We all need this episode. Whether you're a family caregiver, caring for an ill or aging loved one, or you're a busy clinician who cares for seriously ill patients, this episode is for you. Michael L Smith shares his wisdom and inspirational guidance about how we all block the love that we deserve and how we can learn to receive it. Michael is a visionary author, speaker, and transformational guide whose life’s work bridges love, longevity, holistic well-being, and human potential. Michael has de...
Aug 21, 2025•37 min•Season 3Ep. 163
Caring for a parent who is aging or who has dementia, debility, or serious illness such as cancer can be absolutely exhausting. It can feel like you're hanging on by your fingernails. This week on The Integrative Palliative Podcast we're talking about 15 ways to help you care for yourself as you care for your aging parent. Your wellbeing matters too. - Dr. Delia www.integrativepalliative.com Join our Facebook Group, CareWell for Caregivers Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guide for Navigati...
Aug 14, 2025•19 min•Season 3Ep. 162
If your parent has cancer, dementia, serious illness, or is just declining because they're getting older, you may feel the urge to help them as they get weaker. Perhaps you make space in your busy life, juggle responsibilities with both your parents and your kids, research the best care, and just try your best to show up for your parents. When you do all that it can be shocking and frustrating if your parents rebuff your efforts to help. This week on The Integrative Palliative Podcast I share 20...
Aug 08, 2025•25 min•Season 3Ep. 161
There are so many kinds of grieving. You may be grieving the death of a loved one, a pet, a breast, a job, or you may be experiencing anticipatory grief for a loved one who is ill or aging. Grief is not a competition. There is no hierarchy of grief. Some people are grieving the loss of a spouse or the loss of a child or the loss of a sibling or parent. Everyone's grief is individual, and there is no value in comparing. If you have an ill or aging loved one, or a loved one who has died, listen to...
Jul 24, 2025•20 min•Season 3Ep. 160
Caring for an aging parent is hard in the best of circumstances. Whether your parent has cancer, Alzheimer's disease, another form of dementia, or an end of life condition, it can be overwhelming, exhausting, and stressful to support them as their health declines. Add in challenging relationships with your siblings, and the whole mess can feel unmanageable. This week on The Integrative Palliative Podcast we'll talk about what you can do when you're caring for an aging parent with siblings who ar...
Jul 17, 2025•23 min•Season 3Ep. 159
Zoom memorials or celebrations of life get a bad rap. They may be seen as a second class way to honor a loved one - far less meaningful than a standard funeral. Let's rethink that narrative! Having a celebration of life by Zoom can be a powerful and meaningful way to honor your loved one who has died. They are easier to plan and they allow far away friends and relatives to attend and celebrate your loved one. This week on The Integrative Palliative Podcast I provide a practical roadmap for creat...
Jul 10, 2025•21 min•Season 3Ep. 158
After the death of a loved one, it can be difficult to know what to do with their ashes. In this episode of The Integrative Palliative Podcast we explore the many meaningful ways people can honor their loved ones by using their ashes in creative ways. From stones to records to jewelry to coral reefs (and more), there are many ways to use your loved one's ashes. Choosing a meaningful approach can help coping and grieving. Have a listen and let me know what you would add. Take care of yourself, De...
Jun 25, 2025•13 min•Season 3Ep. 157
When a loved one is sick and caregiving gets exhausting, it can be powerful to have someone give you permission to take a break. Should you need their permission? Of course not. But the voices in your mind can be critical and bossy and insist that you continue to work or take care of other people until you're completely exhausted, stressed and depleted. This week we discuss the power of permission when we offer it to other people and also when we offer it to ourselves. What permission can you of...
Jun 06, 2025•11 min•Season 3Ep. 156
When someone you love is is ill or had died, life feels hard. Yet sometimes we add to our distress by judging how we are feeling or behaving. We feel sad and then we feel critical that we're still sad. We feel angry and then feel guilty that we feel angry. It is the "shoulds" that cause us distress - it doesn't have to be that way. This week I'll share the 3 words that can help reduce your suffering. I'm glad you're here! Delia www.integrativepalliative.com Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered ...
May 22, 2025•11 min•Season 3Ep. 155
In this deeply personal and powerful episode, Dr. Delia Chiaramonte shares her experience of traumatic loss of both her father and her father-in-law. Traumatic grief is not just about missing someone—it’s about having your sense of the world torn apart. It can show up in surprising ways: emotional numbness, panic, guilt, dissociation, and even physical symptoms. In this episode, you’ll learn how traumatic grief differs from more typical grief, and what helps people begin to heal. You’ll also hea...
