Starter Guides
The Starter Guides are tools created by The Conversation Project. All of the Starter Guides are available to download and print for free. Please visit the The Conversation Project's website to see Starter Guides in multiple languages. The Starter Guides are now available in audio format.
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Your conversation starter guide
The Starter Guide doesn't answer every question, but it will help you get your thoughts together, and then have the conversation with your loved one.
NEW GUIDE! Being Prepared in the Time of COVID-19
Click HERE to see a guide specific to COVID-19. With the generous support from the Cambia Health Foundation, The Conversation Project and Ariadne Labs teamed up to create this new tool to help people take action and be prepared. We can’t control how this pandemic plays out. But we can control who speaks for us if we’re unable to speak for ourselves, and we can take the time to make sure they know what matters most to us. Have the conversation today.
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Click HERE for the audio version.
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conversation starter guide for caregivers of people with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementias
This Starter Guide is specifically designed to help families and loved ones of people with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia who want guidance about “having the conversation.” We appreciate the difficulty — and the importance — of having these conversations.
Click on the image to open the Guide.
Click HERE for the audio version.
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your guide to choosing a health care proxy
In addition to having the conversation, it’s important to choose a health care proxy – the person who will make decisions about your medical care if you become unable to make them for yourself. This user-friendly guide offers facts and tips necessary to make sound decisions about choosing an advocate who could speak for you. Click HERE for the audio version.
your guide to being a health care proxy
This new guide will help you be an advocate for someone you care about or help you decide if you should not be someone’s proxy. Click HERE for the audio version.
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guide for Talking with a health care team
After you’ve had the conversation with your loved ones, the next step is talking to your doctor or nurse about your wishes. Don’t wait for a medical crisis; talking with your doctor or nurse now makes it easier to make medical decisions when the time comes. This guide also helps you talk with the health care team of a loved one. Click HERE for the audio version.
What Matters to me workbook
The “What Matters to Me” Workbook was jointly created by Ariadne Labs and The Conversation Project to help people with a serious illness think through and talk about what matters most to them-to make sure they get the care they want.
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