I'm making a tough decision as a passionate death doula...
In order to serve my mental health counseling clients & grow my clinical practice, I am not currently welcoming any clients seeking end-of-life care.
This choice, made with careful consideration, honors my current capacity in this season of my life…which includes becoming a mother!
I began my journey into grief counseling through hospice chaplaincy and death doulaship; the field of end-of-life care always was, and always will be deeply special to me. Right now, I’m feeling most called to focus my time and energy into my clinical counseling work.
But I haven’t lost my love of or devotion to end-of-life care. In order to continue to serve my community, I’m leaning on my network of end-of-life resources and local death doulas. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to them with any and all questions regarding end-of-life support.
What's death care? What's a death doula? How does this help?
Death care can look like many different things:
- End-of-life planning…shortly after or long before receiving a terminal diagnosis. This includes making decisions about your medical care preferences or what you’d like done with your body after you die. (Sometimes this is called “getting your affairs in order.”)
- Grief support...for after a death has occurred. (Note: grief isn’t exclusively tied to death-related loss)
- Navigating the hospice system…with a knowledgeable guide who helps you know what questions to ask in a confusing and tender time.
- Legacy work…to gather the threads of meaning and purpose interwoven within every human’s life story.
- In-person bedside companionship…for when a death is near.
A death doula is a trained guide who helps facilitate some or all of the above. A doula is non-medical and non-clinical, which means the doula will never prescribe, treat, or administer medications. Because of this, death doulas are not a substitute for hospice care. Instead, both hospice and doulas make up a continuum of holistic, person-centered care that addresses the unique needs that arise at the end of a life.
Death care partners & resources I recommend
This list is evolving and growing!
Niki DiGaetano, Numbered Days Death Care
Death Doula serving Salt Lake City, Utah & the surrounding areas
Services offered:
- Death Doula care
- Grief support
- Obituary + eulogy writing
- Book creation: telling a life story through a printed, published book
- Funeral guide
- Website + brand creation for death workers
Instagram: @numbered days.doula
Your Life Legacy
About: Most people wait until their loved ones have passed away to publicly celebrate their lives. We help families celebrate their loved ones before they are gone and share their legacies meaningfully for generations to come. In this same way, we help successful business and community leaders share their legacies now instead of at the end of their careers.
Instagram: @yourlifelegacy