During a serious illness or major healthcare event, you may temporarily or permanently lose the ability to make decisions for yourself, at which point someone else must step in and advocate on your behalf.
If you live independently, are aging without a spouse or children, or do not have close family or a trustworthy friend nearby, asking someone to take on this important responsibility can feel especially overwhelming.
Plan Well Guide’s Serious Illness Support Service builds on the trusted Advance Serious Illness Planning process by helping prepare and support your representative should they ever need to make healthcare decisions on your behalf.
If a serious illness or healthcare crisis occurs, your representative will have access to hands-on guidance and support from an experienced critical care physician — helping them navigate difficult decisions with greater confidence, clarity, and support while keeping your values and quality-of-life priorities at the centre of care.
During a serious illness or major healthcare event, you may temporarily or permanently lose the ability to make decisions for yourself, at which point someone else must step in and advocate on your behalf.
If you live independently, are aging without a spouse or children, or do not have close family or a trustworthy friend nearby, asking someone to take on this important responsibility can feel especially overwhelming.
Plan Well Guide’s Serious Illness Support Service builds on the trusted Advance Serious Illness Planning process by helping prepare and support your representative should they ever need to make healthcare decisions on your behalf.
If a serious illness or healthcare crisis occurs, your representative will have access to hands-on guidance and support from an experienced critical care physician — helping them navigate difficult decisions with greater confidence, clarity, and support while keeping your values and quality-of-life priorities at the centre of care.
Advance Serious Illness Planning gives you peace of mind by preparing for the “what ifs” of serious illness or injury. It makes sure that, if you can’t speak for yourself, the choices made about your care and affairs truly honour your values and wishes.
Research shows that advance planning reduces stress, anxiety, and depression for the loved ones making decisions on your behalf. It also eases the burden and helps prevent potential conflicts among family members.
Stepping in as a healthcare and personal care representative is a big responsibility. You may worry about burdening a friend with such a significant responsibility, feel uncertain who would best advocate for you, or wonder whether your wishes and quality-of-life preferences would truly be understood during a healthcare crisis.
Our Serious Illness Support Service helps bring clarity, preparation, and support to those conversations.
By combining thoughtful Advance Serious Illness Planning with representative preparation and ongoing physician-guided advisory support, the service helps ensure your wishes, values, and quality-of-life priorities remain central to decision-making — while helping your representative feel informed, supported, and less alone in their role.
This service may be a good fit if you:
With the support of a Serious Illness Navigator, you can:
Choose an appropriate person to serve as representative
Clarify your values, preferences, and quality-of-life priorities through a structured educational process
Complete your Advance Serious Illness Plan with guided support
Prepare your representative so they understand your wishes and their role
Give your representative access to support if a healthcare crisis occurs
Feel more confident that your voice will be heard when it matters most
We start with a free 15-minute call to explain the service, answer your questions and review the process so you can determine whether this support is right for you.
You meet with your Navigator to share your goals, concerns, health story, and planning needs. We will explore the ASIP process and set the schedule for the planning sessions ahead.
You work through the Advance Serious Illness Planning process with one-on-one Navigator support. Together, we will explore your values, healthcare preferences, possible health scenarios, and what quality of life means to you. Your wishes and priorities are thoroughly documented in your plan, creating a clear record to help guide future healthcare and personal care decision-making.
We work with your lawyer to help ensure your legal documents include appropriate language allowing Plan Well Guide to provide advisory support to your representative, if needed.
You and your chosen representative meet with your Navigator to review your plan, clarify roles, and confirm how your support team will work together should a healthcare crisis occur. This session helps your representative feel more informed, prepared, and supported in their role.
If a serious illness, loss of capacity, or major healthcare event occurs, a Plan Well Guide Navigator will provide guidance, coaching, and support to your representative throughout the illness journey, helping ensure decisions remain aligned with your values, wishes, and Advance Serious Illness Plan.
We review your plan together annually to ensure that it remains accurate, current, and aligned with your wishes.
Louise is independent, active, and surrounded by caring friends — but without a spouse or children, she worries about who would make healthcare decisions on her behalf during a serious illness. Read how Plan Well Guide’s Serious Illness Support Service helps Louise and her chosen Representative prepare for the unexpected together.
Dr. Daren Heyland
You do not have to navigate future healthcare planning alone. We are here to help you prepare, clarify your wishes, and support the people who may one day advocate on your behalf.
Plan Well Guide provides planning, guidance, and healthcare advisory support. We help you and your representative clarify your wishes, navigate healthcare conversations, and feel more confident making values-aligned decisions during serious illness and healthcare crises.
Plan Well Guide does not act as your healthcare provider or legal representative. We do not provide medical diagnosis, treatment recommendations, or legal advice, and we do not make healthcare or personal care decisions on your behalf.
Your named Representative retains full legal authority for healthcare and personal care decisions, while your Plan Well Guide Navigator serves in a supportive and advisory role, helping keep your values, wishes, and preferences at the centre of decision-making.
By the end of the planning phase, you will have:
If your representative is ever called into service, your Navigator can provide hands-on guidance and support throughout the illness journey. This may include:
Support may be provided by phone, Zoom, or in person when appropriate.
We know you may have questions about how the Serious Illness Support Service works, who will support you, and what to expect. Explore topics including how the service works, your support team, pricing, and what happens if you’re unsure who could speak for you.
Select a topic below to learn more.
We start with a free 15-minute call to explain the service, answer your questions and review the process so you can determine whether this support is right for you.
You meet with your Navigator to share your goals, concerns, health story, and planning needs. We will explore the ASIP process and set the schedule for the planning sessions ahead.
