Peaceful Passage by Kim West, PhD is the essential guide to navigating the emotional storms and daily logistics of an at-home end-of-life journey. Includes complete guidelines for partnering with hospice.
Many thanks to the author and CWA for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Peaceful Passage is a book I hope none of my readers ever have a reason to read, but am grateful for its existence if they ever need such guidance. Losing a loved one is never easy and watching someone close to you battle chronic and/or terminal illness can be heart wrenching and demoralizing for all involved. The author uses her skills as a professional counselor and experienced caregiver to guide the reader through the emotional turmoil of caring for a sick family member or friend as well as dealing with the practical aspects of long-term care. West provides journaling prompts with space to record the reader’s thoughts with each chapter. This book focuses the reader on keeping faith and continuing to follow God’s path even during turbulent times when it is common to question Him and wonder about the significance of your own existence. This book is an excellent resource for those who are struggling to complete the day to day task management of caring for their ill loved one, while still maintaining a good quality of personal life.
Inside the pages of Peaceful Passage you will find:
- Determining first steps once you’ve heard the news
- Charting a course with hospice as your partner
- Dealing with your loved one’s emotional roller-coaster
- Navigating demands of marriage, family, children and career
- Handling the daily, ongoing physical challenges and demands
- Confronting common fears and unresolved emotional issues
- Preparing for and experiencing the final days with dignity and purpose
- Working through inner conflicts around faith and God
- Managing the myriad post-passage details and arrangements
- Finding closure, returning to routine and reflecting on the journey
About the Book:
When your loved one is dying at home you need emotional support and guidance, caregiving help and lessons, organization assistance, an expert adviser and a cherished friend. Peaceful Passage is all of this and more.
From first hearing the news to well beyond the funeral you will keep this resource close by you to give you answers at three in the morning, for encouragement every day and for detailed information on what to do, how to do it and when to do it. Here is guide for you to care well for yourself, your dying loved one, your family, marriage, career and in your spiritual life.
This book is a labor of love from a professional counselor who cared for her own mother in her final days. One hospice described the book as, “An exceptional tool and resource for anyone assisting a loved one going through their final journey. A delightful, heartfelt, open discussion of processes, tips and things to ponder when traveling with them. Well done, and I applaud you. Thank you from all of us.”
ISBN-13: 978-0984052660 | List Price: $16.99 | Format: Softcover | Page Count: 240
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About the Author:
Kim West holds a PhD in Clinical Pastoral Counseling and a M.Div. in Counseling and Family, but when her own mother became ill with terminal cancer she found that she had no hands-on knowledge of how to take care of her. As a counselor she knew to journal her own experience to help her process her grief at losing her mother and she knew how to help her mother finish her life well and be prepared for the life to come. But the day-to-day of taking care of her mother as she died would require learning a whole new set of caring skills. And learn she did. After completing her own journey with her mother she knew she had to help others who would travel this same path. Peaceful Passage is a merging of her years of counseling experience and the new skills she learned caring for her mother combined with her heart to help and to heal.
Author Links:
Website | Facebook
