Sean Jeung is a pioneer of demystifying, destigmatizing—and, above all, honoring—death and dying. 

The former Montessori teacher and social worker began working in palliative care almost 25 years ago when struck by the grace with which her mother died from pancreatic cancer. Since then, Sean has filled a variety of roles that support end-of-life care, from serving as the first employee at Hospice of the Valley in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado to acting as the Chaplain at Valley View Hospital’s Calaway-Young Cancer Center in Glenwood Springs, Colorado—a position that’s not only nondenominational but also not religious. She describes hospice care as holding space for others during one of life’s most critical moments. “It is,” she says, “being with people in a rocky time of trauma and drama and loss with the sense that we’re not alone—that there’s something at work that we can’t see or touch that’s all powerful and good.”

This conviction inspired Sean to create “Where the Veil Grows Thin,” a bi-monthly end-of-life podcast that helps people navigate loss and grief. The stories she shares reflect life itself. Some are poignant and sorrowful. Others brim with humor and hope. And others evoke the beauty that can be found in death and letting go. All are told with Sean’s signature mix of candor and compassion—and all speak directly to the heart. 

Board certified in Clinical Pastoral Education and Psychotherapy, Sean has also worked as a grief counselor at Pathfinders of Aspen and as the Bereavement Care Coordinator for Hospice of the Valley. She champions the right to die with Medical Aid and continues to be a vocal, active proponent for advanced directives—and for fostering friendlier, more open conversations about death and dying.

Sean views death as part of living, but the fear of death, she believes, keeps us from living as deeply as we could. “So much of the world’s woes come from unaddressed, unrecognized, uncelebrated grief. We are born of loss. You don’t get over it. It’s part of who you are, but I don’t think it’s something we should go through alone.”

“Where the Veil Grows Thin,” and Sean’s wealth of knowledge and resources, helps ensure terminally ill patients and those closest to them have the nourishment they need to embrace death and dying with empathy and acceptance. Created in the vein of “The Art of Dying Well,” each episode of Where the Veil Grows Thin provides a brief but telling glimpse at what it means to love amidst loss.

As a leading expert in death and dying, Sean remains grateful her mother had the wisdom and tenacity to set such a high bar for what an expected death can look like. She has experienced maybe one or two deaths that come close to what she experienced with her mom, but the vision is always there, just waiting to become a reality. Her hope is that the information furnished here will give patients, caregivers, and their loved ones the practical guidance and emotional sustenance they need during end-of-life care—and beyond.

“When this all began to take shape and someone would ask me who my target audience was, I would answer, “Everyone”. Anyone old enough to navigate the web and find it. Anyone who has ever lost a loved one. Anyone who has ever contemplated how their own death might come or what it might be like.

In 23 years of work as a hospital, hospice and palliative care chaplain I would often debrief about the day’s experiences through writing. I spent 23 years in the presence of sorrow, loss, suffering and joyful love. And I wrote about it. I still write about it even though I am no longer out in it on a daily basis. 

Being with those doing the work of dying; being with those navigating grief when someone they love has died, has given me the rare privilege of an insider’s view to some of life’s most poignant and tender moments. Writing about it was, initially, simply my therapy; how I cared for myself.

My hope is that individuals and families in crisis over life-limiting illnesses, people wanting to better prepare for their own eventual death, and those experiencing  grief will all find something in these stories that speaks directly to their heart.”

An update from June of 2025.

Sean cut her longstanding ties with Valley View Hospital where she had served as a member of the Palliative Care team.

Her years of experience with grief and bereavement hadn’t adequately prepared her for the enormity of loss she would feel. 

A year out, and with the help of several therapeutic modalities, she is feeling happily established in her life at home with her husband, Greg and their dog, Toby.

She enjoys being in the home and on the property they purchased 18 years ago. 

She is on the Board of Directors for the local non-profit Hospice and has enjoyed reconnecting with that community.

She is growing kale, beets, carrots, onions, potatoes and Chinese long beans in the gardens she and Greg built 3 years ago. 

Sean is still asked to act as Celebrant for memorial services and the occasional wedding but only says yes when she wants to. 

However, she never misses a chance to talk about Death and Dying or Grief and Bereavement. She just isn’t any longer sitting in it every day…