Departure Directions
Articulate how you wish to be cared for after you die—based on your values, beliefs and priorities—with Willow’s free tools and empowering workshops on Departure Directions.
Maybe you’ve experienced the overwhelm and frustration of arranging a goodbye ritual (funeral, celebration of life, wake, etc) for someone who didn’t leave any directions. You’ve struggled with trying to honour what you think were their wishes and meet the needs of those left behind, including you. You don’t want this to happen when you die, but you don’t know what you can do about it.
Your Departure Directions is a planning tool that provides specific or general guidance regarding what you want and don’t want to happen after your death, and what choices you would prefer to leave to other people. It includes how your body will be cared for and by whom, how you will be laid to rest, who you would like to be involved, and what rituals, if any, will be carried out.
All that matters in the end is what matters now.
It’s our conviction that you can honour your own values as well as the wishes of important people in your life. Completing your Departure Directions will give you peace of mind that your instructions will reflect who you are and what matters most to you, while alleviating stress, chaos and worry for the people you leave behind.
In becoming empowered to make choices about how you want to be cared for after you die, you’ll deepen your curiosity about the mystery and potential beauty of death. Writing your Departure Direction is an expedition into all that matters in the end, and therefore all that matters now.
9 Things to Include in Your Departure Directions (Free)
This free tool provides a template from which you can build your Departure Directions. The nine headings will ensure that you consider all aspects of your after-death care, including sharing the news of your death, roles for your loved ones to make it meaningful for them, expenses and logistics and more.
I had no idea I would be sitting with these new experiences and feelings at the end of the four Departure Directions sessions. I had projected a certain image of what would happen after I die, and this circle opened up a whole landslide of new possibilities. I am actually getting excited about doing all of this stuff. That was pretty incredible.
Namgyle Jerry Ewen, Professional Speaker & Facilitator
Departure Directions was a multi-layered experience full of revelations, tenderness, awe and humour, guided with skill and compassion by Michelle and Reena. It gave me an appreciation for life, making me more aware of living in the present and cultivating gratitude for the profound beauty of the world around me. I now have less fear of death and was able to overcome a years-long block about writing my will.
Anita Roberts, Educator, Author, Actor & Grandmother
For my parents and me, the experience of attending your workshop opened a pathway for continued conversation, learning and growing together in relationship to our own journeys with death and dying.
Lesley Ormiston, Practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Interested in producing a Departure Directions event for your community?
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