The Planning Essentials Session
Where the planning stops being theory and becomes real.
A focused, 120-minute session that gets your advance care documents completed correctly, your end-of-life wishes documented in your own voice, and the people you love protected by something more than good intentions.
The Planning Essentials Session
Where the planning stops
being theory and becomes real
A focused, 120-minute session that gets your advance care documents completed correctly, your end-of-life wishes documented in your own voice, and the people you love protected by something more than good intentions.
You've done something
most people never do
You sat down and looked honestly at what end-of-life planning actually requires. You understand what your choices mean — not what a form assumes, but what those decisions look like in real medical situations. You have a roadmap. You know what your priorities are.
Now it's time to do the thing itself.
The Planning Essentials Session is where everything you've learned and understood becomes something real. Documents that exist in the world. Wishes that are written down in your own words. A healthcare agent who isn't just named — but who knows exactly what you want and why.
Not more planning. The actual plan.
Interested in this service?
Book your session. Stop hoping. Start knowing your family is protected.
Not ready to book a call? Start here.
FREE 5-DAY EMAIL COURSE
What a 'good death' looks like (and how to design yours)
Most people have never thought about what a good death actually means to them — because nobody's ever asked. This free course changes that. In five short daily emails, you'll get a real framework for thinking about your end of life: what matters, what a good death can look like when it's been planned for, and how to start designing yours.
Free. Five minutes a day. It might be the most useful thing you do this week.
ABOUT US
what it is
The right documents, done correctly, grounded in your real values
Most people who have an advance directive got it one of two ways: a doctor handed them a generic form in a waiting room, or they downloaded something from the internet and hoped it was right.
Neither of those is enough. And if you've been through the Blueprint Session, you already know why.
The Planning Essentials Session is a 120-minute, one-on-one session with Barb that gets the right documents completed — the correct, state-specific forms for your situation, identified and provided by Barb before you arrive, so there's no searching, no guessing, and no hoping you found the right version. More importantly, it gets those documents completed correctly — with the right witnesses, the right execution requirements, and the specific steps that make the difference between a directive that will be honored and one that won't hold up when it matters most.
But this session is not just about paperwork. The documents are the output. The values conversation is the work.
Before we complete anything, we talk through what you actually want — across the full range of situations you might face, not just the easy ones. What quality of life means to you when the scenario gets hard. Who you want present in your final days, and who you don't. Whether you want music or silence. Where you want to be. What your spiritual wishes are. The details that make the difference between a death that reflects who you are and one that simply happens to you.
Those wishes get documented. In your own words. In a form your family can actually reach for and use.
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the healthcare agent conversati0n
The most important appointment you'll ever make deserves more than an assumption
Most people name their healthcare agent the same way: they pick the person they love most, assume that person will figure it out, and move on.
That's not a plan. That's a hope.
In the Planning Essentials Session, we have the honest conversation about your healthcare agent that most people have never had. Not just who to name — but whether that person is actually equipped to advocate for you under real pressure. Whether they know what you want clearly enough to say it out loud in a room full of medical professionals when emotions are running high and time is short. Whether they've agreed to take on this role with full understanding of what it requires.
The person who loves you most may be exactly the right choice. Or they may be someone who would be so consumed by their own grief that advocating for your specific wishes would be nearly impossible. That's not a reflection on them. It's a reflection on how hard this role actually is.
We figure that out together. And we make sure whoever holds this appointment is ready to hold it.
PLANNING
Blueprint Session
The only session of its kind that goes beyond identifying what documents you need — to showing you what your choices actually mean, what the stakes genuinely are, and how to build a values-based plan that your family can actually use when it matters most.
Advance Care Planning Essentials
Guided, expert-led session that gets your correct, state-specific advance care documents completed and executed properly — while ensuring every choice is grounded in your values, documented in your voice, and understood clearly enough by the people who love you that they can advocate for you with confidence when it matters most.
Advance Care Planning Extended
Comprehensive, deeply human, fully personalized, topic-by-topic guided process that organizes every dimension of your life — financial, digital, legal, personal — into a complete, accessible record that saves your family from the chaos, cost, and heartbreak of navigating an unprepared estate, built one manageable session at a time by someone who speaks like a human and leaves nothing important out.
SUPPORT AND LEGACY
What happens in the session
Here's what we actually do together:
We complete your state-specific advance care documents
Barb researches and provides the correct forms for your state before the session — so we're not starting from scratch or hoping the internet gave you the right version. We complete them together, in the session, with full context for every choice you're making and clear instructions for how to execute them correctly afterward.
We document your full end-of-life preferences
Beyond the medical checkboxes, we capture the human picture of what you want: who you want present, what environment matters to you, your preferences for resuscitation and intervention, what quality of life means to you across different scenarios, and the personal details that make your wishes genuinely yours. These get documented in a form your family can actually access and use — not filed away somewhere they'll never find.
We have the healthcare agent conversation
Honestly. Completely. So the person you name isn't just named — they're prepared.
We cover execution requirements
Every state has specific requirements for making an advance directive legally valid — witnesses, notarization, distribution. We go through exactly what yours requires so you leave knowing not just what to sign, but what makes that signature mean something.
You leave with a clear next-steps checklist
What to do after the session to make everything official, who needs copies, and where things should be stored so they're accessible when they're needed.
