My role as a doula is to support you and your family/loved ones through what can be a very challenging time. Death and the process of dying isn’t one that many of us have much experience with, and to know you have someone on hand – someone who knows what to expect – to help you through it can make a real difference.
How can I help? Perhaps in Advance Care Planning and in making sure that the person dying has a voice and makes their wishes clearly known. Or maybe in providing a generous and compassionate listening ear when needed – something that’s easier with someone from outside the family. I can offer support in ways that are practical, emotional and also make space for spiritual issues too.
My own journey to becoming a doula started decades ago, really, with the deaths of close family members. I came to deeply understand the importance of ‘a good ending’ and developed an interest in learning more about grief. In later years, I worked as Samaritans listener learning the importance of providing space for people to express everything they were thinking and feeling, without judgement or trying to ‘fix’ anything. I have been working for many years with individuals and groups exploring how, for example, love or grief, could be brought front and centre in our everyday lives. Today my volunteer work at a local hospice brings much of these experiences together and has also helped me support two people close to me through their deaths.
I am now setting up a doula practice from Horsham, West Sussex where I support individuals and their families at end of life. As I enter the final stages of my doula training, I am also committed to doing what I can in helping everyone get more confident to talk about death – it’s the one thing we all have in common – and am in the process of establishing a Death Cafe nearby.
Please feel free to contact me for an exploratory call to see if I can be of any help. I’d welcome hearing from you.
Helena x