A conversation on Depend on Me

On this episode of Depend on Me, host Cheri Anttila sits down with Susan Bliffert — certified end-of-life doula, occupational therapist, and founder of The Last Chapter Co. — for the conversation most of us put off until it's too late.

Susan opens with the moment that turned her toward this work: a friend's six-week battle with glioblastoma, and the thirty years of occupational therapy that came before it. She explains what a death doula actually does, and how non-medical companionship works alongside hospice and a medical team rather than replacing either.

They name the gap most families feel. Around 2.3 million Americans age 65 and older die each year, and while most of us say that talking about end-of-life wishes matters, only about a quarter of us ever do it. Susan shares the Legacy & Life Review worksheet she built for exactly that reason — a gentle, practical way to say what matters before the moment arrives.

The conversation ends where it needs to: at the dinner table. Susan offers ways to make the subject ordinary inside an everyday family life, and describes the self-care practice that has sustained her through decades of sitting at bedsides.