Our ADEC heroes are all the volunteers who gift to us their time, talents, and tenacity to focus first on the WHY, then on the WHAT, and lastly on the HOW. I applaud the tireless generosity of all of you who have brought things into fruition this past year. Our volunteers have served in a myriad of ways: as Board advisers and leaders; as committee chairs and members; as task force participants; as voices to deliver keynotes, thematic panels, webinars, and conference posters; as authors and editors for ADEC publications; as networkers who outreach, welcome, engage, and orient us; as financial overseers; as creative visionaries; as event planners; as credentialing managers; as students; as teachers and mentors; as those who bridge what has been with what is to come; and as partners, sponsors, and benefactors.

ADEC’s WHY is our vision of “a world in which dying, death, and bereavement are recognized as fundamental and significant aspects of the human experience…a home for professionals from diverse backgrounds to advance the body of knowledge.” ADEC’s WHAT is our mission in “promoting excellence and recognizing diversity in death education, care of the dying, grief counseling and research in thanatology.” ADEC’s HOW is stated as “the Association provides information, support and resources to its international, multicultural, multidisciplinary membership and to the public.”

This has been another challenging year for each of us individually and for our Association. Our response to things outside our control has been stretched outside any reasonable limit. Our resilience has been tested and taxed. Our stamina has been fatigued. As we know in our thanatology practice, living within extended ambiguity carries these burdens. We have asked questions such as these:

These powerful questions give us a compass and a structure to navigate, prioritize, evaluate, change direction, and learn. We have answered with collective strength and creativity to keep going the course, to renew our spirit, and to move forward in alignment with our vision and mission. I have been reflecting upon Dr. Gene Knott’s work with ADEC in “appreciative inquiry.” In 2013, Dr. Knott assisted ADEC leaders in this method to develop our strategic plan. I encourage you to re-read this plan found on our ADEC website. Our work this year for envisioning our future is parallel to this adopted strategic plan. Here are some highlights of the 2021-2022 year. 

Our ADEC volunteers did this work and we can feel proud of these steps during ambiguous and changing circumstances. As we move into leadership under Andy Ho and Melanie Wright, we will continue to walk toward the light of opportunity for a widening, deepening, and instrumental future. I pledge my partnership.

In my opening conference remarks, I referenced Van Morrison’s song, The Bright Side of the Road, as they represent our values and identity:

“Into this life we’re born, sometimes we don’t know why. And time seems to go by so fast, in the twinkling of an eye. Let’s enjoy it while we can, let’s enjoy it while we can. Won’t you help me share my load. From the dark end of the street to the bright side of the road.”

My gratitude for the servants who made this a bright year. Your perseverance, care, contribution, and wisdom made all the difference!

There were Invited Speakers or Hot Topic concurrent sessions. One of those was a session arranged by the Handbook Task Force with authors from three chapters of our self published Handbook of Thanatology, 3rd Edition. The ADEC Living Legacy Project highlighted thanatology pioneers, diversity and inclusion, students, and the future. A third concurrent session focused on ADEC’s Diversity and Inclusion and challenges for future work. A panel of clinicians, educators/researchers within ADEC gave differing viewpoints during the Discussion on Prolonged Grief Disorder. 

Recognizing award recipients is an important part of plenary conference sessions. The 2022 recipients were:

ADEC and the Conference Planning Committee wish to express appreciation to the Sponsors and Exhibitors for the 43rd Annual ADEC Conference, including:

Sponsors:

Exhibitors:

The 44th ADEC Annual Conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Columbus, Ohio, April 25-29, 2023. Make plans to attend this conference!

Congratulations to our 2022 Scholarship Winners!

We might do an “icebreaker” or two such as: in 60-90 seconds tell us about your hometown. We break into small groups of 4-5 in each, provide a list of topics they may want to discuss, and also invite them to talk about anything death related.

After about 30 minutes the group reports to everyone anything they deem noteworthy from their talking, then we take a break and load our plates with food, and do the process again, with participants remaining in their group or forming new groups. Such discussions have been very well received.

This exercise provides a safe, friendly, comfortable environment for people to meet likeminded others and discuss an otherwise taboo topic – death.

We also conduct workshops on preparing advance directives and how to make them work for you, including having an attorney present who can help participants fill out the forms, answer questions, and provide guidance. We emphasize the importance of having someone designated as healthcare Power of Attorney.

Another program is called “The Impact of a Good Death.” The way most of us in this country die is most often pretty bad. We have survivors tell their stories about losing a loved one, whether that person died well, or badly, how they coped, talking about their bereavement, and how else the death impacted family and friends who survived.

All of this is done a volunteer basis!

ADEC’s committee structures include our Board of Directors; Membership (with sub committees Diversity & Inclusion, Networking & Engagement); Communications (with Web & Social Media); Conference Planning (with Awards, Exhibitors & Sponsors); Finance (with Fund Development, Living Legacy); Professional Development; Leadership Recruitment & Development; and Students & New Professionals. Occasionally, we have special time limited Task Forces, like our Handbook Task Force and Legacy Project. Additionally, our Credentialing Council autonomously oversees and maintains a valid credentialing process in the field of thanatology, on behalf of ADEC. Examine how these work together at our organizational chart: https://www.adec.org/page/ADECCommittees.

