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 brand new Dementia Deck. All 3 decks are designed to help families have the conversations they keep putting off.

Whether it's what to do with your passwords, who's taking the dog, or how you'd want to show up for loved ones after you're gone, these cards meet people exactly where they are.

Patricia and Lisa explore the surprising power of humor and silence in end-of-life work, what families argue about most at the bedside, why your partner might not be the best choice for your healthcare proxy, and the critical — often unknown — decisional moments that shape how we die with dementia.

This episode is both practical and deeply human. You'll come away with a new appreciation for why starting the conversation now, before a crisis forces the issue, is one of the most loving things you can do for the people you'll someday leave behind.

You'll hear about: The story behind The Death Deck and how grief sparked its creation, why dementia tops the list of what people fear most, what families don't know they can choose when a loved one has dementia, how to think carefully about your healthcare proxy, and what it means to truly honor someone's wishes when the pressure is on.

Find the decks: thedeathdeck.com

Hosted by Patricia M Sears, End-of-Life Doula and founder of Graceful Transitions. Subscribe to hear monthly conversations with nationally recognized experts on death, dying, and life's most important transitions.

Join the Graceful Lifers community at Substack for exclusive invitations to join live audience and Q&A sessions with guests and deeper conversations about navigating life's thresholds.

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 insights on how children actually grieve versus how adults think they should, why we rank grief (and what that costs us), and how to create spaces where all feelings are valid. Her journey from treating ambiguous loss to living it offers rare perspective on navigating life-altering change.

Whether you're supporting someone through loss or navigating your own grief, this conversation provides both validation and practical guidance for honoring every kind of loss.

CONNECT WITH TRISH (aka Patricia M Sears):

• All links: ⁠linktr.ee/pmsears⁠
• Graceful Lifers: ⁠patriciamsears.substack.com⁠
• LinkedIn: ⁠The Threshold newsletter⁠

CONNECT WITH JENNY:

• Books on Amazon: "⁠Grief and Alpha Gal: The Mind and Body Connection⁠" & "⁠Grief Talks 2⁠"
• Facebook: ⁠Alpha-Gal Grief Girl

Hosted by Patricia M Sears, End-of-Life Doula and founder of Graceful Transitions. Subscribe to hear monthly conversations with nationally recognized experts on death, dying, and life's most important transitions.

Join the Graceful Lifers community at Substack for exclusive invitations to join live audience and Q&A sessions with guests and deeper conversations about navigating life's thresholds.

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 might be the most profound gift we can offer.

We explore what happens when hard conversations finally break open, why the messiness of grief deserves our full attention, and how presence - not perfection - creates the healing we're all seeking.

Subscribe to Gabby's website to find treasures in her blog, workshops, and books. CHEERS

Hosted by Patricia M Sears, End-of-Life Doula and founder of Graceful Transitions. Subscribe to hear monthly conversations with nationally recognized experts on death, dying, and life's most important transitions.

Join the Graceful Lifers community at Substack for exclusive invitations to join live audience and Q&A sessions with guests and deeper conversations about navigating life's thresholds.