How do we adjust when health challenges upend our independence? Whether parent, child, spouse, partner, friend or neighbor, we face vulnerabilities while adapting to role reversals from care givers to care receiver. Being vulnerable is never welcome yet receiving care provides opportunities for developing compassion, expressing love, achieving personal growth, and finding grace. Learn ways to welcome your vulnerability and surrender to ‘what is’.

Loretta Downs, MA, CSA, has been companioning people at the end of their lives for nearly 40 years—listening, serving, and observing the many ways we die. She sees natural death as a sacred passage deserving of recognition and fervent support. Loretta founded Chrysalis End-of-Life Inspirations, is a member of a hospital ethics committee, an Advance Care Planning Facilitator, and a Certified Senior Advisor. She has a masters degree in gerontology with a major in thanatology. In summer she raises Monarch butterflies in Chicago; in winter she hibernates in Ajijic.