She’s a death doula
Ever since I started this website—or I suppose, ever since people started paying attention to this website—the small spark of an idea has been guttering in my brain: what if I could provide services to people who are dying, or who want to prepare for their inevitable deaths? Now that I’ve accidentally acquired so much experience with death and dying, it would be nice to put that hard-won knowledge to good use.
Of course, such a profession already exists: the death doula. When I first heard about death doulas, I assumed they only served in the hours surrounding death itself, creating a peaceful environment for people to exit this world and providing support for grieving families. Over time—and especially as I began researching for this site and my upcoming book—I learned that they do much more!
Death education (in that sense, I guess I’ve been a death doula since I launched this site)
Legacy work (getting all the relational/spiritual/financial/physical stuff in order)
Eleventh hour work (sitting with folks while they die and helping the family accordingly)
Post-mortem care (helping families with rituals and caring for the body—sometimes organizing and/or officiating memorials, too)
Intrigued by this information—and still toying with the idea of taking up similar work—I decided to take a few classes with the Deathwives. Lauren and Erin are two death doulas in Colorado who have set up a suite of online (and occasionally in-person) courses to help other people learn more about the work and how to get into the profession.
After a few intensive weekends on my computer (sorry, I can’t meet you at the bar—I’m learning about death!), I’m pleased to share that I’ve earned my death doula certification:
Just to be clear, there is no official certification for death doulas. If I wanted to, I could simply declare myself a doula and be done with it. But that feels too sketchy for my taste. I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking up this work without some actual training.
I’m not quitting my day job or anything; I have a lot on my plate, so I’m trying to make this career transition carefully and thoughtfully. I will probably stick with education, legacy, and post-mortem work, at least at first. I’m planning on doing some hospice volunteering to up my eleventh-hour bonafides.
When/if I begin taking on clients, you’ll be the first to know! In the meantime, I’ve updated the death doula section of the site with more information and some referral links.