Navigating Dysfunctional Family Dynamics at the End of Life

Imagine if you could wave a magic wand and feel at peace with your family members death, how would your life change?

Imagine if the death of your family member could ACTUALLY be a vehicle for greater and deeper healing of life-long wounds

In this course, you will go from feeling overwhelmed by your family as you face the end of life to feeling more calm and resourced as you navigate family dysfunction

Family Dysfunction is as old as time...

What inspired this course and why you should join me!

 

Your Host

 

Nicole Heidbreder

Nicole Heidbreder has spent the last many years as a Hospice nurse, INELDA End of Life Doula Trainer, Certified Grief Guide, Grief Movement Guide, Grief Recovery Specialist, and Clinical Educator for Johns Hopkins Nursing school.

She is also an adult woman who was the child of an alcoholic family and who has walked the journey of death with this dysfunctional family.

 This course is designed to foster emotionally, spiritually, and physically resilient people who can navigate the process of dying with greater ease alongside a dysfunctional family. 

Drawing on Nicole's extensive experience as a Hospice Nurse, End of Life Doula, INELDA Trainer, Death cafe Host and Grief Educator, you will learn practical tools to help support YOU while navigating the end of life journey within your own unique family dysfunctions. You will also gain skills to buffer against family drama, plus engage in post-traumatic growth.

 

By the end of this program, you will…

  • Learn how to communicate in difficult conversations for high-stress end of life situations

  • Understand Duty of Care vs Dignity of Risk

  • Have techniques to avoid the trap of triangulation

  • Begin to break the spell of codependency

  • Disentangle from enmeshment

  • Have concrete ways to avoid saviorism and over-giving

  • Explore personal internal boundaries to tame our outer-child

  • Honor the wisdom of anxiety

  • Practice expressing rage when it’s your turn to care, after you were not cared for

  • Have tools to navigate the ‘other’ dysfunctional family = the medical system

  • Understand and care more for your nervous system when caretaking

  • Learn how to step into post-traumatic growth

  • Come to terms with a lifetime of grief

  • Have support for mourning childhood trauma

  • Recognize the healing, life-affirming power of tending to our bodies while engaging with our dysfunctional family

  • Explore how self-compassion upholds our resilience

  • Come to terms with the ways in which our family dysfunction affects us

  • Set and start to maintain empowered boundaries of self love

  • Explore healing the looping mind through reflection and forgiveness

  • Developing antidotes to judgment and othering

  • Aquire practical skills for grounding while engaging with dysregulated people

Come away released from the trap of denial, shame, and isolation that are hallmarks of dysfunctional families.

Join a supportive community who can witness your challenging but sacred journey.

 What’s Inside The Course?

This course will start February 22nd, 2024 and runs for six weeks.

Six Weekly 90-minute calls will be on Thursdays @ 2pm EST/11amPST 

BONUS Call on April 7th @ 5:30pmPST/8:30pmPST

All Calls will be recorded and available for 6 months to view

In addition to the weekly 90min calls, there will be OPTIONAL prompts for journaling in between calls and some suggestions for researching resources in your area. But no homework or other required watching, listening, reading - you just get to show up!

Week 1

Exploring the Anatomy of Family Dysfunction

We will learn the characteristics and commonalities within family dysfunctions and dive into the ways in which the end of life amplifies it.

Week 2

Narrative Therapy

Engaging in logos-therapy techniques, come prepared to laugh and cry as we share with each other through spoken word and art about the nature of our childhoods and the end of life journey we have been navigating.

Week 3

Communication skills while IN the foxhole of Family Dysfunction

Communication within dysfunctional families is often fraught with denial, blame, and triangulation. This week we will explore strategies for engagement with both your family and the medical system.

Week 4

Practical Steps on Preparing for the End of Life - Bring in the Calvary!

While nothing is a quick fix, there are practical ways in which we can prepare for the end of life within the context of family dysfunctions.

Week 5

Sacred Rage - No Mud, No Lotus

Anger tends to be a quick emotion, whereas rage is a longterm relationship. In this week we will explore the breadth of rage that relates to the end of life, caretaking, and dysfunctional families.

Week 6

Dancing with the Seeds of Sorrow

Mourning is the work of grief. Sorrow can often be a subtle landscape that colors our inner worlds. By exploring the seeds of sorrow we enact true courage in dropping the rock.

Bonus Call

A Rememberance Ceremony

Questions?

Contact Us!