Karen van Vuuren is a former broadcast news journalist who has worked in radio and television in Europe and Asia. Since moving from the UK to the US, van Vuuren has pursued her interest in end-of-life issues, working in the fields of hospice and elder care, while producing educational media.
She has produced radio segments such as The Practice of Living and Dying which featured the work of Scott Eberle of the School of Lost Borders. Eberle is a hospice physician and author who leads wilderness rites of passage in which participants experience a symbolic death and rebirth.
In 2007, van Vuuren directed the documentary, Dying Wish (www.dyingwishmedia.com) a film about a dying doctor’s decision to stop eating and drinking to ease his death and die with grace.
Go in Peace! is Karen van Vuuren’s second documentary film.
Van Vuuren also founded and was the executive director of end-of-life educational non-profit, Natural Transitions (www.naturaltransitions.org), supporting conscious, holistic approaches to end of life for more than twenty years. She edited the organization’s magazine, taught natural death care workshops, and supported families in the community to prepare for death and create meaningful ceremony after death.
A special issue of Natural Transitions Magazine on veterans’ end-of-life care is available here for free download via Dropbox.com by clicking on this LINK.
From 2016-2022, van Vuuren co-founded and co-owned a holistic funeral home in Boulder county, Colorado. She currently serves as a Transformational Loss Counselor, having acquired an MA in clinical mental health counseling. She is licensed in Colorado as an LPCC (Licensed Provisional Counselor Candidate) and is the founder and director of The Astral Center LLC. Van Vuuren offers both individual counseling and group programs.
Karen, Baby Shanti, and Jack, WWII veteran by Jonathan Machen at www.jonathanmachen.com