Before You Go

Grief is an interesting beast.  It can curl up inside of you and make itself quite cozy.  It can unpack its bags, put up the do not disturb sign on the door and lock itself in.  It’s pretty much guaranteed that we will all experience grief at some point.  And we can ignore grief, befriend it, or take it out for a walk every now and then.  The relationship we have with grief is entirely up to us.  My guest today, Lisa Cooper Ellison is an author, speaker, and trauma-informed writing coach who helps people navigate, process, and maybe even befriend their grief through writing and storytelling.  She’s the host of the Writing Your Resilience podcast and works and writes at the intersection of storytelling and healing, and combines her personal experiences with suicide loss and CPTSD with her clinical training to help writers turn tough experiences into art. Her essays and stories have appeared on Risk! and in The New York Times, HuffPost, Hippocampus Literary Magazine, and Kenyon Review Online, among others. Lisa recently completed her memoir Please Stage Dive Carefully: How I Survived My Brother’s Suicide and Forgave Myself.  

Learn more about Lisa here: https://lisacooperellison.com/

Follow Lisa on her Substack here: https://lisacooperellison.substack.com/

Listen to the Writing Your Resilience podcast here: https://writingyourresilience.com/writing-your-resilience-podcast/

Learn more about ABODE here: https://abodehome.org/

Learn more about Natalie here: https://www.nataliebuster.com/

Donate to keep ABODE’s mission going: https://abodehome.org/donate/

Memento Mori: remember you must die: an invitation to become aware, to bask in the wonder of being alive, to not take anything for granted, to be witness to the painful beauty of this life and all that was, is, and ever will be.  It’s these little invitations that we see around us that allow each moment to be that much sweeter.  Our guest today, Courtney Sheets, is someone who is constantly inviting people to consider and even embrace their own mortality.  She is a certified death doula, a shiatsu practitioner, an end of life navigator, and a mixed media artist who specializes in memento mori art - both as a philosophy and a medium to express herself.  

Learn more about Courtney here: https://endoflifearts.com/

View some of Courtney’s art here: https://courtneywynnsheets.com/

Learn more about ABODE here: https://abodehome.org/

Learn more about Natalie here: https://www.nataliebuster.com/

Donate to keep ABODE’s mission going: https://abodehome.org/donate/

The month of April is a beautiful time to be in San Antonio, Texas.  It’s bluebonnet season, and the wildflowers are in full bloom.  This is a perfect time to take a field trip to LaVernia, Texas, home of a beautiful green burial site called Countryside Memorial Park, owned and operated by our guest today, Sunny Markham.  In this episode, Sunny talks about the services she provides people at Countryside Memorial Park, what she wishes more people knew about green burials, and how working in such a beautiful environment has shaped her life.

Read more about Countryside Memorial Park here: https://countrysidememorialpark.com/

Learn more about ABODE here: https://abodehome.org/

Learn more about Natalie here: https://www.nataliebuster.com/

Donate to keep ABODE’s mission going: https://abodehome.org/donate/

Imagine a world where people were able to talk about death and dying openly and without fear.  Our guest today, Nurse Penny Hawkins Smith is doing just that.  Nurse Penny uses social media channels and her recent book, “Influencing Death: Reframing Dying for Better Living” to talk openly about death and dying without fear, thus encouraging others to do the same.  We’re excited that Nurse Penny will be our keynote speaker for our Annual Volunteer and Staff Training in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday, September 20, 2025.  Send us a message at [email protected] for ticket information.

Read more about Nurse Penny here: https://www.hospicenursepenny.com/

Buy her book, “Influencing Death: Reframing Dying for Better Living” here: https://bookshop.org/a/103660/9781959411963

Learn more about ABODE here: https://abodehome.org/

Learn more about Natalie here: https://www.nataliebuster.com/

Donate to keep ABODE’s mission going: https://abodehome.org/donate/

Contemplativeness - a tricky word to say!  Yet, it’s the cornerstone of all that we do at ABODE.  it’s even a part of our name: ABODE Contemplative Care for the Dying.  But what does it mean?  At ABODE, we sometimes define it as being in the present moment, being mindful, when time seems to stop.  Our guest today, Justin Burton is the embodiment of contemplativeness.  Justin serves as ABODE’s Vice Chairperson, he serves on the board of the Alamo Area Home Care Council here in San Antonio, he helps seniors navigate through the aging process by helping them find a place to spend their final hours.  And he does it all with grace and serenity.

