What Do Death Doulas Do?

I often get asked what a death doula is and how I support people. Although death doulas are a relatively new profession, truthfully, we’ve been doing this work for many generations, as the family’s women historically provided deathcare. Death doulas help people transition from Earth to beyond, similarly to how birth doulas help babies transition from beyond to Earth.

Death, like birth, requires time to prepare for the transition that will take place. For most of us, death is not sudden, which means we have time to accept the idea that this life is ending here on Earth. What is beyond none of us living here now can know one hundred percent, but whatever you believe can possibly help or hinder the transition process.

When someone has a strong faith or belief in what is beyond this life, and it feels positive, their process can be moved through with greater ease emotionally and intellectually. This is not to say that only people with strong faith can transition into death easily. Some will find peace with other beliefs or none at all. A good death doula has no agenda for your beliefs about how you should think, feel, or what you should do to prepare for death.

Because our society has dramatically changed how we relate to and approach death in the last 50–100 years, we have created more fears around death and dying. So, too, we have seen a considerable…