Gallatin Valley Circle of Compassion (GVCC) invites community members to participate in their annual Mountains of Courage conference, “When Someone Dies: Dialogues with the Living about Death and Dying.” The daylong conference is designed to explore the end of life journey by providing a relaxed setting for individuals and caregivers to discover available resources, tools and information. The conference will be held on Saturday, February 24th, in the Strand Union Building on the Montana State University campus from 8:45am–4pm. Check-in begins at 8am. Early registration is encouraged as space is limited.Presenters and panelists will include health professionals, spiritual counselors, social workers, community support services and caregivers. Participants will have the opportunity to explore practical issues, emotions, myths and traditions and learn how to shift the current paradigm. They will learn about practical tools and resources to assist in making informed decisions when faced with end of life issues. Sample topics include: Advanced Directives, Complicated Emotion of Grief, Home Funerals, Hospice, Sharing Your Legacy, and Mindfulness in the Grief Process. A full list of topics and presenters are on the organization’s website.
Keynote speaker, Dale Borglum, PhD, is the founder and Executive Director of Living/Dying Project. He is a pioneer in the conscious dying movement and has worked directly with thousands of people with life-threatening illness and their families for over 30 years. In 1981, Borglum founded the first residential facility for people who wished to die consciously in the United States, The Dying Center. He has taught and lectured
extensively on the topics of spiritual support for those with life-threatening illness, on caregiving as a spiritual practice, and on healing at the edge, the edge of illness, of death, of loss, of crisis. Dale has a BS from UC Berkeley and a PhD from Stanford University. He is the co-author of Journey of Awakening: A Meditator’s Guidebook, Bantam Books, and has taught meditation for the past 35 years.
He has intensively immersed himself in the practices of devotion, meditation, and contemplative prayer for over forty years, studying with many of the greatest masters of the last century. Dale has taught with Ram Dass, Stephen Levine, Joan Halifax, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Rev. Wayne Muller, and many others. His life’s work and passion has been and continues to be the healing of our individual and collective relationship with death, and also using our mortality as an inspiration for spiritual awakening.
Preceding the conference, community members are invited to an evening talk by Borglum, “Passion & Compassion: A Reflection on the Heart of Caregiving,” on Friday, February 23rd beginning
at 7pm.
“We are all caregivers,” says Borglum. “There is a joy that goes beyond happiness and sadness, wellness and illness, even beyond life and death. Compassion is our true nature. Life becomes incredibly simple when we experience this truth.”
This presentation will be held at the Bozeman Dharma Center, located at 1019 E Main St. The event is FREE and open to the public. Seating is limited. For more information, call (406) 223-4707 or the Dharma Center at (406) 219-2140.
Gallatin Valley Circle of Compassion, host for the conference, is a volunteer group of local community members who are professionally and/or personally touched by the human experience of death and dying. Their mission: “Connecting, educating and supporting our community on matters related to death and dying.” GVCC’s intention for the conference is that participants will feel empowerment, courage, a sense of calm and confidence, and the ultimate realization that one does not have to be alone on this journey.
Conference fees are $40 with advance registration through February 15th, $50 by February 22nd, and $55 at the door. Military or college students enjoy a special rate of $25 with valid ID. Lunch is included in the conference fees. CEUs are available. Further conference details, tickets and downloadable registration forms are available at www.gallatinvalleycircleofcompassion.org. Flyers and registration forms are also available at Dokken-Nelson Funeral Services and the Bozeman Dharma Center. For additional information, please call (406) 223-4707. •
