Introducing Endfull
The practice of finding personal fulfillment through our everyday endings brought to you by Keri Brenner, MD, MPA
Meet Keri Brenner, MD, MPA
Dr. Keri Brenner is a palliative care physician and psychiatrist at Stanford University. She was inspired to care for patients with serious life-limiting illness after serving at Mother Teresa's Home for the Dying in Kolkata, India on multiple occasions. Dr. Brenner earned her medical degree at Yale School of Medicine and completed a Master in Public Administration, psychiatry residency & palliative care fellowship at Harvard. She served on the University of Notre Dame Board of Trustees (2005-2008). Dr. Brenner lives with her husband and four young children.
What Is Endfull?
Endfull is the practice of finding fulfillment through life’s everyday endings.
Transitions. Moves. Health setbacks. Relationship changes. Career shifts. Retirement. Children growing older.
Most endings are inevitable; how we meet them is not. Drawing from years of accompanying patients at the end of life, Endfull reframes endings as moments of heightened clarity—thresholds that sharpen our values, deepen connection, and invite intentional living. Endings don’t diminish life; they can deepen it. They can bring life into focus, helping us author future chapters with greater presence, meaning, and integrity—starting now.
Endfull’s Core Concepts
Connection Over Perfection
Shift from success to fulfillment. Step out of a one-dimensional mindset of success versus failure. In endings, ask what is most meaningful and fulfilling.
Say the meaningful thing. When an ending is near, name what matters: express gratitude, offer an apology, say I love you or I’m here. Small, honest words create lasting connection.
Strengthen the inner circle. Identify the people who help you feel grounded and fully yourself, and intentionally lean into those relationships. Connection—not control or isolation—is what sustains us through endings.
Expand Coping
Notice your default. In endings, we often fall back on familiar patterns—staying busy, problem-solving, staying strong, avoiding, or over-controlling. Awareness creates choice.
Add, don’t abandon. Growth comes from expanding your coping repertoire, not replacing who you are. Borrow one strategy from someone you admire or try a new response alongside your usual approach.
Try one “opposite move.” When your instinct is to push, pause. When you want to withdraw, reach out. Ask for help, slow down, speak honestly, or allow uncertainty—small shifts build new capacity.
Embrace Emotions
Honor what arises. Endings often evoke a wide range of emotions: sadness, relief, gratitude, regret, love, and everything in between. Intense emotions signal that something matters, that the ending is meaningful and worthy of attention.
Name the emotion. Pause and put words to what you’re feeling—silently, in writing, or aloud. Naming emotions reduces their intensity. If it’s mentionable, it’s manageable.
Create a safe container. Choose one reliable place to process emotions without fixing or explaining: a trusted person, a journal, a voice memo, or a few moments of quiet reflection.
Contact Dr. Keri Brenner
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