End of Life Doula Benefits
The optimal time to have that sensitive conversation about the end of life is before a health crisis occurs
What is an End of Life Doula?
An end-of-life doula is a trained professional who provides non-medical support and additional support to individuals, their families, and to the hospice team during the last phase of a person’s life. These lovely individuals offer emotional, physical, and spiritual support to a dying person and their loved ones.
End-of-life doulas are also referred to as a “death doula,” “death midwife,” or an “end-of-life coach.” These professionals create a peaceful and comfortable environment, usually for palliative or hospice clients, while providing guidance and education to assist individuals and their family members in making informed decisions about end-of-life care.
How Doulas Can Help
During a period of great emotional stress, the less you and your family need to focus on making critical decisions, the more you can fully focus on caring for a loved one according to the individual’s wishes. Developing and sharing an end-of-life plan in advance helps families avoid conflict about how to handle details and brings greater peace of mind for all during the final days.
Other ways that a doula can help during this delicate time is through providing bereavement support, assisting with legacy projects, memorial/burial planning, respite care, companionship support, assist with physical and practical care to ease the burden on caregivers, advanced care planning, non-medical and hands on care and comfort techniques such as comfort touch and guided imagery.
Offerings
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Initial Consultation|$50
This one-hour consultation can take place either in-person, phone, or via Zoom. This is a tailor-made session in which we get to know one another and figure out how I can support you and your family.
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In-Person Doula Support|$40 & up
These are visits generally in-home or facility visits with the dying person and their loved ones but can take place virtually if needed. These visits are customized and look different for everyone but generally include:
-Honoring and protecting the dying through patient advocacy, comfort care, guided meditation, creating and implementing a vigil plan, creating and implementing a sacred space through touch, scent, light, and music therapy.
-Honoring and protecting the family through family advocacy, education of death and dying, resource sharing and respite for caregivers. Hourly rates includes access to your doula electronically and by phone from 7a-10p; daily visits during active stage of dying and through death; bereavement and grief processing following death.
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Grief & Bereavement
Support| $40 per hour
The process of grieving can involve a host of different emotions including sadness, anger, guilt, and regret, and it can be helpful to have a professional there with you through the stages of this process.
A death doula can help with things like adapting to life without your loved one, working through regret about things you wish had gone differently, and sharing feelings that you otherwise might not have anyone with whom to share.
End of Life Document Organization|$300
In this unique, 2 hour consultation, we will meet to uncover and discuss all of the important end of life decisions. These are the wishes you have for how you will spend your last days and how your loved ones will complete your affairs after your departure. This level of thought and organization is extremely helpful in tying up loose ends and offering you freedom to maximize your participation in life.
First meeting includes:
End of Life Wishes-where and how you want to spend your final days, care, and treatment of your body, funeral/cremation/memorial decisions.
Advanced Care Plans-who you will assign as durable power of attorney for healthcare, your desires for life support, healthcare decision making, body/organ donation.
The second meeting is to review and finalize formal plan.
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Legacy Work| $300 and up
(Independently or added to end of life support plans) Doula will work with you and your support system to create and execute legacy projects. This included things like letter and card writing, video and voice recording, photo sessions, gathering of photos and memorabilia for memory books, and other creative endeavors. Legacy work helps deepen the exploration of the dying person's life and creates a physical artifact to leave behind for loved ones.