Legacy Projects
Dignity Therapy
Dignity therapy is an evidenced-based, brief therapeutic intervention designed to alleviate psychological, existential, and spiritual distress for people with serious life-limiting illnesses and their loved ones. In Dignity Therapy, you will be asked a series of questions specifically chosen for their ability to uncover and enhance your life’s most meaningful moments, memorable stories, and wisdom you wish to impart to your loved ones. This may also be used as an opportunity to seek closure or share things you may not have felt comfortable saying before. Together we will create a meaningful document of what matters most as a way to reflect on and appreciate your life as a whole. This document can then be shared with loved ones and passed down for generations. No matter the life you have lived, everyone has a meaningful story to share.
In one clinical research study of Dignity Therapy with 100 participants...
91% of participants felt satisfied or highly satisfied with Dignity Therapy
78% of family members reported that the finished document helped them through their grief and provided a lasting source of comfort
76% of participants reported that it heightened their sense of dignity
67% of participants indicated that it increased their sense of purpose and meaning
47% of participants reported that it increased their will to live
What’s Included:
30 minute initial consultation explaining the process and sharing the questions in advance
1 hour to audio record an interview of you answering these questions with the facilitator
An initial edited transcript of your interview (the facilitator does this independently)
1 hour meeting to review the first draft of your edited transcript, and to make any revisions or additions
Receive a fully edited document to share with loved ones
The typical turnaround time for this process is one week or less.
Fee: $300 - $500
Ethical Will
An ethical will might be an address to your wider community on how you want to be remembered and what your life stood for. It can be shared during a memorial service or read by you at a celebration of life party. It may also be a more personal document intended for an intimate audience of close loved ones. It might be a series of letters individually addressed to a handful of important people sharing what you value about them, as well as what you wish for their life and any wisdom you wish to impart. As with all of our services, this is highly customizable based on your wants and needs.
Fee: $65/hour
Children’s Book
Children have their own unique process for coping with grief and death. One way to help them process the emotions they might not have language to express is in the form of a story.
Katie has professionally written and recorded over 15 original bedtime stories for a popular children’s app. Additionally, she has experience as an art director and can translate your vision to an illustrator to bring your story to life. You may wish to create a story about a significant memory or special day or one that expresses how your love will continue even after you are gone. Whatever story you wish to tell, I will help you translate your vision. The story may be an audio recording (read by you), illustrated children’s book, or both.
A piece of clothing of yours may also be transformed into a teddy bear and stuffed with a lock of your hair or a heart that you kissed. This way, your child or grandchild will have a beloved, tangible object of yours to hold as part of their bedtime routine.
Fee: $65/hour for consultation, writing, and producing services — Illustrator fee varies