Blog

CEDAR founder receives Equality & Diversity award

Dr Judith Wester, founder of CEDAR Education, was one of the 8 co-founders of LGBT SAND to receive a National Spirit of the Age Award from AgeUk in 2017. SAND (Safe Ageing No Discrimination) was established to train healthcare providers in how to care for old and older LGBT persons as they start to require more care. Dr Wester is an advocate for the LGBT community and believes that everyone deserves appropriate care as they age, especially at end of…

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Being Mortal

by Atul Gawande – Atul Gawande is an author, surgeon and professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. Being Mortal is for both professional and nonprofessional readers. It confronts the impact of our scientific advances on the way we approach death, and questions the direction our practices lead us to, and so invites consideration of alternative approaches and questions to the subject of our mortality. Drawing on both his patients and his personal experiences Gawande…

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Die Wise: a Manifesto for Soul and Sanity

by Stephen Jenkinson – Stephen Jenkinson is an activist, teacher, author and farmer. He is a consultant to palliative care and hospice organisations. Die Wise is for people who work with death and dying but just as useful to anyone who wishes to consider and prepare for your own death. The author asks the question why is it, that with the certainty of death facing us all, do we give it so little attention. Although this book is about dying,…

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Staring At The Sun: Being at peace with your own mortality: Overcoming the Dread of Death

by Irvin Yalom. Dr Irvin Yalom is an author and renown American Existential psychiatrist in his mid-eighties who has taught his own psychotherapy theory and techniques alongside a private practice. In Staring at the Sun, Yalom not only shares the links between the problems his patients shared with a fear of death and dying, but also shares his own terror of death and how he overcomes it. It is a book for professionals and anyone interested in living more consciously,…

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Grief Works, Stories of Life, Death and Surviving – Julia Samuel

Julia Samuel is a grief psychotherapist with over 25 years of experience working with families who have been bereaved. This is Samuels first book, and hopefully she will write more, she writes with clarity and kindness as she shares a wealth of understanding and information about grief. It is a valuable read for many professionals especially those in health, counselling and education. It is also helpful for anyone who has been or is supporting someone who is bereaved. The author…

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Cry, Heart, But Never Break

Glenn Ringtved, a Danish author, and Charlotte Pardi, a Danish illustrator, have created a wonderful book for young people about death and dying. I was recently introduced to ‘Cry, Heart, But Never Break’, and am so grateful as it is a book of great tenderness. The story tells of four children, brothers and sisters and how they react when death arrives for their Grandmother who they love dearly. It is a beautiful story that tells of the nature of life…

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Always & Forever

Always and Forever – Alan Durant and Debi Gliori A story for young children that recognises sadness and loss when it can occur suddenly and unexpectedly, when someone who is close to us, part of the immediate family dies. This story acknowledges how shock and loss can change life, how difficult it can be to continue to enjoy life when someone you love dies, and you miss them so much. It gently and beautifully shows ways that you can carry on…

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Death Matters

Death Matters

Death Matters by Sally Petch This is a wonderful little book that you can read in an hour. The author’s non-threatening approach makes it thought-provoking and more of a prompt for a journal article, to be considered over time. It is certainly not an in-depth academic study of the subject of death, but encourages us to consider attitudes and beliefs about death – especially our own. Worth a short read to increase your knowlege. Review by Tina Hughes. If interested…

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Indestructable Cat

ARE YOU INDESTRUCTIBLE? – Why having a Will is important

BY ALEX BAIRD Superstition I have to admit that I was rather surprised … the lady had glanced at my business card and then with a visible shudder, insisted that I take it back. She wouldn’t even touch it. “I’m very superstitious,” she explained. It was not a reaction that I had come across before. Of course, Wills and estate planning were not ideal topics for a chance meeting, but to be fair, she had asked me what I did…

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Badger’s Parting Gift – for ages 3 and up

Susan Varley, Badger’s Parting Gift by Andersen Press (2013) This is one of the most recommended books to read to young children to teach them about death and loss in sensitive and caring ways. It is good to read before the child has suffered a loss in order to raise awareness of death and use as a discussion point. It is also a good book to use when discussing the loss of a grandparent. Follow the link to read what others…

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CEDAR  Education
CEDAR  Education  is  dedicated  to  teaching everyone  how  to  understand,  accept  and  respond to  death,  dying  and  loss  in  healthy  and appropriate  ways  with  clients,  patients,  students, and  in  personal  relationships.

CEDAR Education is proud to have won the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service