CSPE Fall Immersive 

How Can We Get Along When Someone We Love Is Dying?

When someone is dying, a family is often being asked to do many things at once.

People may be absorbing difficult information, making decisions, providing care, managing work and family responsibilities, communicating with healthcare providers and preparing for a loss they may barely be able to imagine.

Each person may cope differently. One needs information. Another avoids it. One takes charge. Another becomes quiet. One wants everyone together. Another needs space.

These differences can quickly be interpreted as indifference, control, denial or lack of care.

This two-part live online course explores what happens within families when someone is dying and how people can communicate, coordinate and remain connected through a profoundly demanding time.

Course schedule

Thursdays, November 19 and 26, 2026
7:30–9:00 PM Mountain Time
Two live online sessions

Tuition

$179 CAD

Why families can struggle at the end of life

Approaching death can intensify long-established family patterns.

People may return to familiar roles: the organizer, the peacemaker, the decision-maker, the distant one, the dependable one or the person whose contribution is rarely recognized.

At the same time, every family member brings a different relationship with the dying person, a different understanding of what is happening and a different capacity for participating.

Greater understanding can help families recognize the pressures affecting them and find more workable ways of moving through the experience together.

Session One — What Happens to Families Under Pressure

The first session examines why family relationships can become strained during serious illness and approaching death.

We will explore:

• How stress affects communication, attention and interpretation
• Different ways people cope with uncertainty and grief
• Old roles and patterns that reappear
• Uneven caregiving responsibilities
• Differences in information, proximity and availability
• Disagreement about what the dying person needs
• The emotional meaning beneath practical conflicts
• Why some family members move closer while others create distance
• How fear, exhaustion and anticipatory grief shape behaviour

Participants will develop a wider lens for understanding what may be happening beneath family tension.

Session Two — Working Together Through a Difficult Time

The second session focuses on communication, coordination and realistic ways of supporting one another.

We will explore:

• Naming what needs to be decided
• Separating practical problems from relational history
• Asking clearly for help
• Matching responsibilities with each person’s capacity
• Sharing information more effectively
• Responding to disagreement without escalating it
• Creating boundaries around visits, caregiving and communication
• Including the wishes of the dying person
• Recognizing caregiver exhaustion
• Making room for different relationships and different forms of grief
• Focusing attention on what matters most now

Participants will consider practical ways to reduce avoidable strain while respecting the complexity of their family.

Who is this course for?

This course may be helpful for:

• Families supporting someone who is seriously ill or dying
• Primary caregivers carrying a large share of responsibility
• Siblings navigating different roles or expectations
• Partners balancing caregiving with wider family involvement
• Adult children supporting an aging or dying parent
• Extended family members seeking a constructive way to contribute
• Friends supporting a family through end-of-life care
• Hospice volunteers, end-of-life doulas and helping professionals
• Anyone wanting to understand family dynamics during serious illness and dying

People may attend individually. The whole family does not need to participate.

What this course offers

Participants will leave with:

• A clearer understanding of why families respond differently
• Language for recognizing stress and anticipatory grief
• Greater awareness of family roles and recurring patterns
• Practical approaches to difficult conversations
• Ways to clarify responsibilities and requests
• Strategies for reducing misunderstandings
• A stronger focus on the needs and wishes of the dying person
• Greater compassion for differing capacities and responses

Different responses can still reflect care

One person may show care by staying close.

Another may organize appointments, prepare meals, manage finances, communicate with relatives or maintain the ordinary routines of life.

Someone else may need time before they can understand what they are feeling.

Recognizing these differences can create more room for cooperation and reduce the tendency to measure everyone’s care by a single standard. 

Recording access

Registered participants will receive access to recordings of both teaching sessions.

Recordings will remain available until December 3, 2026.

Participants may attend live, use the recordings for review or complete the course through a combination of live attendance and recording access.

Recordings are provided for registered participants and may not be shared, copied or distributed. 

Educational scope

This course provides education about family dynamics, communication, caregiving and end-of-life experiences within CSPE’s non-medical scope.

Each family’s circumstances are unique. Participants may also draw upon healthcare, cultural, spiritual, legal, mediation, counselling or community resources appropriate to their situation.

About CSPE

The Centre for Supportive Palliative Education offers accessible education about grief, caregiving, serious illness, dying, death and bereavement.

CSPE creates learning spaces where difficult subjects can be approached with clarity, warmth and humanity.

How Do We Get Along When Someone We Love Is Dying?

November 19 and 26, 2026
Thursdays, 7:30–9:00 PM Mountain Time
Two live online sessions

Tuition: $179 CAD

Registration closes on November 15/26.

After this date, please contact CSPE directly to ask about remaining space and late registration.

Tuition is paid in full at registration. 

Late registrants and general questions about training are welcome.