Open the door to comforting conversations! This gentle communication activity facilitates open and honest conversations about what matters most at the end of life.
Heart-to-Heart Café is a gathering where one can talk about life and death issues over a cup of tea. Its goals are:
- To enhance people’s understanding of how to face death and how to make the best use of the rest of their lives
- To remind people of their personal medical care options, quality-of-life considerations and choices, and post-death arrangements at the end of life
Heart-to-Heart® Cards
Playing Heart-to-Heart Cards is the central activity of each Café. Through simple prompts and creative reflection, these carefully designed cards make it easier for family members, caregivers, or medical personnel to know what a patient wants done when life is ending, ensuring individual requests are met with respect and compassion.
Perfectly healthy people can also use the cards to help their families understand their needs and wishes in the event of a life-threatening injury or illness.
Watch CACCC founder Sandy Chen Stokes discuss the story and purpose of Heart-to-Heart® Café:
Using the Cards
Each deck of Heart-to-Heart® Cards contains a total of 54 cards: 13 Spades, 13 Hearts, 13 Diamonds, 13 Clubs, and 2 Jokers (Special Wish cards).
Each suit represents a special need, and each card has a different issue printed on it, except the joker (Special Wish) cards which allow a player to mention an issue not included in the deck.
Each player draws three cards they feel are important from each of the four suits (12 total), and then picks their three most important cards out of those 12 cards. There are multiple ways to play the cards as well.
Start the Conversation
Talking about end of life doesn’t have to be difficult. Start a meaningful conversation today.
Attend a Heart-to-Heart® Café
Want to attend a Heart-to-Heart® Café? Want to get your family involved? Reach out to us at info@caccc-usa.org.
Host a Heart-to-Heart® Café
If you would like to host a Heart-to-Heart® Café for your organization, please fill out our Heart-to-Heart® Café Request Form and e-mail it to info@caccc-usa.org.
Order Heart-to-Heart® Cards
You can take home your very own packs of Heart-to-Heart Cards on our online store. Detailed instructions are included in each package.