How to Survive a Near Death Experience:
Inaugural Meeting of Houston IANDS at the Texas Medical Center
Sunday, February 9, 2020 | 2:00-5:00 pm
The Institute for Spirituality and Health
8100 Greenbriar #300, Houston, TX 77098
Beginning in 2020, ISH is hosting Houston’s first chapter of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS). This group will serve first and foremost as a safe space to support those who have had a near-death experience as they integrate their experience into their lives. Houston IANDS also serves to inform the public about NDEs and the lessons and messages that experiencers bring back, and to educate the medical community to recognize and appropriately treat people who have had an NDE. Each session will begin with a presentation followed by a communal circle.
In this inaugural event, ICU nurse Debbie James, who co-authored the Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation, will explore how near-death experiences occur, and how healthcare professionals can effectively identify and sensitively care for those who have had an NDE. Whether you have had a near-death experience yourself, know a family-member or friend who has, are a healthcare professional, or are simply interested in NDEs, we hope you will join us as we initiate this exploratory venture in Houston and the Texas Medical Center.
Schedule:
2:00 - 3:00 PM: Presentation by Deborah James
3:00 - 3:30 PM: Q&A and discussion
3:30 - 3:45 PM: Break
3:45 - 5:00 PM: Support Circle for NDE survivors
Our First Speaker
Debbie James, MSN, RN, CCRN-K
Clinical Assistant Professor at UT Health San Antonio
Debbie James is very well known in the NDE community and in the Texas Medical Center. Debbie’s career has spanned 43 years in critical care nursing. Her association with TMC and local experiencers has helped provide essential care for patient survivors who have been healed by new and exciting advances in medical science. Debbie is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Texas School Nursing San Antonio and collaborates with MD Anderson Cancer Center, directing the End of Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) Program. In addition to the degrees she has earned, she has also formal and informal training in various aspects of bereavement as well as bioethics. She is a certified bereavement facilitator and was responsible for the formation of two support groups in San Antonio: one for those individual experiencing Near-Death and the other for families of organ donors. Ms. James lectures throughout the country and completed her master’s thesis is on Near-Death Experiences and Disclosure and was appointed to the Board of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS). In 2009, Debbie co-authored and edited the first compilation of research on near-death experiences entitled, Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation. She has received many awards and in October 2018, the University Health System recognized her as Best 25 Nurses of South Central Texas.
