Annual Spirituality and Aging Seminar
Early Exits: Exploring the Deeper Dimensions of MAiD, Mortality, and Meaning
About the Seminar
This full-day experiential workshop invites healthcare professionals, spiritual care providers, ethicists, and community leaders into a deeper conversation about Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) through the lens of spiritual suffering, ego-deconstruction, and the transformative potential of the dying process.
Drawing on 25 years of palliative care experience and insights from Early Exits, David Maginley offers a compassionate critique of MAiD, grounded in lived stories and clinical wisdom. Participants will explore why existential distress—not physical pain—is the leading driver of MAiD requests, and how dying can become a sacred psychological and spiritual journey when properly supported.
The workshop integrates theory, case studies, guided reflection, and group dialogue to help participants:
- Recognize the spiritual roots of existential suffering in MAiD requests
- Understand dying as a process of ego deconstruction and identity dissolution
- Explore how suffering, when held compassionately, can become transformative
- Identify the ethical and emotional limits of MAiD as a response to spiritual distress
- Reimagine a holistic model of dying that integrates presence, purpose, and transcendence
This workshop is not about taking sides in the MAiD debate. It’s about deepening insight, compassion, and courage in the face of one of the most profound human questions: What does it mean to die well?
David Maginley
Rev. David Maginley is a Lutheran minister and spiritual care provider with 25 years of experience in palliative care. He is the award-winning author of Early Exits: Spirituality, Mortality, and Meaning in an Age of Medical Assistance in Dying, and Beyond Surviving: Cancer and Your Spiritual Journey. David has lectured internationally on the spiritual dimensions of dying. David brings clinical, theological, and lived experience to his teaching, offering compassionate, evidence-informed insight into complex end-of-life issues.
Learn more about David at davidmaginley.com
Registration
- Early bird rate! Register by March 31: $60.00
- Standard rate (After March 31): $70.00
- Student/affordable rate: $30.00
Coffee break refreshments included for all participants.
No virtual attendance options available. This is an in-person only event.
Optional add ons:
- Optional Lunch ticket: $20 +tax
- Optional parking pass: $9 +tax
Note: Continuing Education Unit (CEU) Credit available
Registration opens soon
Check back soon to register.
Location
Conrad Grebel University College
Great Hall
140 Westmount Rd N
Waterloo, ON
Schedule
Date: Wednesday, May 8, 2026
| Time | Schedule |
|---|---|
| 9:30 AM |
Check-in |
| 10:00 AM - 11:15 AM | Session |
| 11:15 AM - 11:30 AM |
Morning Break |
| 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM | Session |
| 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM | Lunch Break |
| 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM | Session |
Spirituality and Aging Program
Spirituality and Aging is a program area of the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA). Its two-fold purpose is to promote and disseminate research in the field of spirituality and aging that will enhance the well-being of older adults; and to be a resource to students, community clergy, chaplains, and caregivers through university classes, public lectures, and workshops.
Learn more about the Spirituality and Aging Program.
Email: jane.kuepfer@uwaterloo.ca