Add to these our conference’s expert presenters (in person, hybrid, and posters), and you begin to grasp our volunteers’ unparalleled expertise.

Professionally, our volunteers span the scope of thanatology services: from hospitals to long term care, hospices, and doulas; from children’s and teens’ schools to universities; from natural deaths to trauma and tragedy; from medical science to spiritual care; from technology to the arts; from funeral homes to grief care healing; from deeply personal soul searching to evidence based research. Continually, what inspires me the most is each member’s life journey that brought them to this thanatology work, and keeps them here with ADEC.

Thank you, ADEC’s Volunteers! We value you. We thank you!

In addition to my church, I volunteer my time with the Commission on Ministry for the Presbytery of Eastern Virginia. In this role, I serve as the clerk of the Commission responsible for completing the monthly minutes. I serve as the chair of the Commissioned Pastor Subcommittee. I have also volunteered to serve a local church which has experienced extensive trauma and loss from losing pastors. This required me to perform pastoral care (extensive listening and reflective thoughts) concerning members of the congregation that sought counseling during their past months.

In each of these circumstances I was able to use the gifts I have been given to help others. These efforts have provided me the opportunity to continue to use the professional grief and loss experiences and learning opportunities I have developed throughout my career to help people struggling with the pain associated with their losses. Furthermore, the volunteer experiences have given me the personal fulfillment of my passion of serving.

The ADEC Conference is vital to what we do and who we are. The learning, the camaraderie, the expansion of our souls through the immensely important service that we provide is key to the vibrancy of the field of thanatology. 

To volunteer for ADEC and to help make it a reality is meaningful to me. It makes my heart bigger.

Although revolutionary at the time, these ideas are central to the hospice philosophy.

Hospice utilizes a team approach, and volunteers are essential as Medicare mandates volunteer use for at least 5 percent of patient care hours. They bring a level of compassion and love that is said to enhance the skills of the rest of the team. To maintain a high quality level, all volunteers must undergo an initial multi week training, criminal background check, and proof of vaccinations. In addition, there are monthly meetings providing education on end of life subjects. 

Volunteer roles include companionship, writing letters, running errands, documenting a life history, and reading from a favorite book. It often means holding a hand, providing a warm presence, and sitting vigil at end of life. Some volunteers bring skills such as pet therapy or playing a musical instrument. In my eighteen years, my volunteer activities involved locating estranged loved ones for a final goodbye, arranging burial in a Veteran's National Cemetery for an indigent patient, and donating a patient's player piano to a local theater. 

Most volunteers consider it an honor to offer patients and families comfort and closure and feel we gain much more than we give. Advocating for patients through these tasks and others like them makes volunteering so rewarding. We look forward to walking with our patients through their darkest valley, assuring them that they are not alone as they pass from this world to the next.

Geraldine’s experiences working with her patients and their families have further fueled her dedication to abolishing death taboos and encouraging compassionate awareness of our mortality. Driving her clinical work is her lifelong commitment to strengthening her proficiency in academia – she contributes to numerous end of life care publications, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Psychology. Geraldine also sits as Co Chair on the Community Engagement and Communications committee of the Singapore Hospice Council, where she lends her expertise and knowledge to end of life care outreach efforts in Singapore.

Do you have a mentor/role model who has significantly affected your career path in thanatology? Tell us why you chose this career path.

The very first person who significantly affected my career path, and consequently my entire life today, was my grandfather. I was in my early teens and he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Watching my once independent and fiery grandfather descend into helplessness and depression was incredibly painful, and back then I wished that I knew what to say or do to comfort him. One afternoon, while witnessing my clumsy attempts to make him a hot drink, my grandfather smiled at me and said, “You are very good at caring for people.” It is one of the last things I remember him saying to me before he got very sick, and while I didn’t know it back then, my mind was made up at that point. I was determined to help people at the end of life in ways that I wished I could have helped my own grandfather. You could say that having a career in thanatology has been a wish come true for me!

When I started out in the field of palliative care, Dr. Chong Poh Heng from HCA Hospice in Singapore quickly became one of the greatest role models and mentors of my life. I am always blown away by how he works with his patients and their families – he is the epitome of being fully present, compassionate, gentle, and embracing. His passion, determination and creativity motivate me to think and work beyond traditional methods of EoL care. He is also a wonderful leader who cares deeply for his colleagues, and one of the most humble people I know. I aspire to be like him (and I’m working toward it!).

Most of all, my beloved partner in life and crime, Andy, is the biggest inspiration in my life. Because of him, I have the confidence to traverse areas of EoL care that I never thought I had the capability to, and this has enabled me to develop my expertise and knowledge, as well as my competence to serve a wider population. Andy has the biggest heart for the field of thanatology, going above and beyond always to further our cause all around the world. He is a trailblazer and an innovator of this field, and his fire for our work keeps mine shining bright as well. I am truly lucky to be married to someone I’m a huge fan of!

