When I did the seminar on Loss Grief and Healing, the Shell of Hope who supplied the qualified people to do it, were going out of business. But give time forty years or so… now there are Deulas or Death Deulas.
People who usually get burned out from the funeral industry usually started working with babies. It makes sense to go from the end of life to a new life. Doulas work with the dying and their families. They assist with the experience of death. They fill in the emotional gap between doctors, families and attitudes about dying. They are there to make the experience more safe and comfortable. They are not doctors, they are midwives of the dying and their families. They have no medical role: they are companions and listeners.
They fulfill the role that is usually ignored or misunderstood and assumed there is no help for. Usually family members fill in that role. But what happens when it is a new experience or their is no family to assist? What do you do then? That’s where the Doulas come in. Unfortunately insurance does not cover their services for the end of life experience. The medical profession hardly knows about them and insurance companies don’t recognize them. Though they are getting more involved with hospices.
I give these wonderful compassionate people all the credit in the world for bringing back the humane experience of what it was like in earlier times when death was a more familiar experience.
