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End of Life Conversations: Normalizing Talk About Death, Dying, and Grief
Death touches us all, and yet our culture rarely makes space to talk about it openly. Why is it so hard to have honest conversations about death, dying, and loss with the people we love? What do we do with grief when it inevitably arrives?
End of Life Conversations is a podcast dedicated to normalizing these essential conversations. Hosts Reverent Mother Annalouiza Armendariz and Reverend Wakil David Matthews — both seasoned hospice chaplains and end-of-life companions — invite experts and everyday voices alike: funeral directors, death doulas, poets, researchers, grief counselors, and people who've walked right up to the edge of life and returned. Together, they explore what it means to prepare for death, sit with loss, and grieve in ways that are as individual as we are.
And weekly, we share a conversation with our friend Sam Zemke about something that is currently speaking to us.
Whether you're supporting a loved one through a terminal illness, searching for the right words to start a difficult conversation, or simply curious about what a more death-positive life might look like, this podcast meets you where you are. No question is too strange. No path looks the same.
Subscribe, reach out, and join the conversation. Because the time to talk about it is now.
endoflifeconvo@gmail.com | endoflifeconvos.substack.com
We want to thank our excellent editor, Sam Zemkee. We also acknowledge that we live and work on unceded indigenous peoples' lands. We thank them for their generations of stewardship, which continues to this day, and honor them by doing all we can to create a sustainable planet and support the flourishing of all life, both human and more-than-human.
Episodes
175 episodes
What Are We Allowed to Say When We Grieve? Language, Loss & Emotional Honesty | Weekly Dispatch
What are we actually allowed to say when we grieve?Grief doesn't always come out in polite, carefully chosen language. Sometimes it sounds angry. Sometimes it's profane. Sometimes it's confusing, blunt, funny, or completely incohe...
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Grieving Without Rushing: Nature Rituals for Loss and Change with Day Schildkret
When life changes, the temptation is to rush toward the other side — to find answers, regain control, and get back to normal. Artist and ritualist Day Schildkret offers another way: slow down, make meaning, and let beauty help you meet what can...
Why Aging Should Be Celebrated, Not Fought: Body Image, Mortality & Eldering | Weekly Dispatch
Why are we so afraid of aging?From anti-aging products and beauty standards to the discomfort we feel when our bodies change, our culture often treats aging as something to hide, fix, or overcome. But what if aging isn't the problem? Wha...
Why We Grieve More Than Death: Relationships, Health, Identity & Loss | Dr. Janice Lundy
We often think of grief as something that follows death. But what about the end of a relationship, a major change in health, losing a home or beloved pet, leaving behind an identity, or mourning a future we once imagined?Dr. Janice Lundy...
Why Being Wrong Feels Like Grief: Ego Death, Shame & the Courage to Change | Weekly Dispatch
What happens when you discover that something you deeply believed is no longer true?Being wrong can feel surprisingly like grief. We may feel shame, defensiveness, sadness, or even that part of who we were has disappeared. When a belief ...
How Poetry Helps Us Grieve: Finding Love, Light & Meaning After Loss | Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
What if poetry could help us live with grief rather than trying to get over it?In this deeply moving conversation, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer explores the relationship between **poetry and grief, creativity and loss, and finding meaning ...
How Consciousness of Death Shapes Our Stories, Relationships & Connection | Weekly Dispatch
What does our awareness of death have to do with the stories we tell, the relationships we build, and the way we experience being alive?In this Weekly Dispatch of *End of Life Conversations*, we explore the profound connection between c...
Elder Law Explained: Estate Planning, Dementia Care & Avoiding Family Conflict | Chandra Lewnau
What happens when an aging parent develops dementia and the family suddenly has to make difficult decisions about healthcare, caregiving, finances, and end-of-life wishes?In this episode of End of Life Conversations, we explore ...
No Weekly Dispatch This Week
We are sorry, but we wanted to let our regular listeners know that this week's dispatch had some technical issues. We won't be posting this week, but please join us again next week. Thank you for your support.
How to Advocate for Yourself in Healthcare: Patient Advocacy, Healthcare Proxies & End-of-Life Care | Beth Droppert
How do you advocate for yourself when you're sick, overwhelmed, or trying to navigate a complicated healthcare system? And who will speak for you if you can't speak for yourself?In this episode, we talk with Beth Droppert, ...
