Ep. 472 Creating a Collaborative Movement in Your Community with Michelle Kolling and Nina Guertin

End-of-Life University

Learn why you should start a death collaborative in your community and tips for getting started.

My guests this week are members of the Minnesota Death Collaborative and will share how the collaborative was created, including tips for others who might like to start a similar collaborative in their community or state. Michelle Kolling is a hospice volunteer and end-of-life doula who serves as secretary of the collaborative and Nina Guertin is an end-of-life doula, death educator and a co-founder of the original collaborative. They share their personal experiences and the benefits and challenges of collaborating with others. Learn more about each guest and the MN Death Collaborative at the links below:

Michelle Kolling: heldoula.com

Nina Guertin: tendingthespirit.care

MN Death Collaborative: mndeathcollaborative.org

YouTube Channel

Listen here:

This episode includes:

• How the MN Death Collaborative was initially created
• The benefits of being a member of a collaborative
• How a collaborative organization offers credibility to those who are creating their own businesses
• The end of life is a multifactorial experience which demands a team approach
• How a person-centered approach is “built in” to the mission of the collaborative
• Types of events sponsored by the collaborative
• How to sustain a collaborative over time
• The importance of slowing down and taking smaller steps in the beginning
• Tips for other groups that want to start a collaborative
• The infrastructure needed to support such a movement

Links mentioned in this episode:

• All Together Symposium: Nurturing Partnerships. Reimagining Palliative Care.
• Previous episode on Compassionate Communities
• NEW Gift Guides for Caregivers, People Receiving Care, and People Who are Grieving
• Get my two new books!! Stories from the Dark Night and The Tao of Death
• Get EOLU Podcast Merch here
• Conversations on Death with ChatGPT – Audiobook here; Print Book here
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• Support your local bookstore by buying my books on Bookshop and Indiebound: 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying and The Journey from Ego to Soul
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• Check out the Series I’ve recorded in the past here
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