Let’s empower caring professionals to serve dying and grieving people with excellence.
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If you work in healthcare, congregational ministry, or another human service industry, you know how difficult it is to navigate loss, death, and grief.
Click the button above for a free PDF that will reveal the five worst things you can say to grieving people.
You have walked this path, personally and/or professionally. I can help you feel better prepared next time loss, death, and grief happen to you or those around you.
Speaker Patrick Riecke at event
Patrick Riecke, Speaker
Patrick’s first encounter with death came in his young adult years when his wife, Kristen, miscarried with their first child. Just twenty-two years old, his heart broke. He soon learned that not everyone knows what to say when our loved ones die.
Today, Patrick serves as Dignity and Spiritual Care Director and Ethics Chairperson for Parkview Health, a Magnet health system with over 15,000 coworkers and nine hospitals. His team has responded to over 14,000 patient deaths.
Patrick has led the Ethics Committee through the challenges of a worldwide pandemic. He gives support and guidance to clinicians who want to provide the best possible care for their patients, even at the end of life.
He is the author of ten books, including:
How to Talk with Sick, Dying, and Grieving People
How to Find Meaning in Your Life (Before it Ends)
No Matter How Small: Understanding Miscarriage and Stillbirth
“Clear, concise, and practical guide, told with sensitivity and candor. Case presentations are realistic and demonstrate the value of the teaching points. This book will be valuable for anyone in contact with suffering people.”
“I highly recommend this book for anyone working with people facing trauma, pain, or death.”
You help people. People need help with their grief.
Patrick can help prepare you to serve your people with excellence.
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Conferences for people in helping professions
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Virtual or in-person
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Virtual or in-person
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In-person
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For leaders or teams
Featured speaker for:
“I never hesitate to recommend Patrick as a speaker. I know that not only will his presentations be excellent, but he will also be easy to work with”
— Matt Burke, Statewide Education Director
In his presentation to a large group of professionals working in all capacities of geriatric care, Patrick spoke with wisdom and power regarding the reality of death and dying, and the need for ‘courageous conversations’ between those giving care and those receiving throughout that journey.
His meaningful presentation gave us an opportunity to laugh, cry, learn, and grow together.
The stakes are high
Grief-related losses cost U.S. companies as much as $75 billion annually
The #1 way to reduce coworker turnover is to invest in your staff
They need you. If you aren’t there for them when they are in grief they might not be there when you need them
If you don’t get some training, you will feel unprepared and nervous the next time someone dies