The Cost of Othering: How “Us vs. Them” Thinking Divides Us | Weekly Dispatch
What happens when “us vs. them” thinking becomes the way we see the world?In this Weekly Dispatch, we explore othering, the process of seeing another person or group as fundamentally separate from ourselves, and the profoun...
Aging, Palliative Care & Assisted Dying: What Nurses Need to Know About Death | Dr. Marianne Matzo
What do nurses, families, and caregivers need to understand about death, dying, and end-of-life care?In this thoughtful conversation, we speak with Dr. Marianne Matzo, a longtime researcher and educator whose work has explo...
Climate Grief: Grieving Environmental Loss in a Changing World | Weekly Dispatch
Climate grief is real. But what exactly are we grieving when the climate changes?We often think of grief as something that follows the death of a person. But what happens when we lose familiar landscapes, ecosystems, seasons, spec...
What Does a Mortician Do? Becoming a Funeral Director, Embalmer & Crematory Operator | Will Harker
What does a mortician really do?For many of us, the word “mortician” brings to mind a funeral home, embalming, or preparing someone who has died. But the reality of modern death care is much broader.In this episode, we talk with...
Climate Grief, Family Change & the Search for Your Authentic Self | Weekly Dispatch
What do you do when life is changing, but you don't quite have a name for what you're grieving?In this Weekly Dispatch from End of Life Conversations, we explore the kinds of grief that can emerge when children grow up, family r...
When the Chaos of Death Inspires: Don't Let Your Death Become Their Burden | Frank Flores
What happens to a family when someone dies, and nobody knows where the important information is?Most of us know we should prepare for death, but conversations about death, end-of-life planning, and organizing our affairs are easy to pos...
When Caring for Others Becomes a Burden You Can't Bear | Weekly Dispatch
Caring for someone you love is one of life's greatest acts of compassion, but it can also be one of its greatest challenges. In this Weekly Dispatch, we share one person's journey caring for their spouse with a terminal diagnosis and explore wh...
Death at The Intersection of Queerness and Addiction: A Mother's Journey | Wesley Davidson
When a child comes out as LGBTQ+, many families want to respond with love but aren't sure how to navigate unfamiliar conversations, social pressures, or mental health challenges. When addiction enters the picture, those questions become even mo...
Finding Joy in Grief: Why Laughter Helps Us Heal | Weekly Dispatch
Can you laugh while you're grieving? Should you?Many people feel guilty the first time they smile, laugh, or experience joy after losing someone they love. But what if joy isn't the opposite of grief? What if it's one of the ways we sur...
You're Going to Die But Not Me | Liz Scott on Mortality, Hospice & the Fear of Death
What are we really afraid of when we say we're afraid of death?In this conversation, author Liz Scott joins us to explore one of the most universal human experiences: facing our own mortality. Drawing from her new book, You're Going to ...
Weekly Dispatch: Heavy Music, Mental Health & Healing | Fire in the Mountains
Can heavy music help with grief and mental health?In this Weekly Dispatch, we explore the healing power of heavy music and the community connection at Fire in the Mountains. Our editor Sam Zemke joins the conversation about how music ca...
Nonprofit Hospice | Priya Jayadev on Compassionate End-of-Life Care, Volunteers & Community Hospice
Most people don't discover what hospice really does until they're facing one of the hardest moments of their lives. In this conversation, Priya Jayadev, Executive Director of Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County, shares why hospice is abo...
Weekly Dispatch - Why We Rush | Ageism, Ableism, Patience and Human Dignity
In this Weekly Dispatch, we explore how ageism and ableism often appear in ordinary, everyday moments. From waiting in line at the grocery store to helping someone navigate new technology, our fast-paced culture can unintentionally erode dignit...
Habibi Means Beloved: How Language and Poetry Can Heal Grief | Moudi Sbeity
When someone we love dies, most of us lose our words. We freeze. We reach for something meaningful and come up empty. But what if the problem isn't that you don't know what to say — it's that no one ever gave you the right kind of language for ...
Weekly Dispatch: Talking About Death With Someone You Love | Compassionate End-of-Life Conversations
Talking about death is one of the hardest conversations many of us will ever have, yet avoiding it can leave families with unanswered questions, uncertainty, and regret.In this Weekly Dispatch, we explore compassionate, practica...