Lorraine Hedtke MSW, ACSW, LCSW
Lorraine Hedtke is a leader in the thanatology field. In private practice since 1986, she has taught hundreds of professionals around the world about this new and exciting approach to death, dying and bereavement.Lorraine Hedtke specializes in working with people who are dying and families after a loved one has died. She regularly teaches nationally and internationally about narrative therapy and death, dying, and bereavement. Her articles have appeared in many professional and trade journals.
Lorraine moved to California in June 2004 to join the team at VITAS Innovative Hospice Care. Like Lorraine, VITAS is committed to quality care of people as they are dying and families of loved ones after a death has occurred. VITAS is the largest, and oldest, hospice organization in the USA. Lorraine brings her skills and interests to the Inland Empire Office in San Bernardino, California, where she works as the Bereavement Services Manager.
Lorraine's professional articles have appeared in numerous journals and newspapers. She is co-author of the following released books:
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Re-membering Lives (with John Winslade): Conversations With the Dying and the Bereaved |
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| Illustrated by Annette Olson and Addison Yost
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The Birth of Re-membering Practices
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Re-membering Practices have grown over the years. The thinking behind the theory sprung from a synthesis of my professional training as a family therapist, my professional focus with death, dying and bereavement, a strong allegiance to socially constructed and narrative practices, and my personal experiences with death. Re-membering conversations affirm relationships do not die following physical death but can continue to grow. This perspective can inspire invigorating and appreciative conversations that promote ongoing connection and membership for those who have died. Rather than cutting ourselves off from those we love after they die, re-membering focuses on death as a period of relational transition rather than as an ultimate finality. |
My grandmother, Louise, was a spitfire of a woman. She was a mover and a shaker as a social worker trained at Columbia in 1920. She worked throughout her career in political and social causes that I admire to this day.
In fact she worked with Kaiser Permanante until three months before her death at the age of 93. Her legacy, stories, cookie recipes and life's lessons are far too important to die when she died in 1993.
Through re-membering practice, my daughter becomes the beneficiary of these gems. When we share Louise's stories, my daughter comes to know her and has this as resources in her own life. My grandmother then is brought to life again and again through the inclusion of memories, rituals and practices with my daughter. This re-membering of my grandmother grows the connection between my daughter and her even though Louise died when my daughter was only seven months of age.
All of us have these stories and legacies available to us. We carry with us the stories of those who we love who are no longer living. And some day when we will no longer be alive, our loved ones will carry our stories for us. This is the heart of Re-membering Practices.