What services do I provide as an End Of Life Doula?
Doula services are not just for people diagnosed with a terminal illness or people in palliative care. They’re for anyone who wants to plan a future where you are no longer here so that the people you care for are well-prepared. Doula services can also be for anyone who needs compassionate non-clinical support to walk you through your grief.
End of life doulas can specialise in different stages of your life; from you planning whilst you are healthy to what happens to you and how to support your loved ones after your death. The doula you choose will be someone who suits your unique needs and circumstances and thankfully there are many of us out there with different specialties. If I feel there is a doula who is better suited to your particular needs, I will always refer you to someone who is best for you because this work for me is about getting you the right care for you.
My services in the end of life space focuses on walking people through grief, educating and supporting people at any stage of their life who are planning for a death with dignity and ensuring their loved ones are cared for after. I aim to support people earlier on before they get to a stage where someone is diagnosed, actively dying or death has taken them already.
I’m your ideal doula if you need:
- Compassionate, calm, reassuring presence and grief support. Particularly with children, animals or people who have died unexpectedly or by suicide.
- Someone to explain complex end of life information to you and give you options to practically apply them to your situation.
- Someone to coordinate emotionally or mentally heavy end of life admin work to alleviate the stress from your carer or loved ones. (This includes referrals to celebrants, funeral arrangements, visitation times, communication plans, living wakes, emotional wills, or preparing a calm space for someone who is dying)
- Advocacy in the type of care you receive to ensure your wishes are honoured.
- Walking you through relevant knowledge to make better informed choices around your end of life care.
- Bespoke keepsakes or facilitating sessions to support you with curating meaningful memories with your loved ones.
As an end of life guide, my aim is to make the admin and coordination of end of life transitions as painless and stress-less as possible.
Detailed Scope of Services
Select below to read more about each aspect of how I can help.
Education: Empowering you to make informed decisions.
📚 Educational resources to support your knowledge of death and dying.
📚 Assisting you with knowing what your choices are for your Advanced Care Directives in your state so if or when you are in a situation where you cannot advocate for yourself anymore, there is a plan in place for what happens.
📚 Assisting you in knowing what your rights and options are for your death.
📚 Advocating and empowering you with knowledge about dying and what your rights and what your options are for a home death or voluntary assisted dying (VAD).
📚 Helping you understand what support is available and offer referrals to you and your loved ones to appropriate services such as grief counselling, funeral planners, celebrants, etc.
Administration Support: Coordinating anything I can to make more time and space for you to connect with your loved ones.
🤝 Supporting you with Advance Care Planning.
🤝 Supporting you with recording your Emotional Will/Death Plans (e.g. bucket lists, what you want your funeral to look like, what we can do to help loved ones understand what your wants and needs are with an unbiased and open heart.)
🤝 Supporting you in creating a communication plan to your loved ones.
🤝 Coordinating final farewells in a way that alleviates pressure from your loved ones.
Emotional and Spiritual Support: Being there for you and your loved ones.
💕 Providing emotional support/companionship for you and your chosen people as you are navigating the process of illness, grief and dying.
💕 Help create a space that is warm, familiar and as comfortable as possible.
💕 Planning and holding bedside vigils.
💕 Arranging living wakes.
💕 Organising spiritual care from your religion/belief.
💕 Applying mental health first aid to support you and your chosen people.
💕 Providing details to mental health or grief support services in your area.
Memorialising: Preserving your memories and your legacy.
A specialty of mine is the ability to provide unique and personalised options for you and your loved ones to make and preserve memories together. Examples of keepsakes include:
💌 Recording a video of your wishes/messages for family to keep with a custom designed card to access their loved ones’ voice (You can choose the media and storage options, I can also email the files to you),
💌 Letter collection and distribution.
💌 Legacy writing or building a Book of Life to add photos and notes that document personal values, life lessons, and significant events in your life so your family and their future families have the stories of who you were.
💌 Building a recipe book for your family to remember you by.
💌 Arranging aftercare/self care parcels for the family tailored by you.
Rates for Doula Services
Initial Consultation
Free
Recommended for finding out more about you and how best I can support you.
✓ 30 minutes
✓ Phone/online consult
✓ Understanding your individual needs
✓ No obligation to continue
Standard Rate
$66/Hour
Recommended for general end of life admin support or consultations for planning.
✓ Telephone/online support sessions
(In-person also available for Wangaratta Area)
✓ Supporting administrative work, such as communication plans or walking you through options in your state for advanced care planning.
✓ Companionship/Emotional support
✓ Respite for carers to have time for self care
Packages
Lotus: 8 Hours
$462 (Save $66)
Use in one day or over a flexible period of time.
This amount of hours is recommended for:
✓ Using hours to support or consult for information as required (Prioritised over hourly rate bookings)
✓ Coordinating final farewells or bedside vigils
✓ Companionship or emotional support
✓ Respite for carers to have time for self care
✓ Recording your comfort care wishes, emotional will, or specific funeral plans
✓ Creating a comfortable atmosphere in the bedroom or palliative care room
✓ Support/death planning sessions
Helping Hands: 12 Hours
$692 (Save $100)
Use over a flexible period of time.
This amount of hours is recommended for:
✓ Anything in Lotus that you feel needs extra support with your unique situation or if you have complex needs
✓ Arranging and holding living wakes
✓ Arranging final travel plans or unique experiences
✓ Arranging complex family communication plans
✓ Mediating/facilitating complex discussions that may need multiple sessions
✓ Organising regular spiritual support