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Media Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Judy K. Underwood, Ph.D., 970-221-0581
DrUnderwood@passingpeacefully.com
Are You Afraid of Dying? Think it Won’t Happen to You?
Death happens to all of us.
Facing the truth can help us die well.
None of us can avoid death, no matter how well we eat, how much we work out or how vehemently we deny the truth.
We don’t have the power to change whether we die. What we do have the power to change is how we die.
By facing the inevitable, we can create a dying process that is filled with peace, dignity and even joy.
“So many Americans play ostrich about the important issue of death, but death isn’t something that goes away,”
says Judy K. Underwood, Ph.D., therapist and author of Dying: Finding Comfort and Guidance in a Story of a Peaceful Passing.
“Why not make the choice to die well?”
Underwood hasn’t always believed in looking directly at dying; she was once in the ostrich category herself.
Then one of her clients was diagnosed with terminal cancer at only 56 years of age and she asked Underwood for help.
“Like so many of us, Kris wanted to live her final months in love, peace and acceptance,” says Underwood.
“Together, we found a way to do that. Kris asked me to tell her story so that others could transform what is often a
frightening, isolating experience into a time with no regrets.”
The result is Dying: Finding Comfort and Guidance in a Story of a Peaceful Passing, an intimate, uplifting story of
discovering compassion, acceptance and peace at the end of life.
The book also provides suggestions for tackling practical issues such as obituaries and hospice care, and introduces
The Passing Peacefully Bill of Rights.
Dr. Underwood is available for interviews about how to deal with impending death.
She currently serves as a psychotherapist, life coach, author and co-leader of the Death, Dying and Legacy community
of coaches. Review copies of the book can be sent upon request.
970-221-0581,
DrUnderwood@passingpeacefully.com,
www.passingpeacefully.com.
Dying: Finding Comfort and Guidance in a Story of a Peaceful Passing can be ordered from www.Amazon.com and
directly from:
Odyssey Ink, 515 S. Sherwood Street, Box 909, Fort Collins, CO 80521.
E-mail: orders@passingpeacefully.com
Credit card orders call: 970-221-0581; fax: 870-482-8541
The price is $19.95 plus $4.95 shipping.
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Award
Dying: Finding Comfort and Guidance in a Story of a Peaceful Passing was chosen as a finalist for the National Best Books two years in a row in the category Health: Death and Dying Award, 2008, 2009 sponsored by USA Book News.
www.usabooknews.com/health/deathdying.html
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Sample Book Review
(This content was prepared for your use. Feel free to use all or part of the following, and edit to suit your needs.)
Dying: Finding Comfort and Guidance in a Story of a Peaceful Passing
by Judy K. Underwood, Ph.D.
Despite its title, Dying: Finding Comfort and Guidance in a Story of a Peaceful Passing, by Judy K. Underwood, Ph.D., is not a book for those who are dying. It is, instead, a book for those who are determined to live with joy and hope, right to their very last day.
Part memoir of a life well-ended and part guide to the dying process, Dying tells the story of three women: Therapist Dr. Judy Underwood, her patient, Kris, who is diagnosed with terminal cancer at a young age, and Kris’s partner, Sally. The book takes us through the last eleven months of Kris’s life as she works with Dr. Underwood, Sally and her friends and family to create what Kris called a “good death.”
Comments from all three women, as well as family members and friends, give the book an intimate personal touch that welcomes readers to listen and learn without ever feeling like they’re invading these women’s lives or privacy.
Told in a style that is engaging, heart-breaking and inspiring, the prose never crosses the line into maudlin, making it so easy to get lost in the story that you don’t notice all of the things that you’re learning. It is only after you’ve put the book down that you realize how much practical information is included, from writing an obituary and benefiting from hospice care to a list of tools and techniques that can make the process more comfortable for everyone involved.
In addition, Dying takes into account the way the process affects not just those who are dying, but everyone involved, from family and friends to caregivers and hospice workers. Throughout, the book offers tips for creating a culture that allows everyone involved to “grieve well,” even before death occurs.
While many books about dying give us a medical perspective or, at the very least, the perspective of someone who deals with death on a regular basis, Dying takes us on a death journey similar to what most of us are likely to experience: it will begin before we are ready and we’ll suddenly realize that we are not properly packed, we don’t understand the language and we have no real idea of how to arrive at our destination with our dignity and desires intact.
By allowing us to ride along on this journey, Dying helps us to understand and confront our own emotions and fears about death. And as we go on this painful, humorous, bittersweet, joyous journey with these women, we learn many things. Perhaps most importantly, we learn that there is no right or wrong way to go about the process. Dying doesn’t offer falsehoods, or promise a process without pain or grief. What it does offer is compassion, understanding and, most of all, hope. Hope that we can prepare for the inevitable with courage and even joy. Hope that there is another way, a better way. Hope that we can keep on living, right up until the end.
As Dr. Underwood writes in the book’s introduction, During those months I was fascinated by the similarities between death and birth. I wished for a word comparable to ‘pregnancy’ to describe the dying time. Both of these lifecycle events are significant transitions. For the birthing process, prospective parents can choose help from midwives, doctors, nurses or doulas. These people help us create the birth experience we want. In an ideal world all people would have help finding a way to die that is right for them.
We don’t live in an ideal world yet, but books like Dying will help us find our way there.
Dying: Finding Comfort and Guidance in a Story of a Peaceful Passing
by Judy K. Underwood, Ph.D.
ISBN: 978-0-9794315-1-7
$19.95 paperback + $4.95 shipping
www.passingpeacefully.com
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Author Photos |
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A seren-destiny moment followed by an impromptu presentation at Sam Horn's Book Camp. I'm holding Sam's Book and she's holding mine.
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What a pleasure it was to meet Dr. Christiane Northrup, author of numerous books including The Wisdom of Menopause, Women's Bodies Women's Wisdom, and Mother-Daughter Wisdom.
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Book signing at the 2007 International Coach Federation (ICF) Convention in Long Beach, CA.
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Book Cover Images
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For images of the back cover, please click the links below.
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Interview Questions
1. Why did you write this book?
2. In your book, you talk about asking for, and accepting help.
What are some of the best ways to give help when someone has yet to come to terms with asking for it?
3. What are the best ways for someone to ask for that help?
4. What do you believe to be some of the biggest misconceptions about death and how our society teaches us to handle it?
5. What are some ways in which your book can teach people how to die more peacefully, and in effect how to live better as well?
6. What was the most profound thing you learned from your experience with Kris and Sally?
7. How has what you learned affected your life today?
8. Is there a system for everyone to follow on how to die, or is it a matter of finding what works best for each individual?
9. What would you stress to be the most important way to die?
10. Are there any Dos and Don’ts for people to follow when they learn that someone they know has a terminal illness?
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Praise From Well-known Authors
“Death is a great teacher about life.
It is something we must all face one day and I have learned from my experience that it is not the worst outcome.
It can be a form of healing for those who are tired of their bodies.
This book can guide you through the process so that you and your loved ones experience it as a healing journey
and new beginning; just as a graduation is your commencement.”
Bernie Siegel, M.D.,
author Love, Medicine & Miracle and 365 Prescriptions For The Soul
“Judy K. Underwood’s book, Dying, provides not only the “how to,” but also the “what and how” of the final stages of life.
This book is the perfect dying coach for those who want a “good death” and for those who love and help them.”
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, co-author of From Age-ing to Sage-ing
“This book has helpful suggestions on an important topic.”
Christiane Northrup, M.D.,
Author The Wisdom of Menopause, Women’s Bodies Women’s Wisdom, Mother-Daughter Wisdom
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