am currently training in the DAWN Method with Judy Cornish‘s Dementia and Alzheimer’s Wellbeing Network. I fully endorse this compassionate, strength-based approach to caring for those with dementia. DAWN offers dementia care training and coaching for caregivers and families.
It is my deepest wish to share what I’ve learned about death and dying – through all these experiences – with you.
Public Group Workshop $375/person. 8-12 participants. Facilitator schedules five 90-minute sessions.
Private/Single: $500/person. Five 50-minute sessions. Scheduled at your convenience.
Private/Couple: $750/couple. Five 60-minute sessions. Scheduled at your convenience.
Payment is due upon registration to secure you place in this workshop.
I accept payment by cash, personal check, through Venmo or Zelle
If you’ve enrolled for an upcoming workshop and cancel in writing two weeks prior to the start date, you will receive a full tuition refund.
If you’ve enrolled for an upcoming workshop and cancel in writing less than two weeks prior and before the workshop begins, you will receive full tuition credit to be applied to a future workshop.
No refund or credit is available once the workshop has commenced.
Currently, while the COVID pandemic is a safety concern, all Mindful Endings workshops will meet virtually on Zoom.
You can Zoom into Mindful Endings workshops from anywhere in the world! Consider inviting family members and friends from other geographic locations to do this important work with you. It’s a powerful experience to share these meaningful conversations with loved ones.
I deeply respect each person’s beliefs about religion and spirituality. No exceptions. Your personal perspectives will guide your preparations for death and dying, just as they guide the way you live. As your coach, I bring no agenda to the table other than to support you in making decisions that align with your core values.
You’ll receive discussion questions prior to each class. If you miss a session, your best option is to connect with another person (or two) from your group to process topics with someone who’s currently pondering the same ideas. Participants are often eager to share what they’re learning and generous in their support of each other! After that, if you still need help to move to the next session’s topics and tasks, please contact Teri to schedule time for additional support.
The conversations that we have during group sessions are often quite personal. Maintaining a sense of safety and confidentiality within your group is very important. Because there is no way to guarantee with certainty that recordings will remain completely secure, group sessions will not be recorded.
- You will need a computer or smart phone with internet access.
- You will need a journal or notebook to record questions, insights, and reflections on death and dying.
- Before our first session begins, please download and print a copy of each of the following:
- Colorado Living Will
- Colorado MDPOA
- free draft copy of the Five Wishes Advance Directives booklet. This will be a working “sloppy copy” draft document used throughout the workshop
- By the third session of our workshop, you will also need an official (non-draft) copy of the Five Wishes document. You may order either a digital or hard copy of this document online directly from FiveWishes.org for a nominal fee. Alternately, hard copies of this document are frequently available from your primary care physician or local healthcare network offices free of charge.
To be legal and official, most states – including Colorado – only require that your completed advance directives be witnessed. Notarization is optional. I am a Colorado Notary Public, and – if you wish – am able to notarize your finalized documents. Emergency legislation in response to COVID, effective June 26, 2020, now allows for remote notarization. I am only able to notarize the documents of Colorado residents. There is no additional fee for this service.
If you reside outside of Colorado and want or need to have your documents notarized, you may need to pay a nominal fee for notarization – typically $10-15.
It is advised that you share your documents with your primary care physician, local health care network(s), and – of course, your medical agent(s).
There are no additional charges or processes needed to make your advance directives legal.