Tag: death doula training

EOLPodcast

Ep. 450 Death Doula World Training Day with Suzanne O’Brien RN

kwyattmd

Learn about a movement with a goal to train 1 million death doulas around the world.

My guest Suzanne O’Brien RN is the founder and CEO of Doulagivers Institute and a pioneer in the global death doula movement. She was awarded Worldwide Leader in Healthcare by the International Nurse Association and named Humanitarian Ambassador for Oprah Magazine in 2019. She discusses her experiences bringing death doula trainings to an international audience and her goal to train 1 million people to be death doulas. Learn more at her website:

doulagivers.com

YouTube Channel

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • How Suzanne ended up becoming a hospice nurse and then creating Doulagivers Institute
  • Following intuition to find our path
  • Gaps that exist in hospice care, including that families don’t receive training for caring for a loved one
  • Why we need the Good Death Campaign to train 1 million people as death doulas
  • The benefits of having a “roadmap” for the end of life
  • How Death Doula World Training Day will benefit the end-of-life movement in Guatemala
  • What Suzanne learned about life and death on a trip to Zimbabwe
  • The greatest lesson Suzanne has learned from working with the dying
  • There’s a huge need for death doulas now and in the future
  • The need for death doulas to do community education

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, and thank you to Påivi Vallo for your donation on Paypal. Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

EOLPodcast

Ep. 441 The Doula Took Kit: A Guide for EOL Doulas with Diane Button, Gabby Elise Jimenez, and Angela Shook

kwyattmd

Learn about a helpful new tool kit that’s not just for end-of-life doulas but can benefit anyone who cares for others at the end of life.

My three guests this week, Diane Button, Gabby Elise Jimenez, and Angela Shook, are all end-of-life doulas who have teamed up to create a helpful guidebook for other doulas: The Doula Tool Kit: The Complete Practical Guide for End-of-Life Doulas and Caregivers. We’ll learn all about the book and how this trio came together to write it. Plus they’ll share some of their tips for doulas and what motivates them to do this work. Learn more at their websites:

DianeButton.com

thehospiceheart.net

AngelaShook.com

Get the book here

YouTube Channel

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • How these three doulas connected to collaborate on this project
  • Why a “doula took kit” is needed right now for new doulas after training
  • What’s included in the book
  • Who can benefit from the contents of the book
  • The power of collaboration and why we need more of it in the end-of-life field
  • Why the book is not just for doulas but also for lay people and family caregivers
  • Why some doulas for humans may also want to get training as companion animal doulas

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, especially my newest donor Jan Booth and to Linda Read for increasing your pledge.  Also thank you to everyone who has bought me a coffee or joined the $10 for 10 Years Campaign! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

EOLPodcast

Ep. 377 Center for Conscious Living and Dying: An End-of-Life Care Home with Aditi Sethi, MD

kwyattmd

Learn about a model for a non-medical home that is changing how we provide end-of-life care.

My guest Dr. Aditi Sethi is a hospice and palliative care physician and end-of-life doula. She is the founder and executive director of the Center for Conscious Living and Dying, a community supported end-of-life care home near Asheville NC. Aditi shares her journey toward working with death and dying and the creative inspiration that is bringing CCLD into existence. We discuss why the care home model may be the solution to many problems currently facing hospice and end-of-life care. Learn more at the website:

www.ccld.community

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • How intuition guided Aditi’s journey to becoming a hospice and palliative care physician and an EOL doula
  • What Aditi learned from her travels in India during childhood
  • What needs to change in the medical system to improve how people die
  • How conscious living and conscious dying are intertwined
  • Practices to become more awake and aware in life and in dying
  • What is the Center for Conscious Living and Dying
  • The benefits of community-supported end-of-life homes
  • How creativity can help us devise solve the problems we face around end-of-life care
  • Resources available from the Omega Home Network to help people start EOL care homes
  • How working with Ethan Sisser at his end of life inspired Aditi’s next steps to leap into the unknown

Links mentioned in this episode:

EOLPodcast

Ep. 323 Self-Care Tools for 2021 and Why We Need Them Now with Suzanne O’Brien RN

kwyattmd

Learn why self-care and love are essential tools to master right now as we navigate these days of grief, transformation and healing.

