Resources for End of Life Education

Posted on October 15, 2021

If you are caring for someone at the end of life, or preparing for your own end of life journey, it can be difficult to know where to go for resources, information, and support. Whether you’re looking for care options near you, materials on end of life planning, or searching for services, the following list will help point you in the right direction. Community health centers, other support groups, medical facilities, and your own team of medical professions are also valuable resources.

Online Care and Service Directories
End With Care Resource Directory
If you have end of life needs within Massachusetts, use our interactive resource directory to find end-of-life care and service providers, organizations, and related agencies serving communities throughout the state. You can easily find and access information about providers, searching for them by name, keyword, or type of end of life care service.

INELDA - International End of Life Doula Association Directory 
End of life doulas are trained professionals who help guide dying people and their loved ones through the dying process. With INELDA’s directory, you can easily find the right doula for you and your family.

Medicare - Care Compare Directory
Using this directory, you can search for nursing homes, hospice care, home health services, and more. You can also see ratings for each of these services in your community.

Family Caregiver Alliance - Services by State Directory
This Services by State tool helps family caregivers locate public, nonprofit, and private programs and services nearest their loved one—whether they are living at home or in a residential facility. 

End of Life Planning
MyDirectives 
MyDirectives is a free, online system for documenting your end-of-life wishes. This site helps you create your own digital advance care plan or upload any advance directive you already have.

EverPlans
EverPlans is an interactive site that helps you plan for death. With this tool, you can get everything important organized, including wills, life insurance policies, healthcare documents, digital accounts, and so much more. The site also walks you through what needs to happen after a death, and provides tips for supporting the bereaved.

The Conversation Project
The Conversation Project’s goal is to help everyone talk about their wishes for care through the end of life, so those wishes can be understood and respected. Their conversation guides, offered in multiple languages, are designed to help make difficult conversations easier. They offer guides on a range of topics, such as choosing a health care proxy, speaking with your health care team, caring for people with dementia, caring for a child with a serious illness, and much more.

Caregiving Resources
American Cancer Society - End of Life Care
The American Cancer Society offers information for those caring for patients whose cancer is advanced and treatment is no longer working or has been stopped. Here, you’ll find information about hospice care, what may happen when the end of life is near, and managing feelings of grief and loss.

National Institute on Aging - End-of-Life Care for People with Dementia
On this site, you’ll learn about how to make end-of-life decisions for a person with dementia. You’ll also find resources to support dementia caregivers.

National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization - End-of-Life Caregiving Booklet
This booklet provides tips, support, and information for caregivers.

Support and Counseling
Grief.com - Grief Counselor Directory
Grief.com is dedicated to help everyone deal with grief through education, information and other helpful resources. With their online counselor directory, you can find the right grief counselor for you. 

Evermore - Grief Support Centers Directory
You can use this directory to find support organizations and bereavement centers for families nationwide.

What’s Your Grief
What’s Your Grief is an online community that provides hope, support, and education to anyone dealing with loss. Whether you’re grieving, or supporting a friend who’s grieving, you’re sure to find valuable resources and articles. 

The Compassionate Friends
The Compassionate Friends provides comfort, hope, and support to every family experiencing the death of a son or a daughter, a brother or a sister, or a grandchild, and helps others better assist the grieving family. You can search for both online and in-person support through their website.

Books
There are countless books dealing with end-of-life topics, from caregiving, to preparing for the end of life. Here are a few of our favorites:

On End of Life

• Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
• The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life by Katy Butler
• Dying Well: Peace and Possibilities at the End of Life by Ira Byock
• Living at the End of Life: A Hospice Nurse Addresses the Most Common Questions by Karen Whitney Bell 
• With the End in Mind: Dying, Death, and Wisdom in an Age of Denial by Kathryn Mannix
• The Beauty of What Remains: How Our Greatest Fear Becomes Our Greatest Gift by Steve Leder
• Matters of Life and Death: Finding the Words to Say Goodbye by Carol Wogrin
• No Death No Fear by Thich Nhat Hanh

For Caregivers

• Final Gifts: Understanding the Special Awareness, Needs, and Communications of the Dying by Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley
• Final Journeys: A Practical Guide for Bringing Care and Comfort at the End of Life by Maggie Callanan
• Finding Peace at the End of Life: A Death Doula's Guide for Families and Caregivers by Henry Fersko-Weiss
• At the Bedside by Gabrielle Elise Jimenez

Memoirs & Novels

• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
• The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After by Julie Yip-Williams
• No Happy Endings by Nora McInerny
• The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
• Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom