If you’re familiar with the word “doula,” you likely know it in the context of birth. While midwives, doctors and nurses administer necessary health care, doulas bring compassion, empathy and emotional support to the difficult work of ushering in a new life.⁠ ⁠ But just as there are doulas whose work centres on the beginning of life, there are also doulas whose work focuses on the end.⁠ ⁠ Death doulas – also known as end-of-life doulas – are practitioners who provide care for dying individuals and their friends and family members.⁠ ⁠ Like birth doulas, the work of a death doula is wide-ranging, and can encompass everything from non-medical palliative care for a patient – like bedside counselling, sharing meals and assisting in planning any final gatherings or ceremonies the patient may want to participate in – to working with the friends and family members to complete necessary paperwork and help parse funeral needs and expenses of someone who has died or is dying.⁠ ⁠ Through all of this, says Jennifer Mallmes, an end-of-life educator at Douglas College in Vancouver, and co-director of the End Of Life Association of Canada, a death doula’s aim is to make death as comfortable – spiritually, emotionally and, yes, administratively – as possible.⁠ ⁠ While more and more doulas join the ranks of those currently working in Canada, a new wave of individual death doulas are working to diversify – and modernize – the profession, aiming to address the needs of communities that they say have been underserved.⁠ ⁠ Follow the link in our bio to read the full story by Rebecca Tucker.⁠ .⁠ #DeathDoula⁠ #Doula⁠ #DeathCare