My guest Suzanne O’Brien is a hospice and wellness nurse, international speaker, and bestselling author. She the founder and creator of The International Doulagivers® Institute and the Doulagivers® Life Class and Wellness Membership. She has traveled the world educating and helping build training programs to support community-based end-of-life care globally. She shares the tools she teaches for self-care during difficult times and why it’s so important to love ourselves. We’ll also learn about a new initiative launching November 1st to train 1 million people around the world to care for people at the end of life and to live their own best lives. Learn more at the website:

https://www.doulagivers.com

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • How the pandemic has shifted our energies these past 2 years
  • How Suzanne’s Life Café met the needs of her community during lockdown and continues to reach people from around the world
  • Why we especially need to tend to our own physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs right now
  • Why stillness is important as we connect with our inner selves
  • True self-care requires self-love
  • A morning practice for self-awareness and care
  • Changing our inner world to be more loving will change how we perceive the world outside of us
  • The One Million People Trained Campaign

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu! Your contributions make all the difference.

A End-of-Life Doula Training | Doulagivers
EOLPodcast

Ep. 312 The Wisdom of a Deathwalker for Living and Dying Well with Zenith Virago

kwyattmd

Learn the powerful lessons that come from a long career of service to others at the end of life.

My guest Zenith Virago is a respected pioneer and acknowledged expert in the fields of holistic death and dying. With over 20 years of experience she provides comfort, information and guidance to assist people through the natural and the sacred, the inner and outer journeying as they come to the transition at the end of life. She is the subject of the documentary film “Zen and the Art of Dying” and the co-author of the book The Intimacy of Death and Dying. Zen shares the lessons she has learned over the years from life and death and what it means to be a “Deathwalker.” Learn more at the website:

www.naturaldeathcarecentre.org

Get the book here.

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • How Zen first became interested in working with dying and death
  • What has changed in death care over the past few decades since she began her work
  • Why each death worker must do their own work in coming to terms with mortality
  • The importance of being able to sit with the mystery of death and not knowing how to fix things
  • Why every death has an “equation” that is unique and needs to be understood
  • How sadness can become grief or joy and both are acceptable reactions to death
  • The one question to ask each person on their deathbed
  • Dying as an “inside job” and tools for preparing for it
  • Why dying well is one of the greatest gifts you can give your loved ones

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, especially my newest supporters Elaine MacDonald and Bruce Wadd! Your contributions make all the difference.

End of Life, EOLPodcast

Ep. 270 Sustainable Business Skills for the Death-Positive Movement with Kimberly King Wise

kwyattmd

Learn why workers in the end-of-life field can benefit from basic business skills whether they practice in a volunteer or for-profit model.

My guest Kimberly King Wise is a certified End-of-Life Doula and Home Funeral Guide and also has years of experience as a business manager and virtual assistant. She discusses how business knowledge and skills can help us create viable work in the end-of-life arena that will enable us to help more people and change our communities. We’ll learn how she can help us get our endeavors off the ground and lessen our stress levels as we navigate the business aspect of end-of-life care. Learn more about her work:

www.deathpositivebusiness.com

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • The challenge of charging money in exchange for sacred work
  • The mindset shift from being an employee to being an entrepreneur
  • Why creating a death-positive business is especially difficult in our death-phobic society
  • The one skill death doulas most need to learn in order to grow their referrals and help more people
  • How to work your way out of your paid job gradually rather than making a sudden career change
  • The importance of the Know-Like-Trust factor in educating our communities about death-positive work
  • Why we need long-term thinking in the death-positive movement rather than short-term
  • How “death’s big tent” has plenty of room for every model of care and service in our field so we need to accept and encourage one another

Links mentioned in this episode:

  • Subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Stitcher Radio
  • Check out the Series I’ve recorded in the past here
  • Join the team at Patreon.com/eolu and get access to the EOLU mug: “Mind if we talk about death?” (only Patrons can purchase it). PLUS get our new bonuses: the monthly EOL News Update, movie reviews from 2 Doctors and a Movie, and automatic access to A Year of Reading Dangerously!

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes! Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu! Your contributions make all the difference!

EOLPodcast

Ep. 268 Death Nesting: Bringing Together Ancient and Modern Death Care with Anne-Marie Keppel

kwyattmd

Learn how to utilize ancient techniques in caring for the dying in this modern world.

My guest Anne-Marie Keppel is a death doula and home funeral guide who will share with us some of the ancient techniques of death care that she utilizes in her work as a community death care provider. She is the author of the books Death Nesting: Ancient & Modern Death Doula Techniques, Mindfulness Practices and Herbal Care and The Death of Faefolk, a book for teens. Learn more at her website:

www.stardustmeadow.com

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • How Anne-Marie became interested in being a death doula
  • The two doula paths: ancient and modern and why we need both
  • How to create a “death nest” for a dying loved one
  • The use of herbs in doula practice
  • Creative tips for helping children deal with death
  • Suggestions for “moving with grief”
  • Why death doula training for teenagers is a good idea
  • How to use the book Death Nesting as a resource

Links mentioned in this episode:

