After MAID: Walking Beside Families and Palliative Teams

Families who experience a medically assisted death (MAiD) often move through a grief journey that is layered, complex, and sometimes misunderstood. Alongside sorrow and loss, families may also experience relief, conflict, guilt, gratitude, uncertainty, or tension within the family system. Hospice and palliative care teams are often the ones supporting these families before, during, and after the procedure, yet many report feeling unsure about what to say, how to respond, or how to create space for the full range of emotions that can follow MAiD.

This CHPCA virtual Learning Institute session offers a compassionate, practical exploration of grief support after MAiD, grounded in the presenter’s experience as a palliative nurse and certified grief counsellor. The session focuses on understanding the emotional landscape families may navigate, responding in ways that honour autonomy, reduce stigma, and support meaning‑making. It also addresses the emotional impact on staff, who may carry their own questions, discomfort, or moral distress when walking alongside families through MAiD.

The session is intended for hospice and palliative clinicians, nurses, personal support workers, volunteers, social workers, spiritual care providers, bereavement coordinators, and anyone involved in supporting families through end‑of‑life care. Participants can expect to gain a clearer understanding of the grief patterns that may follow MAiD, practical language and approaches for supporting families, and increased confidence in offering steady, compassionate care during a time that can feel emotionally complex for everyone involved.

By the end of this sesssion, participants will be able to:

1. Identify common emotional, relational, and spiritual reactions that families may experience following a medically assisted death (MAID).
2. Describe factors that can influence or complicate the grief journey after MAID, including family dynamics, anticipatory grief, and stigma.
3. Demonstrate supportive, non‑judgmental communication strategies that help families express and process complex emotions before and after MAID.
4. Apply practical approaches for creating safe, compassionate spaces for meaning‑making and emotional support during the early bereavement period.
5. Recognize signs of emotional strain or moral distress in themselves or colleagues and outline strategies to maintain personal well‑being and healthy boundaries when supporting MAID‑related grief.

After MAID: Walking Beside Families and Palliative Teams
Wednesday, September 23, from 12:00pm – 3:30pm (Eastern)

Grace Tallman, BScN

Grace Tallman is a registered nurse, certified grief counsellor, and CAPCE‑trained palliative care educator. With over twenty years of clinical experience, she supports individuals and families through grief, loss, and major life transitions.

She is the author of “The Birds Still Sing”, sharing her lived experience with postpartum depression, and “Stronger: Stories of Grief and Resilience”, that includes a chapter outlining Canadian laws around MAiD (as of December, 2025), as well as an evocative story of a young woman whose mother chose to die by MAID.

Grace speaks across Canada, the U.S., and Ireland on grief, resilience, and compassionate, person‑centred care.