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What is a Doula?
The origins of doulas can be traced back to ancient Greece, where women supported each other during childbirth.
The word “doula” comes from the Greek word “doulÄ“,” which means "a woman who serves”. These women provided emotional support, guidance and comfort to women in labour, ensuring a positive birth experience.
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Today, many women approaching childbirth will consider enlisting the services of a "birth doula": a professional trained to provide emotional, physical and informational support to women throughout their pregnancy, birth and the early postpartum period.
What is a Death Doula?
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Death doulas operate on the opposite spectrum of life.
While less known than birth doulas, death doulas have been around for centuries and across cultures, particularly in African cultures where it was considered a spiritual calling, which it still is today.
This can be traced back to the era of slave trade where enslaved people celebrated death as a “homegoing” for spirits, so they no longer had to suffer through earthly hardships.
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In today’s world, a death doula assists their clients to deal with the complex emotions surrounding death or a terminal diagnosis, making them the perfect guide for, what doulas call, "a peace-filled transition".
Death doulas don't function as caregivers but can advise caregivers on how to deal with an end-of-life situation to ensure that both parties feel comforted and supported.
This can range from how to approach conversations about death or how to lighten a tense atmosphere, to more practical activities like, recommending legacy projects or assiting with completing a "purple file".
"Respect the transience of life"
A personal mantra that has guided me, even before I trained as an end-of-life doula
My Approach
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When you train as a doula you are made aware that you have been gravitating towards this calling for most of your life.
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My personal mantra has always been to, "respect the transience of life`'. It is only now, with the wisdom of hindsight, that I realise why that particular mantra resonated so strongly with me.
​As an End-of-Life Companion Doula, I am trained to guide you through the transition process of death, but I prefer to reframe the process as understanding how to live, and cherishing the time you have.
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So the mantras that guide my work as a doula are:
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Respect the transience of life, and in so doing to be mindful to leave nothing left unsaid.
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There is only one law in the universe that never changes: that all things change, and that all things are impermanent.
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Heed the Tibetan saying: Tomorrow or the next life - which comes first, we never know."
