What is a Death Doula? A Death Doula, or End of Life Doula, or Death Midwife is a non-medical and holistic practitioner who guides individuals and their families through the dying process by way of presence, support, advocacy, education, and companionship. Just as birth doulas support mothers birthing a new life, a death doula supports individuals leaving this life into the next.

Why would I need a Death Doula? Death Doulas are a calming and reassuring presence with knowledge of the death process, and a compassionate resource for families who may be overwhelmed and grieving at the impending death of their loved one. Death Doulas offer a variety of services to assist in the transition of dying, but are first and foremost a grounding, reliable, knowledgeable and comforting presence during a most emotional time.

How are you different from what hospice offers? We highly recommend every individual and family facing a terminal illness and end of life to call their local hospice as soon as possible. Though our doula services do not replace hospice’s medical team of nursing and physician care, we complement hospice teams seamlessly. We offer more time, more personalized attention, more continuity at bedside, more advocacy, and more availability beyond what hospice is normally able to provide due to Medicare guidelines. Our extensive training exceeds what hospice volunteer programs provide as each of us have faced in depth our fears and emotions around death. We are trained and practiced to be with intense and difficult emotions. Our full-time presence and companionship at vigil and at death, our advocacy in hospitals or at home, our coaching to customize end-of-life care plans for spiritual, physical, practical and life review needs, and most of all, our consistent relationships with our clients are not a service offered anywhere else.

When should I contact a Death Doula? Death Doulas can be contacted at any time during the end of life process. The sooner the doula can enter into the process, the more time can be spent getting to know the individual and family, creating quality care plans, prioritizing end of life needs, and creating sacred space and meaning for the individual and family.

Do Doulas charge for their services? Some do, some do not. Some operate as donation only, some have a specific pay structure like packages or hourly rates based on the specific services provided, some have a sliding scale. Regardless, this part of the client-doula relationship should be clearly communicated and established from the beginning.

Yes, caregiving for a loved one can bring us to a different level of exhaustion. Some of you are in it right now. Our current circumstances leaves us with guilt, frustration, sometimes even despair.  In some moments the thought continues coming back, ‘how am I going to handle this load?’ It feels like too much.

And keep in mind, there’s usually two perspectives, our thinking as the caregiver AND the aging adult. They find themselves in a whole new land, a new daily existence. In a place where one needs to ask for help and let go of the activities that they used to take care without a thought. 

Hope is found here, I invite you to embark on hope with us! We provide resources, encouragement, support, and practical tools…we know what it is to be in the overwhelming circumstances as we provide care giving to our loved ones. Keep an eye on our Events page and if we can answer questions or you need help let us know… we get it!