You work through the Advance Serious Illness Planning process with one-on-one Navigator support. Together, we will explore your values, healthcare preferences, possible health scenarios, and what quality of life means to you. Your wishes and priorities are thoroughly documented in your plan, creating a clear record to help guide future healthcare and personal care decision-making.
We work with your lawyer to help ensure your legal documents include appropriate language allowing Plan Well Guide to provide advisory support to your representative, if needed.
You and your chosen representative meet with your Navigator to review your plan, clarify roles, and confirm how your support team will work together should a healthcare crisis occur. This session helps your representative feel more informed, prepared, and supported in their role.
If a serious illness, loss of capacity, or major healthcare event occurs, a Plan Well Guide Navigator will provide guidance, coaching, and support to your representative throughout the illness journey, helping ensure decisions remain aligned with your values, wishes, and Advance Serious Illness Plan.
We review your plan together annually to ensure that it remains accurate, current, and aligned with your wishes.
When you don’t have close family, choosing someone to act as your Representative can feel daunting. You may even feel as though there simply isn’t anyone in your life who could take on such an important role.
As part of the Advance Serious Illness Planning process, your Navigator will help you consider the people in your life and identify someone who may be willing and well-suited to advocate on your behalf if you experience a serious illness or healthcare crisis.
Once chosen, your Representative will be thoroughly prepared through a dedicated orientation session, helping them understand your wishes, values, quality-of-life priorities, and responsibilities in the role. And if they are ever called upon to make decisions on your behalf, they won’t have to navigate the healthcare system alone — Physician Navigator Dr. Daren Heyland will be available to provide hands-on guidance and support throughout the illness journey.
The Serious Illness Support Service creates a support system around both you and the person you trust to advocate for you.
Includes onboarding, guided ASIP planning, legal integration support, and representative orientation.
Physician Navigator:
Dr. Daren Heyland $3,450
The planning fee is billed 50% upfront and 50% upon completion of the representative orientation session.
If support is needed during a serious illness or healthcare crisis, advisory services are billed on a pay-as-needed hourly basis.
Current rate as of May 2026:
$240/hour for Dr. Daren Heyland
Navigator support during illness is intended to be paid from the client’s own funds, as authorized through their legal documents, so the representative is not personally responsible for the cost.
Plan Well Guide provides planning, guidance, and healthcare advisory support. We help you and your representative clarify your wishes, navigate healthcare conversations, and feel more confident making values-aligned decisions during serious illness and healthcare crises.
Plan Well Guide does not act as your healthcare provider or legal representative. We do not provide medical diagnosis, treatment recommendations, or legal advice, and we do not make healthcare or personal care decisions on your behalf.
Your named Representative retains full legal authority for healthcare and personal care decisions, while your Plan Well Guide Navigator serves in a supportive and advisory role, helping keep your values, wishes, and preferences at the centre of decision-making.
Critical Care Physician and Founder of Plan Well Guide
Dr. Daren Heyland is an ICU physician with more than 30 years of experience supporting patients and families through serious illness and healthcare crises.
As a Physician Navigator, his deep understanding of the medical system, serious illness decision-making, and the realities of crisis care helps ensure you and your representative have experienced guidance and support during some of life’s most difficult healthcare moments.
Brandi is a Plan Well Guide Navigator, Advance Serious Illness Planning specialist, and end-of-life doula with nearly 10 years of experience supporting individuals and families through planning, serious illness, and end-of-life care.
She brings compassionate guidance, practical planning support, and calm coordination to the Navigator Support process, helping clients and representatives feel more informed, prepared, and supported during difficult healthcare conversations and planning situations.
It’s completely understandable to have questions about what this kind of support could look like for you. A free 15-minute introductory call gives you an opportunity to ask questions, learn more about how the Serious Illness Support Service works, and explore whether it could be a good fit for you and the person who may one day advocate on your behalf.
The call is completely complimentary, with no obligation to move forward.
Includes onboarding, guided ASIP planning, legal integration support, and representative orientation.
Physician Navigator:
Dr. Daren Heyland $3,450
The planning fee is billed 50% upfront and 50% upon completion of the representative orientation session.
If support is needed during a serious illness or healthcare crisis, advisory services are billed on a pay-as-needed hourly basis.
Current rate as of May 2026:
$240/hour for Dr. Daren Heyland
Navigator support during illness is intended to be paid from the client’s own funds, as authorized through their legal documents, so the representative is not personally responsible for the cost.
Critical Care Physician and Founder of Plan Well Guide
Dr. Daren Heyland is an ICU physician with more than 30 years of experience supporting patients and families through serious illness and healthcare crises. As a Physician Navigator, his deep understanding of the medical system, serious illness decision-making, and the realities of crisis care helps ensure you and your representative have experienced guidance and support during some of life’s most difficult healthcare moments.
Plan Well Guide Navigator and ASIP Specialist
Brandi is a Plan Well Guide Navigator, ASIP specialist, and end-of-life doula with nearly 10 years of experience supporting individuals and families through planning, serious illness, and end-of-life care. She brings compassionate guidance, practical planning support, and calm presence to the process.
You do not need to have everything figured out before reaching out.
The free introductory call is a chance to ask questions, understand how the service works, and explore whether this type of support would be helpful for you and the people who may one day need to advocate for you. No commitment required.
In this recorded Meet the Experts session, critical care physician and Plan Well Guide founder Dr. Daren Heyland joins Jill Chambers, Founder and President of Financial Concierge, for an important conversation about the realities faced by solo agers navigating serious illness.