The evolving 2025 Before I Die New Mexico Festival schedule is now available. Mark your calendars for Monday, October 13, 2025 (a Federal holiday), from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Church campus, 3701 Carlisle Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM. This is the schedule as of September 12, 2025.
10:00 a.m. to noon Panel Discussion on Plant Medicine and Psychedelic Therapy for grief and death anxiety – Sanctuary, available on Zoom and online after the Festival. Participants include:
- Kelly Butterman, Verdes Cannabis
- Doug Lynam, Entheogen Guide & Retreat Facilitator
- Lida Fatemi, MD, hospice and palliative care practicing physician & psychedelic educator
- Other speakers
- Moderator, Danielle Slupesky, Death Doula, Conscious Crossroads End of Life Services
10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Death is Not a Dirty Word Resource Fair – in the Social Hall
Peruse vendor tables sharing a wide range of information on end-of-life products and services: green burial, death doulas, estate planning, hospice, caregiver resources, grief care, and more!
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Affinity Tables and Meet the Panelists – in the Courtyard
Visit with Festival sponsors French Funerals & Cremations, Passages International, Bosque Trails Hospice, and End of Life Options New Mexico, as well as the panelists from the three sessions on Plant Medicine and Psychedelic Therapy, OMI and Bernalillo County Indigent Program, and Dying in New Mexico: Options and Choices.
Noon to 2:00 p.m. Death Café discussion – Arnold Room
Join a conversation to talk about what’s on your heart or mind about mortality issues.
10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Mortality Movies TV series showings – Wesson Room
Continuous showings of 30-minute episodes of the Mortality Movies television series. Death educator Gail Rubin shows clips from films and TV shows and discusses lessons we can learn from these videos with two death and grief educators on set.
12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Panel Discussion on Dying in New Mexico: Options and Choices – Sanctuary, available on Zoom and online after the Festival. Panelists include:
- Leah Becker, PA and Lynn Nauman, MD, Rights of Passage
- Katelynn Martin, Owner/Administrator, High Desert Hospice
- Jane Westbrook, End of Life Educator & Advocate, The Art of Living, Aging & Dying Well
- Moderator, Neil Weinberg
3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Panel Discussion with OMI & Bernalillo County Indigent Program – Sanctuary, available on Zoom and online after the Festival. Panelists include:
- Chamar Valdez, Operations Manager, Bernalillo County Indigent Program
- La Vonda Bowens-Woodard, Director of Operations, Office of the Medical Investigator
- Other speakers
- Moderator, Gail Rubin, CT, A Good Goodbye
3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Music by ABQ Skeleton Crew – in the Courtyard
Finish the day with an upbeat concert and dance party with this seven-member band which features luscious harmonies and an eclectic repertoire of tunes.
All Day: Wind Phones in the Courtyard
Following the 2011 Tōhoku tsunami in Japan, Itaru Sasaki created a Wind Phone for survivors to talk “across the wind” with their beloved deceased. Since Sasaki’s first Wind Phone, there are now over 324 Wind Phones in the US as well as Wind Phones in 139 countries. Before I Die offers two Wind Phones for attendees to reach out to their loved ones—whether two legged, four legged, or winged.
Free registration includes 10 raffle tickets for fun prizes at the Resource Fair and follow-up panel discussion video links. Food options will be available for purchase on-site.
Paid registration adds bonuses:
- $20 provides a list of Mortality Movies that Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death, recommends you watch.
- $40 gets you a copy of the book, A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die.
- $60 adds a black T-shirt with a snappy death quote (available in M-L-XL-XXL).
- $80 adds a copy of The Newly-Dead® Game.
- $100 adds the opportunity to enjoy a Death Over Dinner and Mortality Movie Night with Gail Rubin.
Register for the Festival and Fair here: https://beforeidiefestivals.com/product/2025-before-i-die-festival-and-fair-registration/
Thank You to Our Before I Die Festival Sponsors
The 2025 Before I Die New Mexico Festival is made possible with the support of these organizations.
- A Good Goodbye: AGoodGoodbye.com
- Albuquerque Center for Spiritual Living: ABQCSL.org
- Bosque Trails Hospice: BosqueTrailsHospice.com
- End of Life Options New Mexico: EndOfLifeOptionsNM.org
- First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque: UUABQ.org
- French Funerals & Cremations: FrenchFunerals.com
- Keeper: MyKeeper.com
- Passages International: PassagesInternational.com