Co-host of The Parlor and executive director of Natural Transitions
Join us as Karen takes us on a trip down memory lane which includes Natural Transitions Magazine and the co-founding of the National Home Funeral Alliance. Karen will revisit some of the history of Natural Transitions non-profit and her own personal journey – culminating in the founding of The Parlor.

Co-creator of The Chrysalis Body Composting Vessel
Seth Viddal is co-owner of The Natural Funeral and the premier expert in Body Composting (natural reduction) in Colorado. He is co-creator of the Chrysalis human composting vessel. The Natural Funeral was the first Colorado funeral home to serve a family that chose body composting for their loved one at death. Colorado legalized natural reduction (the technical term) in 2021. The first body composting laying in ceremony occurred September 22, 2022. The Natural Funeral

Writer/Podcaster

Longtime ESPN writer Ivan Maisel never thought he’d write a story like this. In February 2015, he received a call that would change his life forever: his son’s car had been found abandoned in a parking lot next to Lake Ontario. Two months later, Max’s body was found in the lake. With grace, depth, and refinement, Ivan explores the tragically transformative reality of losing a child. He also explores their relationship, its complications, and their struggle—as is the case for so many parents and their children—to connect. In the process, he began to see grief as love.

Psychic Medium/Author

I first met Kelle Sutliff  via a mother who had contacted Kelle to find her missing adult son. He had walked onto a frozen lake in the deep of winter and fallen through the ice.  It was a month before search teams recovered his body. Sutliff was the first to identify the nature of his death and orient his family to his whereabouts. That's when I learned that psychic mediums are recognized by organizations like the FBI and the National Missing Person's Organization as reliable resources for locating those who have disappeared. They also bring comfort to families who are struggling with the mystery of their loved one's journey beyond the threshold.

Anita Hannig: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America

Drawing on five years of research on the frontlines of assisted dying, cultural anthropologist, Anita Hannig unearths the uniquely personal narratives masked by a polarized national debate about assisted dying. One of the people we meet in Hannig's new book, The Day I die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America, is Ken, an irreverent ninety-year-old blues musician who invites his family to his death, dons his best clothes, and goes out singing.  Anita Hannig brings us into the lives of ordinary Americans going to extraordinary lengths to set the terms of their own deaths. Join us in The Parlour in July.

William Peters is an end-of-life therapist, founder of the Shared Crossing Project and author of At Heaven’s Door: What Shared Journeys to the AfterLife Teach About Dying Well and Living Better. What can explain shared death experiences? How can we increase our likelihood of having one? What do these experiences tell us about what lies beyond? And, most importantly, how can they help take away the sting of death and better prepare us for our own final moments? How can we have both a better life and a better death?

Megan Carnarius has dedicated much of her life to understanding people with dementia. She has used her wisdom to design facilities for people needing memory care.  Like no other dementia expert, she speaks to their journey from a spiritual perspective. She paints a picture of the person with dementia as spiritually well, despite the deterioration of their mental capacities.  It is from this spiritual viewpoint, particularly regarding the journey with dementia at end of life, that Carnarius will address our Parlour audience.  Carmarius is also the author of A Deeper Perspective on Alzheimer's and Other Dementias. She consults nationally and internationally on dementia care.

Joanne Tubbs Kelly is the author of Walking Him Home: Helping My Husband Die with Dignity. It is the kind of book, from the viewpoint of a spouse, she wish she'd found on a bookshelf when her husband, Alan, chose Medical Aid in Dying (MAID). When Alan was diagnosed with a rare, fatal, neurogenerative disease (MSA) he was clear he wanted the ability to end his suffering using Colorado’s Medical Aid in Dying Act. Joanne faced what for her was an impossible choice; to support Alan in his desire to maintain control over the end of his life or to do all in her power to keep him alive for as long as she could. Told with honesty, humor, and love, Joanne's
journey challenges us all to revisit our values and beliefs about end-of-life decisions. More about Joanne at https://joannetubbskelly.com/.

Brigitte Mars is an internationally renowned herbalist, nutritional consultant, author and also an end-0f-life doula.  She is a founding and professional member of the American Herbalist Guild. She will share her wisdom about sacred plant medicine such as psilocybin (a mushroom) and how it can ease the fear of death.

Her books include The Natural First Aid Handbook, Natural Remedies for Mental and Emotional Health, The Country Almanac of Home Remedies, The Desktop Guide to Herbal Medicine, Beauty by Nature, Addiction Free Naturally, The Sexual Herbal, Healing Herbal Teas, Rawsome! and co-author of The HempNut Cookbook. FIND OUT more about Brigitte at https://brigittemars.com/about/