Read more about Justin’s work here: https://www.facebook.com/jmbmangementllc/

Learn more about ABODE here: https://abodehome.org/

Learn more about Natalie here: https://www.nataliebuster.com/

Donate to keep ABODE’s mission going: https://abodehome.org/donate/

Choosing to go on hospice is a difficult decision for most people.  We have been conditioned in our society to “not give up,” and some see hospice as a way of giving up.  Our guest today, Jen LeCavalier from Suncrest Hospice in San Antonio, sheds some light on the truth of hospice and all of the wonderful benefits that hospice can provide.  Jen has been a hospice nurse for over ten years and finds the beauty and sacredness of being bedside with people at the end of life to be incredibly enriching to her own life.

Read more about Suncrest Hospice here: https://www.suncrestcare.com/location/san-antonio/

Learn more about ABODE here: https://abodehome.org/

Learn more about Natalie here: https://www.nataliebuster.com/

Donate to keep ABODE’s mission going: https://abodehome.org/donate/

“If I die young, bury me in satin

Lay me down on a bed of roses

Sink me in the river at dawn

Send me away with the words of a love song”

These lyrics by The Band Perry offer a beautiful description of honoring a loved one who has passed.  Our guest today, Dawn Walsh provides such a service for the people she cares for after they pass.  Dawn is the Executive Director of The Lily House, a community home for living and dying in Wellfleet, Massachusetts.  Dawn came to ABODE to lead a workshop on after-death care and shrouding and sat down with Natalie while she was in town to talk about the work she does.

Read more about The Lily House here: https://www.thelilyhouse.org/

Learn more about ABODE here: https://abodehome.org/

Learn more about Natalie here: https://www.nataliebuster.com/

Donate to keep ABODE’s mission going: https://abodehome.org/donate/

Our guest today, Colleen McCool-Pierce definitely turns heads and inspires conversation wherever she goes.  Whether she’s pulling up for gas in her hearse or wearing a bright and colorful clown costume, Colleen is the epitome of living life to the fullest.  It doesn’t surprise us that she embraces life so exuberantly due to her lifelong contemplation on death.  In today’s episode, Natalie chats with Colleen about her outlook on life, her son who she named Coffin, and how she inspires others to contemplate death so they can live as full of a life as she does.  She’s the friend you want to have at your dinner table, she’s the friend you want to have in your life.  She’s the ultimate death doula.

Read more about Colleen here (and check out her death-friendly reading list): https://www.colleenmccool.com/

Learn more about ABODE here: https://abodehome.org/

Learn more about Natalie here: https://www.nataliebuster.com/

Donate to keep ABODE’s mission going: https://abodehome.org/donate/

Fred Rogers, of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood fame has a famous quote: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”   In today’s episode, Natalie sits down to talk with one such helper.  Jen Ferguson is a San Antonio hospice social worker - a helper for families who are facing grief and bereavement due to the terminal diagnosis of their beloved family member.  She describes what a hospice social worker does and why she feels drawn to be a helper - in so many ways in her life. 

Connect on Instagram with Jen at momfergof2

Learn more about ABODE here: https://abodehome.org/

Learn more about Natalie here: https://www.nataliebuster.com/

Donate to keep ABODE’s mission going: https://abodehome.org/donate/

Planning your Parting with theParting Planner

Welcome to Season Two of Before You Go - the official podcast of ABODE Contemplative Care for the Dying.  In this episode, Natalie sits down with Lynn Perez, founder of the Parting Planner, an organization in San Antonio, Texas designed to guide and support families who wish to create meaningful and personalized tributes for their loved ones who have passed.  We don’t always know how to act when it comes to death.  And especially end of life celebrations like funerals and wakes…what’s the proper protocol?  Can we show emotion or not?  Who orders the cake?  Lynn helps people answer those questions.

Learn more about Lynn and the Parting Planner here:https://thepartingplanner.com/

Learn more about ABODE here:https://abodehome.org/

Learn more about Natalie here:https://www.nataliebuster.com
Donate to keep ABODE’s mission going:https://abodehome.org/donate/