Published Articles

2023 - August - CDT - Helping Hands - Bereavement Gatherings and Events

Bereavement Gatherings & Events Anne Frank wrote, “The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside. . . I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles...
By Jackie Naginey Hook
Wednesday, August 30, 2023

2023 - July - CDT - Learning to Live: What's Your Story?

“Helping” Someone Who is Grieving I answered the phone and could tell the caller was unsettled. A relationship and job possibility had both ended for him. Grief had come for a visit, but I didn’t ...
By Jackie Naginey Hook
Monday, July 31, 2023

2023 - July - CDT - Helping Hands - "Helping" Someone Who is Grieving

“Helping” Someone Who is Grieving I answered the phone and could tell the caller was unsettled. A relationship and job possibility had both ended for him. Grief had come for a visit, but I didn’t ...
By Jackie Naginey Hook
Monday, July 31, 2023

2023 - July - Gazette - Death is the Memory of the Living

Death is the Memory of the Living My sister-in-law passed away a year ago. Last week on the anniversary date my thoughts returned to all the events that led up to that fateful day. Our heads remem...
By Jackie Naginey Hook
Thursday, July 27, 2023

2023 - June - Gazette - What Is Enough?

What Is Enough? What is enough? During a recent gathering for elders, I posed this question to the group and was impressed by the wise answers. One woman said that as far as “stuff” was concerned,...
By Jackie Naginey Hook
Thursday, June 29, 2023

2023 - June - CDT - Helping Hands - End-of-Life Doula

“Dance . . . is about intention, and not about the specific movements or actions themselves.” When I read these words in Anna Halprin and Rachel Kaplan’s book Making Dances That Matter, they remind...
By Jackie Naginey Hook
Thursday, June 22, 2023

2023 - May - Gazette - Med-KNIT-ations

Med-Knit-ations There was a lot going on in my world one day a few weeks ago. My 92-year-old father was in the hospital with heart issues, and I had two presentations to make that day at the local...
By Jackie Naginey Hook
Thursday, May 25, 2023

Previous Posts

2023 - November - Gazette - Dare! Silence

A lot goes on in the silence.” These are words I often share because silence is a big part of my work. For example, I ask for moments of silence when officiating at memorial and funeral services. D...

2023 - Nov - CDT - Helping Hands - Healing Through the Holidays

Healing through the Holidays Author, poet, and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou, wrote, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” I witness this every day in my work ...

2023 - October - Gazette - Memories Become Treasures

Memories Become Treasures I was visiting with my mom and dad a couple of weeks ago and we started talking about my dad’s parents, who I lovingly called Grandma and Grandad. My mom shared two memor...

2023 - September - Centered - Arriving Where I Started

I love the T.S. Eliot quote, from “Little Gidding,” Four Quartets: “We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for t...

2023 - September - Gazette - Existing Elsewhere

A few years ago I sat with a handful of adults’s in a grief gathering and listened as one mother shared her story. She told us about the moments before and after her young child’s unexpected and su...

2023 - September - Town & Gown - End-of-Life Doulas, Graveside Journaling, and Sponsoring Memorials from Afar

We hope you read the September Town & Gown article by Holly Riddle featuring End-of-Life Doula Jackie Naginey Hook. 

2023 - August - Gazette - Surrender Your Soul

Surrender Your Soul A couple of weeks ago, I stepped onto the deck of our cabin at Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park, British Columbia. It was early morning and the sun had just risen from behind...