Peaceful Exit

Father and distinguished professor WJT Mitchell (Tom) lost his son, Gabe, to schizophrenia. Tom details how Gabe embraced the term “madness” in order to normalize the challenges of living with schizophrenia. Tom also shares how their family grieved together after Gabe’s death, and how he’s still ever-present in their lives.

About WJT Mitchell: https://english.uchicago.edu/people/w-j-t-mitchell

His book is, “Mental Traveler: A Father, a Son, and a Journey Through Schizophrenia” 

If you’re in the greater Chicago area and are looking for mental health resources, please visit https://www.thresholds.org/

Dr. Anita Sanchez shares Indigenous wisdom for living in today’s world. A big focus of the conversation is about forgiving the unforgivable. She explains how forgiveness can come even after someone has died. Anita also shares the beautiful story of her mother’s death, and what a peaceful exit means to her.

You can learn more about Anita's work at https://anita-sanchez.com/

Gratefulness expert Kristi Nelson describes how facing death at a young age transformed how she faces life. For Kristi, being grateful isn’t a sustained state of being. It’s an everyday practice to befriend impermanence and live in the moment. While undergoing cancer treatment in her 30s, she also had to rewrite the death narrative in her family to accept that death isn’t always a failure of will.

You can learn more about Kristi's work at https://grateful.org/kristi-nelson/

Father and architect Adam Robarts shares the intimate story of his son, Haydn, facing a cancer diagnosis at age 19 and the fight for life-saving treatments that were ultimately unsuccessful. Adam describes how his family navigated hospice at home at their family cabin during Haydn’s final weeks of life. As their family faced an enormous loss, they were extremely intentional about how they spent their time and ensured that Haydn had a peaceful exit.

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Nineteen/Adam-J-T-Robarts/9781682452004

Activist Valerie Kaur shares with us some of her transformative experiences with death and the way grieving in community expanded her capacity for joy. She gives us practical advice for how we can start these conversations with our loved ones and face the hard stuff together.

https://valariekaur.com/

What do Little Debbie Rolls have to do with grief? Artist Day Schildkret explores the impact of losing our rituals in modern life and how to bring them back in big and small ways.

https://www.dayschildkret.com/

American actress Patty Davis spent ten years caring for her father, former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. We dive into the specific challenges of dementia, the universal struggles of being a caregiver, and the surprising gifts that can come from this experience.

Find all of Patti Davis’ books here: https://booksbypattidavis.com/

We live in a culture that avoids death and Peaceful Exit is an invitation to be in candid conversation about it. Writer and host Sarah Cavanaugh believes talking about death will work to dispel our natural fear and build courage in the face of death. She’s talking to authors who have written extensively on the topic to help us normalize death as part of the human experience, no matter who you are, no matter your politics, spiritual faith or socioeconomic status. Peaceful Exit explores how to radically accept our eventual demise, how to talk about it and even plan for it. But it’s not all doom and gloom – there's joy, meaning and connection to be found in exploring the messiness of death, dying and grief.

For more information about Peaceful Exit

Original Music by Ricardo Russell, find him on Band Camp

Produced by Larj Media