This book covers a wide range of practical and emotional issues that every patient and caregiver faces when confronted with serious illness or the end of life. We should be grateful for people like Candice Courtney who are willing to share their experience and insights into one of life's most challenging and difficult times.

-Jimmie C. Holland, MD

Attending Psychiatrist, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Professor Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College

Healing Through Illness,
Living Through Dying

A guidebook offering rituals to help patients and their caregivers:

  • Reorient in the wake of diagnosis
  • Address anger, grief, fear, and hope
  • Maintain balance through treatment
  • Offer and receive meaningful support
  • Move gracefully into remission, or through      the end of life

Ms. Courtney offers a wealth of practical suggestions and easy-to-follow rituals … well organized, and easy to read, this book helps us understand how rituals are about connection— with ourselves, each other, our surroundings, and our circumstances.

—Patti Anewalt Ph.D.

Director, PATHways Center at Hospice of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Beyond these powerful options for rituals, Courtney offers additional insights for patients and families as they cope with life-threatening illness.… Therapists, counselors, clergy, and health professionals will find a treasure trove of useful ideas as they work with patients and families coping with life-threatening illness and loss. Patients, families, and friends will find both comfort and wisdom in this book.

— Kenneth J. Doka, Ph.D.

Author of 25 books, including Counseling Individuals with Life-Threatening Illness

Too often rituals are thought of as vestiges of the past, a legacy of less sophisticated, pre-scientific times and traditions. Nothing could be further from the truth. Candice Courtney understands the enduring power of rituals for making meaning of the seminal events in life in the 21st Century. Courtney's sound counsel for using rituals to live fully during illness, caregiving, dying and grief is a valuable contribution to our contemporary culture and a gift to us all.

—Ira Byock, MD

Director of Palliative Care, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center,
Professor, Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, NH.
and author of Dying Well, and The Best Care Possible.

About the Author

Candice Courtney’s husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor in early 1997 and given only months to live. In the two years he survived, they both developed and grew throughout their journey together. After his death, Ms. Courtney drew upon her background in ritual to offer support to those fighting an illness or grieving a loss. Her study of ritual in diverse cultures informed her understanding of ritual and the essential -– if sometimes unnoticed -– role it plays throughout our lives.

Ms. Courtney gives workshops and presentations for patients and professionals, as well as speaking at national and international conferences.