Apr 03, 2025•23 min•Season 3Ep. 154
Not having access to Medical Aid in Dying can drastically increase suffering for dying people and their families. This week I'll share a deeply personal and painful story about a dying man who wanted to have control over his death and what why he had to face it alone. Helping healers heal others and themselves. Delia Delia Chiaramonte, MD www.integrativepalliative.com Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guide for Navigating a Loved One’s Illness Without Losing Yourself is available here: www.c...
Mar 27, 2025•18 min•Season 3Ep. 153
It's been an interesting experience for me to experience the loss of my dad and both feel my own grief and also observe it with the lens of a palliative care physician. I have noticed how healing it has been for me when others bear witness to my pain and also when they bear witness to my dad as a person. This is how we can best support people who are grieving after someone they love has died: bear witness to the pain or bear witness to the person. Helping healers heal others and themselves. Deli...
Mar 20, 2025•10 min•Season 3Ep. 152
Grief isn't only an issue after a person dies. Anticipatory grief shows up long before a person has passed away. Families facing dementia, ALS, cancer, renal failure, and other serious illnesses can experience anticipatory grief long before the very end of life. This week we take a look at anticipatory grief from the inside because my family is facing it right now. This episode is for you if you are a clinician who cares for the ill and aging or if you are a person who has an ill or aging person...
Feb 26, 2025•19 min•Season 3Ep. 151
Everyone should have an advanced directive. Full stop. You, your parents, your partner, your adult kids - everyone. Most people know that having an advance directive is important but they feel awkward or anxious about actually making it happen. I've seen patients with stroke have a terrible outcome from a poorly done advance directive. And I've seen family members of people with cancer suffer because their loved one didn't have an advance directive even though their illness was very severe. In t...
Feb 08, 2025•21 min•Season 3Ep. 150
What have you been avoiding? Is there a courageous conversation you should be having? A boundary you should be setting? A household task that needs to be completed? I wrote Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guide for Navigating a Loved One’s Illness Without Losing Yourself about a year ago and I never recorded the audio book! I meant to. I wanted to. But I just never made it happen - until this week! Why do we put off things that we truly want to do? I explore this topic in this week's episo...
Jan 31, 2025•19 min•Season 3Ep. 149
Dr. Janet Abrahm is a Fellow of the American Academy of Physicians, Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and a Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. She is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a former practicing oncologist, and an internationally recognized expert in supportive and palliative care for patients with cancer. She has over 20 years of experience in the forefront of palliative care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is the...
Jan 24, 2025•45 min•Season 3Ep. 148
Physicians are expert learners, yet many have the feeling that they can't be entrepreneurs. This week, Nneka Unachukwu, MD (affectionately known as "Dr. Una") will convince you that you can learn the skills to become a physician entrepreneur or a physician "intrapreneur" and create the life that you want. If you have a tiny voice inside that dreams of starting a business or advancing in your employed position, you'll want to listen to this episode. Creating the life you want reduces burnout and ...
Jan 16, 2025•52 min•Season 3Ep. 147
Talking about advance directives, goals of care, and end-or-life wishes can be scary. Even if the conversation doesn't scare you, finding the right time and the right way to bring it up can be a challenge. This week I share my own recent experience of having a goals of care conversation with a loved one, and give practical guidance for how to get started with your own courageous conversations. Let's talk about it! Dr. Delia Delia Chiaramonte, MD www.integrativepalliative.com #palliativecare Copi...
Jan 09, 2025•14 min•Season 3Ep. 146
In this episode, Katie Joy Duke (@katiejoyduke) shares her wisdom as a woman and life coach who experienced treatment for stage IV breast cancer. She shares the tough parts and the growth parts, including her decision to pursue an aesthetic flat closure rather than breast reconstruction. She is open and engaging and wise. I know you'll love learning from her. You can find information about her coaching practice, book, and speaking at www.katiejoyduke.com . I'm glad you're here! Dr. Delia Delia C...
Dec 26, 2024•38 min•Season 3Ep. 145
We create much of our own suffering, and I suggest that we all cut that out! Life sends us enough stress and challenge - why would we add to our suffering for now good reason? Expectations can add to our suffering. Learning to modulate your expectations allows you to stay in the moment and enjoy your experiences, your people, and your moments. Holidays are packed with expectations which can turn happy times into frustrating times - but it doesn't have to be that way. Have a listen and share with...
