Workshops for End-Of-Life Transitions | On Bright Wings

Creative, Educational, and Therapeutic Workshops

for Staff Inservices and as Part of Your Group Activities Program


On Bright Wings offers workshops and inservices on living fully, dying consciously, and grieving artfully. These educational and experiential workshops are appropriate, informative, and enjoyable training tools for staff inservices. And adapted as a therapeutic addition to your group activities program, they provide a safe and supportive, rich and healing format where your clients can navigate the sometimes rough waters that flow at the end of life. Our inservice workshops and therapeutic groups use traditional supportive and innovative creative therapy techniques such as art, music, dialogue and enactment, guided imagery, and more to provide participants with active approaches for living fully and dying consciously. All workshops are developed to use for staff inservice training and/or as a part of a client group activities program.



"The art of living well and the art of dying well are one."

--Epicurus



"The arts provoke the life in you, and that’s very powerful when the goal is to really live until you die."

--BJ Miller, MD, Hospice and Palliative Care Specialist



"Live fully, die well."

--On Bright Wings



Artful Grieving: The creative arts can be a powerful way to work with those suffering from the impact of grief and loss, especially those who do not respond to traditional talk therapy approaches. For staff inservices, the workshop explores current theories of grief and loss and their application to clinical work using drama, art, and music to enhance clinical and emotional development. Attention is also given to self-care strategies, mindfulness, and presence. For your clients and residential community, Artful Grieving uses the creative arts in a therapeutic format to facilitate healing and rebuilding one’s life after loss.
Artful Aging: For staff inservices, this workshop focuses on exploring issues specific to getting older, such as loss, changing relationships, changes in health, dementia, and more, using the creative arts to examine specific examples and problem solve effective interventions. For your clients and residential community, Artful Aging takes a theme approach to dive deeply into these issues, with the therapeutic use of the creative arts providing a safe and healing milieu for emotional expression and learning new ways to cope.
Artful Caregiving: For staff inservices, this workshop is extremely helpful for support staff. Artful Caregiving focuses on care for the caregiver. Through the therapeutic use of the creative arts, we explore techniques for self care in areas including stress management, anger management, communication skills, and On Bright Wings’ very own Spices of Life model for delicious living.
Artful Dying: For your clients and community, this unique workshop utilizes creative and experiential methods as an important and appropriate educational tool for facilities, church communities, senior centers, and other community venues wanting to learn about new approaches in death care. We create a non-threatening and supportive environment to ensure that these difficult topics are treated respectfully and safely. Included topics are Advance Directives, Letting Go, Life Review, Funeral and Burial Options, and much, much more.

FREE EVENTS AT ON BRIGHT WINGS

  • Discussing Death with On Bright Wings--monthly discussions
  • Every month On Bright Wings moderates a community discussion group on various death-related topics centered around what it means to be mortal--living fully and dying well. Past topics for discussion have included bereavement, caregiving, near-death experiences, life after death, and more. The conversation is always stimulating and reflective. Join our mailing list on the contact page to be alerted to upcoming discussions.

  • Movie Night at On Bright Wings--2nd Thursday of every month, 7:00—9:30(ish) pm
  • Come watch an end of life related movie to gain insight and inspiration in a comfortable atmosphere of sharing and caring. Movies selected focus on themes of death and dying, aging, and grief with a discussion following to share thoughts, feelings, questions, and answers.
    Free popcorn for everyone.



ON BRIGHT WINGS PRESENTS

THEATRE ON THE THRESHOLD

Theatre on the Threshold is a non-profit theatre company committed to providing death education to the community through short theatrical play productions focusing on the complicated issues surrounding death and dying today, accompanied by after-play discussions designed to promote conversation and cultivate understanding and awareness of end of life issues. Our repertoire includes original and scripted plays for adults, teens, and children, always followed by discussions led by a Certified Thanatologist (a death and grief expert practitioner) and other trained professionals. Optional post-play/discussion creative therapeutic workshops are also available for an additional fee.

TO BOOK A PERFORMANCE, CONTACT DIRECTOR TRISHA JAUCHLER AT [email protected].