A step by step guide to anchor and support you when someone you love dies.
The Power
Of Liminal
Time
How Do We Prepare For The Death of Someone Close?
The death of someone we love can be one of the most profound things that ever happens to us. Even as we grieve it can be a time of powerful connection, wisdom and love.
But it can also be a time of feeling broken, isolated, and overwhelmed.
In the first moments of loss, we are quickly expected to make funeral plans, deal with paperwork, manage time sensitive - and often expensive - decisions, navigate shifting family relationships, and so much more.
How we manage this time can have a huge effect on our lives and on our well-being, as well as on the well being of our family and friends.
Yet we are not encouraged to truly prepare for the death of someone we love. Often because the focus, understandably, is on keeping them alive.
And even though the impact and consequences of death can be far reaching, it can be hard to find the support and guidance needed that will give you the confidence that you will do the 'right’ thing, for yourself, and for your person, when the time comes.
“Deaths are as important as births, and we should be prepared: fore-thought can ease grief and regrets. Everyone should have a ‘Liminal Time’ day. It was nothing short of brilliant.”
What Is The Power of Liminal Time?
Drawing on decades of experience the Power of Liminal Time is a day long experiential workshop facilitated by Isabel Russo.
The workshop is carefully designed to give you the skills needed to help prepare you to successfully navigate the time between the death of someone you love, through to and including organising the funeral, and on to the days immediately after.
In England this is a time of approximately a month.
The Power of Liminal Time workshop gives you the unique opportunity to learn about the practical demands of a death occurring, as well as to safely explore the emotional challenges you might personally face.
You will uncover a variety of skills - many of which you will already have - so that you are better prepared to navigate this time. You will look at how to make the choices that are right for your person, before and after their death - and also the choices that are right for you.
Employing compassion, creativity and commonsense, The Power of Liminal Time is a unique and essential workshop. It is ideal for anyone anticipating loss, or for those who work in end of life care, or for those just wishing to gain a better understanding of life and our approach to death.
“Liminal time is the time between what was, and what will be. It is a time of transition, waiting and not knowing. Liminal time is where all transformation takes place, if we learn to wait and let it form us”
“We will all have to face the death of someone we love at some stage in our lives, and modern UK society is particularly poor at preparing us both practically and emotionally for the turmoil of this inevitable trauma.
The Power of Liminal Time workshop takes you expertly and gently by the hand and walks you through the before, during and after the death of a person you love, leaving you more at peace, prepared, and in control.
I recommend this workshop to everyone – it should be second nature, like taking out a life insurance policy or making a will”.”
How Does It Work?
Through a series of conversations and exercises the workshop introduces a unique stepping stone approach that helps you successfully rehearse how to navigate your way through this period of time.
There are 13 steps, each one illuminating a different phase of the journey, starting from the moments before the death right through to the moments after the funeral.
Each step allows you to access the diverse practical and emotional knowledge needed to help you make informed, heartfelt decisions for that phase. Step by step, you will chart a course throughout the day that will help you to feel empowered to make the very best of this powerful but challenging time, when it comes.
“...they have crystallised essential practices into a very accessible format that will really change people’s experiences of loss.”
..as well as how to:
Approach the moments after death on your terms
Manage the necessary paperwork and procedures
Manage shifting relationships between family and friends
Work together to create a truly meaningful ceremony
Reduce unnecessary costs, ensuring you spend money on what's most important
Take the first steps of adjustments, confident the love that still exists has expression
The 13 Steps
The 13 steps offer essential, practical and emotional guidance, including how to:
Anchor yourself in what is important, as well as take care of yourself
Approach important conversations before death
Make the emotional decisions that can reduce stress and create more time and space for memories that will stay with you for life
Be with someone as death approaches
Find Out More
The Power of Liminal Time workshops are developed and facilitated by Isabel Russo.
Isabel has spent the last 15 years in the world of ceremonies and funerals. Head of Ceremonies at Humanists UK for 7 years, she has also conducted over 600 ceremonies including those of Victoria Wood, Terry Jones and Doris Lessing.
The original Liminal Time concept was co-created by Isabel Russo and Fran Hall in 2023. Isabel and Fran are both Executive Directors of The Good Funeral Guide which informs, supports and empowers people at a time of bereavement.
Go to Blogs & Pods for further Liminal Time information.
Fran & Isabel
“We both believe this work is absolutely essential for a healthier, happier society. If we are better prepared to meet death when it touches our lives, then we are better equipped to live our lives fully while we can.”
