End of life Coaching is a process of being with people who are dying and those who are grieving. This process, also known as The Coach Approach, recognizes the person (the one who is dying or the one who is grieving) as the expert of his/her life. An End of Life Coach is responsible for creating a ‘safe place’ in which the person feels free to share without self-censorship. The End of Life Coach asks powerful questions: questions that are born out of the coach’s deep listening. These questions invite the person to look within to find the answers that are already there yet have gone unacknowledged. The Coach affirms the normalcy of the process of dying and the process of grieving. This particular form of being with another offers a person someone to walk alongside them without offering advice, fixing them, or assuming to know what is right for them. The Coach Approach honors the person’s wisdom and explores ways for them to live from it. Transformation occurs when the person is seen and heard in this deep way.
The role of an End of Life coach is one of honor and privilege. It demands self-awareness in the presence of emotionally uncomfortable circumstances. The training for this unique position allows students to become intimate with what is required to embody it.