What happens in the session
Here's what we actually do together:
We complete your state-specific advance care documents
Barb researches and provides the correct forms for your state before the session — so we're not starting from scratch or hoping the internet gave you the right version. We complete them together, in the session, with full context for every choice you're making and clear instructions for how to execute them correctly afterward.
We document your full end-of-life preferences
Beyond the medical checkboxes, we capture the human picture of what you want: who you want present, what environment matters to you, your preferences for resuscitation and intervention, what quality of life means to you across different scenarios, and the personal details that make your wishes genuinely yours. These get documented in a form your family can actually access and use — not filed away somewhere they'll never find.
We have the healthcare agent conversation
Honestly. Completely. So the person you name isn't just named — they're prepared.
We cover execution requirements
Every state has specific requirements for making an advance directive legally valid — witnesses, notarization, distribution. We go through exactly what yours requires so you leave knowing not just what to sign, but what makes that signature mean something.
You leave with a clear next-steps checklist
What to do after the session to make everything official, who needs copies, and where things should be stored so they're accessible when they're needed.
ABOUT US
who this is for
This session is for you if:
You've completed the Blueprint Session and you're ready to move from roadmap to reality.
You have something in place — an old directive, a form you filled out once, a conversation you had that never got finished — and you're no longer confident it's enough.
You want this done right. Not checked off. Actually done — correctly, completely, in a way that will hold up and that your family can actually use.
You're ready to have the real conversations. About what you want. About who speaks for you. About the details most people never get around to documenting — and that matters enormously when the time comes.
what you leave with
After the Planning Essentials Session, you have:
The correct, state-specific advance care documents
for your situation — completed, not just started
Clear instructions for executing those documents
correctly so they'll be legally valid when they're needed
Your full end-of-life preferences documented
in your own words
A healthcare agent who is named
wisely and understands what that role actually requires
A clear checklist for what to do
after the session to make everything official
The genuine peace of mind that comes from knowing
your family won't have to guess because you told them what you want
what you leave with
After the Planning Essentials Session, you have:
The correct, state-specific advance care documents
for your situation — completed, not just started
Clear instructions for executing those documents
correctly so they'll be legally valid when they're needed
Your full end-of-life preferences documented
in your own words
A healthcare agent who is named
wisely and understands what that role actually requires
A clear checklist for what to do
after the session to make everything official
The genuine peace of mind that comes from knowing
your family won't have to guess because you told them what you want
ABOUT US
what the session covers (and what's next)
Planning Essentials focuses on the most critical things
...your healthcare directives, your end-of-life preferences, and the foundation your family needs to make the right decisions for you.
It does not cover everything.
Your financial accounts, your digital life, your passwords, your personal possessions, your business interests, your obituary — all of that is real, all of it matters, and all of it is addressed in the Planning Extended Package. If you've ever watched a family navigate the weeks and months after a death without any of that organized, you know exactly why it matters.
But that's the next step. This session is about getting the most important things done — completely, correctly, and in a way that gives your family what they need most.
One thing at a time.
ABOUT US
what this session is really about
The documents are not the point
I know that sounds strange coming from a session that produces documents. But here's what I've seen, session after session: the people who walk out of this room aren't thinking about the paperwork. They're thinking about their family. About what it means to have said, clearly and completely, here is what I want — and to know that the people they love will never have to guess.
Done right, a good advance directive sounds like the person who wrote it. It captures not just the medical decisions but the human ones — the details that tell your family who you were and what mattered to you and exactly how you wanted to be cared for at the end. That's what we build together in this session.
FAQs
Questions? Here's what to know about logistics
Format
One-on-one session with Barb, held virtually
Length
120 minutes
Preparation
A short intake form (about 10 minutes) plus a series of short topic-specific videos — each under 5 minutes, about 20 minutes total — sent in advance so you arrive informed and ready to work, not just ready to listen. The session is designed to be a working session. The videos make that possible.
Prerequisite
Blueprint Session recommended — this session builds directly on the roadmap and understanding developed there
ABOUT US
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Logistics
Format: One-on-one session with Barb, held virtually
Length: 120 minutes
Prep: A short intake form (about 10 minutes) plus a series of short topic-specific videos — each under 5 minutes, about 20 minutes total — sent in advance so you arrive informed and ready to work, not just ready to listen. The session is designed to be a working session. The videos make that possible.
Price: [PLACEHOLDER]
Prerequisite: Blueprint Session recommended — this session builds directly on the roadmap and understanding developed there
Not sure if you're ready for the Essentials Session? The Blueprint Session is the right place to start.
Haven't had your Readiness Review Call yet? That's where everything begins.
Your family deserves more than a form
you downloaded and hope was right
They deserve to know — really know, with certainty and with documentation — exactly what you want. Not to guess. Not to sort it out in a hospital corridor while they're already grieving. Not to look back and wonder if they honored your wishes or just their best memory of them.
That's what this session makes possible.
120 minutes. The right documents, done correctly. Your wishes, in your own words.
Virtual sessions available — work with me from anywhere.
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Your family deserves more than a form
you downloaded and hope is right
They deserve to know — really know — exactly what you want. Not to guess or sort it out in a hospital corridor. Not to look back and wonder if they honored your wishes. 120 minutes. The right documents, done correctly. Your wishes, in your own words.
Virtual sessions available — work with me from anywhere.
Minneapolis, MN-based death doula and advance care planner. Personalized end-of-life solutions for busy professionals and families.
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