Death wasn’t something I ever wanted to think or talk about. It wasn’t that I wasn’t familiar with it. I was born into a very large family which meant weekends were full of weddings, baby showers, and funerals. My parents would skim the obituary section of the newspaper before making weekend plans. All this activity should have made me more comfortable, but I adopted the role that it was better not to think or talk about death, so that it wouldn’t happen to anyone close to me. When both my parents passed within a few months of one another, I began to understand what losing someone close meant, and I wanted to know more about the end. Life and death happen in an infinite cycle. A beginning marks an ending, and ending signifies a kind of beginning. There is also an in between phase; a sacred yet often sticky middle ground, a bridge. Death doulas are trained to guide people through this transition. Doulas acknowledge the importance of slowing down and taking care of our dying at home (if possible).
To learn more and understand this transition, I studied and became a certified death doula through INELDA. Their training kickstarted a new interest, a new way of helping others near end-of-life find meaning through deep discovery and memory projects.
End of life has a way of making us see what is really important. Why wait until our deathbed to discover our meaning and feel at peace? Join me, Carol Fennell, on zoom March 5th as we not only explore the role of death doula at end-of-life, but how we can use those creative living tools now for a meaningful life and a beautiful death. You can sign up on our website here.
Carol fennell is a full time artist, author and certified death doula. More information can be found on her doula website here.
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