Dec 19, 2024•14 min•Season 3Ep. 144
In the serious illness space, regret is rampant. Caregivers often regret what they did or didn't do when caring for their loved one with cancer, dementia, or other life-limiting illness. Physicians and other clinicians may regret the goals of care conversations that we meant to have but didn't get around to. Regret is terrible and its negative impact can linger long after the ill person has died. One of the key tasks in serious illness care is to help everyone involved avoid regret. This week I ...
Dec 12, 2024•13 min•Season 3Ep. 143
Emergency Medicine physicians face life and death situations as part of their normal work day. They train for that! But what about when an ailing person with a very advanced cancer comes to the ED without an advanced directive? What if half the family wants aggressive care and half the family wants to let the patient die peacefully at home? This week's guest is Dan Morhaim, MD who is an accomplished emergency medicine physician, legislator, and so much more. He has focused his teaching and resea...
Dec 05, 2024•47 min•Season 3Ep. 142
Holidays can be joyful times that bring you together with the people that you love. But what if someone is missing? Maybe your loved one has died, or maybe someone important to you can't join you for the holidays this year. How do you balance grief with expectations of holiday joy? This week I discuss how to cope with the holidays when someone you love won't be with you. In support and gratitude, Delia Delia Chiaramonte, MD www.integrativepalliative.com Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guid...
Nov 21, 2024•20 min•Season 3Ep. 141
We've just had a big election and many people have strong feelings about the result. Some people are happy about the outcome, and others are feeling deeply distressed. In palliative care we are experts at helping people cope with highly unwanted outcomes. We can use some of our palliative care skills to help people cope with their feelings right now. What other tips would you suggest? #meded #hospice #election Delia Delia Chiaramonte, MD www.integrativepalliative,com Coping Courageously: A Heart...
Nov 08, 2024•12 min•Season 3Ep. 140
Can you define cisgender? Transgender? Intersex? Gender non-conforming? Do you know the difference between sex and gender? Have you heard of a 'dead name?' Do you know why using "Sir" and "Ma'am" can cause you to be inadvertently hurtful to your patients? Providing gender affirming care is important but you may not have learned this in school. Join us this week for a primer in the basics of gender affirming healthcare. What did I miss? Reach out and let me know. Delia Delia Chiaramonte, MD www.i...
Oct 31, 2024•29 min•Season 3Ep. 139
Sarah Freeman Smith is a blind inspirational speaker and author, former HR/recruiting leader and disability advocate. She went blind in midlife and in this week's episode of The Integrative Palliative Podcast she shares her journey, the tech that she uses to increase her independence, and guidance for physicians and clinicians to help their visually impaired patients. Rayban Meta smart glasses have been a game changer for her! Sara has many resources for the visually impaired and you can find th...
Oct 24, 2024•41 min•Season 3Ep. 137
Many patients are embalmed or cremated after death, but this isn't the only option. Embalming and cremation have a negative impact on the environment, and other, more eco-friendly, options are becoming popular. Options such as green burials, human composting, and reef balls give people options for how to handle their loved one's body after death. Do you think that accepting, and even facilitating, decomposition of a body after death helps us engage in "circle of life" coping? Or are standard fun...
Oct 17, 2024•20 min•Season 3Ep. 138
Many physicians, and other clinicians, are wiped out and burned out. They may wonder if they should stay in medicine, or if there is another path that would make them happier. Yet running away from unhappiness isn't a great strategy because sometimes the unhappiness follows you to your next destination. Dr. Heather Fork is a dermatologist and physician career coach who guides physicians to a career, and life, that makes them happy. Sometimes her clients decide to remain in clinical practice and ...
Oct 11, 2024•42 min•Season 3Ep. 136
Sometimes patients or family members express their stress with anger. And when the anger is directed your way you may get defensive or annoyed and it can put a pall on your day. Listen to this week's episode for clear guidance about what to do when your patient gets angry so that both of you leave the visit feeling calm. Coping Courageously: A Heart-Centered Guide for Navigating a Loved One’s Illness Without Losing Yourself is available here: www.copingcourageously.com Please review this podcast...
Sep 27, 2024•20 min•Season 3Ep. 135
Don't be afraid to talk about dying. We don't learn to talk about dying and so many people are afraid because they don't know what to say. Here are four key topics to bring up with people who have advanced illness such as progressive metastatic cancer. In patients with Alzheimer's disease or other kinds of dementia, it is important to have these conversations early in the disease course. Today we'll discuss: Fear of death Need for connection and closure Life review Legacy or Love projects What k...
Sep 13, 2024•15 min•Season 3Ep. 134
