Association for death education and counseling: An organization for our times and for our future

Abstract

Organizations have a life cycle. They are born out of need, grow as they speak to that need, evolve to meet changing opportunities, and diminish or die when they no longer are relevant to the lives of their members. As president of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC), I have been asked to write an article about the organization: to describe the conditions which led to its formation, to review its accomplishments across the first 12 years of its existence, and to focus on the future of ADEC as it moves toward the 21st century.