A b o u t
BACKGROUND: Originally an elementary school music teacher, I took time off to raise and homeschool my children. I founded a local homeschool support group and served in the state homeschool association. Meanwhile, I became a leader with La Leche League, managing the support group, helping mothers with breastfeeding and parenting, and training new leaders.
2010 TO PRESENT: My mother-in-law’s cancer diagnosis compelled us to move back across the country. The months spent caring for her, as my children learned about the process of death, were precious. On the day she died, her children and grandchildren surrounded her, visiting and telling stories. A few months later, my Granny died, and we were able to be with her, also, as she took her last breaths surrounded by a loving circle of family.
My other three grandparents and my great aunt lived out their lives over the following few years. My extended family made decisions together, took shifts for caregiving, and loved and nurtured the dying and each other. I sang and played my great-aunt’s dulcimer quietly at bedsides — even in the ICU — trying to make every moment count.
During the final months of my grandfather’s life in 2017, while interacting with the hospice team, medical staff, and caregivers, I felt called to become involved in end of life work. I joined Marin Threshold Choir and started singing for hospice patients, learning a genre of songs specifically written for encouragement, spiritual support, love, peace and comfort at end of life. I realized I had joined a unique group of heart-centered people, similar to Marin Villages, which I joined as a volunteer a few months later.
In 2020, I trained with INELDA, officially becoming an End of Life Doula. Later, I trained with Final Passages, expanding my knowledge of doula work, green burials and home funerals. I began volunteering with Sutter Hospice. And, through the myriad opportunities now online, I regularly participate in webinars and classes on doula work, music, and end of life issues such as Medical Aid in Dying.
I find myself constantly awed at the honor of helping people at the ends of their lives. I am truly blessed.
Photos shared with permission.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:
National End of Life Doula Alliance (NEDA), member since 2021
International End of Life Doula Association (INELDA), member since 2020
TRAINING & CONTINUING EDUCATION
Tending the Dead course (The Institute for the Study of BirthBreathandDeath.com), April 2023
Holding Space Consultant training (The Institute for the Study of BirthBreathandDeath.com), November 2022
Aid-in-Dying Training for end-of-life doulas, ACAMAID, November 2021
EKR Foundation 8-week course on Death and Spirituality, Fall 2021
16-hour Grief Work Training with The Institute for the Study of Birth, Breath, and Death, Winter 2021
Final Passages — Level 1 End of Life Doula training, Winter 2021
International End of Life Doula Association (INELDA), End of Life Doula training, Spring 2020
VOLUNTEER WORK & RELEVANT EXPERIENCES
Hospice volunteer — Sutter Health — since 2021
Marin Villages — Volunteer since 2018
Marin Threshold Choir — Member/Volunteer since 2017; Leadership Circle since 2020
Adult Children of Aging Parents support group facilitator — Los Altos United Methodist Church, 1996-1998
Stephen Ministry — Stephen Minister and small group facilitator — Los Altos United Methodist Church, 1991-1994