What advice would you offer a more junior professional in the field on growing their career or keeping their work fresh?

Find your tribe – this means professional and trusted organizations like ADEC, caring colleagues in the field, and friends and family who are proud of you and who support you – and grow with it. With this tribe, you get an abundance of training, networking, and learning opportunities, practical and emotional support, and lots of love – something that is so important because we have to give love in our work every single day. Also, you are never too junior or inexperienced to do amazing things – be daring and bold and passionate in your work! At the same time, do ensure that your enthusiasm for your work does not consume you – in the field of thanatology we know that life is unpredictable, so make unnegotiable time for yourself and for what is important to you outside of work as well. This will be crucial for a sustainable and happy career. 

What do you think the future holds for your work and that of others like you? How will that impact what you do?

I think that work in thanatology will continue to be redefined in the most exciting and relevant ways, thanks to the hard work of everyone in the field for so many years. Very recently, Singapore, a largely conservative society with regards to death and dying, saw her very first hospice daycare open with a bar serving alcoholic drinks, a spa, cinema, mahjong room and even a kid’s jacuzzi! This is massive progression and a great indication that we can certainly be bolder in the work that we do from now on.

I believe that with all the good people we have in the field, and the ones who will join us, we will uncover new and innovative knowledge, interventions and services in thanatology that will help us to further harness the infinite powers of dignity, compassion, and creativity for death, dying, grief and loss. 

I am also a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner, personal trainer, and almost officially a thanatologist (M.S. Marian University; Spring 2023). I have two beautiful daughters ages 8 and 10 who keep me young, and a husband who keeps me in good humor. Still utilizing movement as my outlet I have directed and created works for NetCo Dance Company for 15+ years. I utilize essential oils, and practice Ayurveda for optimal health along with a daily yoga and meditation practice. I currently work at Pediatric Specialty Care, where I have found my true calling, working with terminal children.

Do you have a mentor/role model who has significantly affected your career path in Thanatology? Tell us why you chose this career path.

It’s difficult selecting just one individual to name since there have been many who have assisted me in this journey. My hospice internship with Chaplain Timothy Nickel, at Masonic Villages of Elizabethtown, really sparked my interest in the field of thanatology. We spent many moments discussing all aspects of death and dying and the impact on the families. It led me to my path at Marian University. Also Dr. Rebecca Morse, one of my current professors, continually offers encouragement and guidance at every step. She helps flush out my true desire within the field, and probably doesn’t even realize it! Her expansive knowledge and personal touches that she shares continue to challenge and support my journey.

What advice would you offer a more junior professional in the field on growing their career or keeping their work fresh?

There is so much information you gain in your studies, different concepts and varying techniques, it is easy to forget sometimes that the best advice can be the simplest. Just remembering to be present and listen allows space for the compassion that’s needed.

What do you think the future holds for your work and that of others like you? How will that impact what you do?

I really see a need for guidance in dealing with death and dying beyond what hospice already offers. Managing pain and other psychological aspects of dying allows for that space to engage in relationships, reconnect, and facilitate communication bringing families together into the sacred space that death provides. Being present with families as they move within their loss, is the greatest gift I can offer, and receive simultaneously.

ADEC Members’ Corner  is a regular column in ADEC Connects that highlights one or more members’ activity as an ADEC professional. Members’ Corner is open for contributions from all ADEC members; to be included, please send your article to Amanda Brace or Beverly Rollins.

Kenneth J. Doka and Amy S. Tucci have compiled and edited a new book, Shattered: Trauma and Grief. The book includes perspectives from clinicians who have experienced personal trauma, such as death by suicide, supporting a community after a tragedy, and working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sharing both their clinical and personal expertise, authors include ADEC members Jillian Blueford, Carla Cheatham, William Feigelman, William Hoy, Wendy Lichtenthal, Robert Niemeyer, and Holly Prigerson with a foreword by Ted Rynearson.

Althea Halchuck, EJD, CT, BCPA wrote a blog about the bad death of her sister-in-law. KevinMD.com published it recently and it already has 3,000 shares. See her blog here.

Mary Frances O’Connor was featured in End of Life University’s podcast, “The Grieving Brain: The Science of Love and Loss. The podcast explored the changes that occur in the brain during the grief process and how a meaningful life can be restored. The podcast can be accessed here: Ep. 342 "The Grieving Brain: The Science of Love and Loss" with Mary-Frances O’Connor PhD – End of Life University (eolupodcast.com)

Donna L. Schuurman, EdD, FT and staff at Dougy Center announce that the National Grief Center for Children & Families is featuring grief education webinars during the Spring and Summer of 2022. Join them to learn more! Visit https://buf6zxuz.paperform.co/ to register. Visit Dougy Center’s new online training platform to access grief education classes on supporting children, teens, and young adults who are grieving: https://classes.dougy.org/

Connects is interested in your thoughts and work. Please reach out to us with content submissions, suggestions or ideas.

For consideration in the next issue of Connects please submit your ideas/content by Friday, May 13.

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Editor – Amanda Brace Ed.S, LSC, PCC-S
Assistant Editor – Beverly Rollins BSW, MGA, MA