Fall Book Club Discussion

Co-sponsored by the Stanford Faculty Staff Help Center

You are invited to join us for a virtual book club to discuss thoughts raised by the book Briefly Perfectly Human, by Alua Arthur. Arthur’s book is a compelling read, with stories that encourage us to reflect and relate. In Briefly Perfectly Human we follow two intersecting stories of a “death doula” who narrates her work with dying clients, and also tells of her own struggle to live her meaningful life.

Alua Arthur invites us to react and relate to her frank and vulnerable narratives of being intimidated by, drawn toward, and at times even repulsed by those who share with her how they are dying. We see through this death doula’s eyes the fear and resolve, love and loss, and inescapable impact of death on those who live on. This book – a tapestry of chronicle, guide, and memoir – invites us to relate our own stories of how we have faced or foresee experiencing our own death or the loss of those we love.

Please read the book on your own in advance and join us online for discussion facilitated by the Stanford Faculty Staff Help Center. This session will include class discussion and a breakout room where you will have the opportunity to share your thoughts in a smaller group setting.

Facilitators: Rosan Gomperts, LCSW, is the director of the Faculty Staff Help Center and has been licensed as a clinical social worker since 2002.  She works with individuals and couples as well as facilitating conflicts and giving courses and coaching in emotional intelligence and communicating with tact and skill.

Roland Hsu, LCSW, is a counselor at the Stanford Faculty Staff Help Center. He has worked and taught at Stanford over the past twenty years in a variety of positions.

Class details are subject to change.