For the family in the waiting room

Companions for patients, families, and care teams across the long arc of dying.

Most of what hospice and palliative work involves isn’t the moment of death. It’s the months around it. The family that doesn’t know what to do. The patient who has accepted what’s happening before anyone else has. The team member quietly carrying their fifth death this month.

The daughter who sleeps in the chair beside her father’s bed and doesn’t know how to leave the room. The patient with months left who wants to write down what mattered. The bereaved spouse at week three, week eight, year two.

Transitional.life is reading material for every chair in the room.

Featured Companions for this work

Administration of Debris — Sorting belongings without losing yourself
For the months after.
The Calendar of Firsts — Surviving the year of anniversaries
For first-year aftercare.
The Silent House — Weeks 1–4 in the changed home
For the early-bereaved family.
Your Person Gets Dementia — When they leave while staying
For the long anticipatory arc.
The Long Adjustment — Year two and what no one tells you
For year-two bereavement.

The clinical concept lookup

The clinical concept lookup spans anticipatory grief, acute bereavement, complicated grief, secondary loss, family conflict in grief, and meaning reconstruction. Designed for quick reference at the nurse’s station as much as in supervision.

Questions

Can we share with patients who are still cognitively present?: Yes. The Calendar of Firsts is written for the bereaved, but several titles are appropriate for the dying themselves.
Can we include in a bereavement aftercare program?: Yes. Many hospices use the library exactly this way, sharing specific titles at specific intervals (week 1, month 1, anniversary).
Volunteer training?: The booklets are widely used as orientation reading for hospice volunteers; the Site License covers this.

Companions for every chair in the room.