Hello!
I'm Dale Susan Edmonds

I'm glad you stopped by.

I'm the creator of Talk-Early-Talk-Often.com. I intend this to be a growing, information and educational network for people with aging parents. This site is not About Dale; it's about all of us and our challenges to prepare with our aging parents for the future.

My Background

I've been an Ordained Minister for 25 years in the United Church of Christ. I use my training in Conflict Resolution and Mediation to work with families, congregations, and professional associations to help people prepare for the realities of aging within extended families.

I'm do family communication coaching. I'm a speaker, and workshop leader. I've been certified as an Advance Care Planning Facilitator and Instructor, which means I've had training to guide people and families through a process to reflect on, talk about, and record their decisions about the end of life. I now work as a hospice chaplain.

Why did I start this project?

For years, as a local pastor, I got the phone calls after a crisis with someone's elderly Mom or Dad. When describing the problem, what people most often said was: “Help, we don’t know what to do… we never talked about it.”

Finally, when I was faced with the same kinds of concerns in my own family, I realized it was time to step back and use my training, experience and research to help myself as well as everyone with aging parents.

I am creating these resources to help people become more at ease when dealing with the hard topics that come along with their aging parents and elder relatives.

More about me

I am the the oldest sibling of an adult brother with severe autism. My extended family is scattered across the United States. I live in Chicago where I enjoy reading, restaurants, the theater and music. Currently, I sing with Sing to Live, a community chorus created to support individuals and families affected by breast cancer.

I hope this website is helpful to you, and that you will find something that may make this journey with your aging parents easier and more manageable.

I forward to talking with you often...