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Breiddal, Susan
In the Shadow of Angels
In the Shadow of Angels
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“You people are angels.”
This is how many respond to those who work in palliative care, surrounded by sick, dying, and grief-stricken people. How hospice care professionals manage the emotional tension, is unfathomable for most of us. In this memoir, author Susan Breiddal aims to make the often-strange reality of death accessible, through an intimate, raw, and realistic portrayal of the art of providing loving end-of-life care.
Over her 20-plus years of work as a hospice counsellor, Breiddal has collected stories of how ordinary people face death and dying, resulting in a living body of work that reveals the skills needed, along with the struggles and rewards of providing hospice care. Bridging memoir and creative nonfiction, she weaves together theory and practice in the service of the dying and their families.
Being called to work in the realm of death is to be pulled out of the everydayness of life, requiring a willingness to be off-balance, to have one’s sense of safety and familiarity challenged, and to surrender to uncertainty, change, and discomfort.
In this work, Breiddal encourages a relational way to encounter mortality, and she offers hope that caring for the dying and bereaved is an opportunity to open up to life. By intertwining both her personal and professional experiences with death and dying, the author presents a timely primer both for readers anticipating their own encounters with death, and for readers considering a career in palliative care.
This is how many respond to those who work in palliative care, surrounded by sick, dying, and grief-stricken people. How hospice care professionals manage the emotional tension, is unfathomable for most of us. In this memoir, author Susan Breiddal aims to make the often-strange reality of death accessible, through an intimate, raw, and realistic portrayal of the art of providing loving end-of-life care.
Over her 20-plus years of work as a hospice counsellor, Breiddal has collected stories of how ordinary people face death and dying, resulting in a living body of work that reveals the skills needed, along with the struggles and rewards of providing hospice care. Bridging memoir and creative nonfiction, she weaves together theory and practice in the service of the dying and their families.
Being called to work in the realm of death is to be pulled out of the everydayness of life, requiring a willingness to be off-balance, to have one’s sense of safety and familiarity challenged, and to surrender to uncertainty, change, and discomfort.
In this work, Breiddal encourages a relational way to encounter mortality, and she offers hope that caring for the dying and bereaved is an opportunity to open up to life. By intertwining both her personal and professional experiences with death and dying, the author presents a timely primer both for readers anticipating their own encounters with death, and for readers considering a career in palliative care.