  • View the cover of my next book (The Journey from Ego to Soul) here
  • Get Anne-Marie’s book Death Nesting here (Commission link*)
  • Read Yes! Magazine article on death doulas by Dr. Cynthia Greenlee here
  • Books by Victoria Sweet: God’s Hotel and Slow Medicine (Commission links*)
  • Community Deathcare Training with LaShanna Williams: www.asacredpassing.org
  • Find Death Doula Training for Teens here
  • Subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Stitcher Radio
  • Check out the Series I’ve recorded in the past here
  • Join the team at Patreon.com/eolu and get access to the EOLU mug: “Mind if we talk about death?” (only Patrons can purchase it). PLUS get our new bonuses: the monthly EOL News Update, movie reviews from 2 Doctors and a Movie, and automatic access to A Year of Reading Dangerously!

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes! Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu! Your contributions make all the difference!

End of Life, EOLPodcast

Ep. 228 Training End-of-Life Doulas for the World with Suzanne O’Brien RN

kwyattmd

Learn how you can get involved (for free) as a host for World Training Day and spread the word about how to care for people at the end of life.

My guest today is Suzanne O’Brien RN, hospice and oncology nurse and the founder of Doulagivers.com. She discusses how end-of-life doulas will change death and dying now and in the future and how she started World Training Day in 2019 to meet the needs of communities around the world for end-of-life training. Learn how you can get involved this year and host an event on 4/20/2020. Get more information at the World Training Day website:

www.worldtrainingday.org

Download Suzanne’s handout:

wtdtipsDownload

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • What is an “end-of-life doula”
  • Why death is not a medical experience but a human experience
  • How EOL doulas can help with the current and future caregiver shortage
  • 3 levels of training for doulas
  • How advance planning leads to a good end of life
  • How EOL doula training is useful for everyone, including teachers, navigators and hospice workers
  • Online training available for level 1 doulas through Doulagivers.com
  • Why presence is one of the greatest gifts we can give to patients at the end of life
  • How to get involved (for FREE) in World Training Day on 4/20/2020 – anyone can be a host; sign up by January 20, 2020
  • Where to host a WTD event and how you can benefit from being a host
  • The ripple effect of planting seeds about end-of-life issues

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes! Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, especially my newest Patrons: Joyce Miller, Megan Carmichael, and Lynn; your contributions make all the difference!

End of Life, EOLPodcast

Ep. 227 Approaching the Tipping Point: Looking Back at a Decade of Change and Ahead to 2020

kwyattmd

Learn how changes that began in the last decade foreshadow future growth in the death-positive movement.

In this final solo episode for 2019 I take a look back at some of the significant events of the past decade that helped to move forward the end-of-life movement. Then I share some tips and insights for continuing the momentum for positive change and increased death awareness in 2020. Find out how you can be part of the future as we move toward better care of the dying and the dead in our society.

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • Previous events that helped set the stage for the momentum of the past decade (e.g. Five Wishes, Green Burial Council, Suzanne O’Brien’s community training for doulas)
  • Major movements of the past decade that have helped shift the narrative on death and dying:
    • National Home Funeral Alliance
    • The Conversation Project
    • Death Cafe
    • Ask a Mortician with Caitlin Doughty
    • Confessions of a Funeral Director with Caleb Wilde
    • Death Over Dinner
    • Atul Gawande’s book Being Mortal
    • Recompose (formerly the Urban Death Project)
    • Brittany Maynard’s quest for death with dignity
    • formation of the EOL Doula Council
  • What we have learned from the natural childbirth movement
  • Tips for continuing the momentum in 2020:
    • Don’t wait – the time is now
    • It will take all of us to create change – form coalitions and collaborations
    • Create a unified message for the cause
    • Education is critical
    • Tailor the message for specific groups
    • Be in it for the long haul (growth takes time)

Links mentioned in this episode:

  • Episode 145 and 146: What the EOL Movement Can Learn from the Natural Childbirth Movement
  • Episode 128: Why We Need Death Ed for Everyone Right Now
  • Interview with Deanna Cochran on EOL doula movement
  • Episode 186: How to Bring Death Doulas to the Hospice Team
  • Join the team at Patreon.com/eolu and get access to the EOLU mug: “Mind if we talk about death?” (only Patrons can purchase it). PLUS get our new bonuses: the monthly EOL News Update, movie reviews from 2 Doctors and a Movie, and automatic access to A Year of Reading Dangerously!

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes! Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, especially my newest Patron Delana Schneider, your contributions make all the difference!

End of Life, EOLPodcast, Spirituality

Ep. 211 Doorway Into Light: Showing Up for Death, Nourishing Life with Rev. Bodhi Be

kwyattmd

Learn about Bodhi’s training program for death doulas on Maui and how to restore the sacred aspect of dying.

PodcastBe

My guest Bodhi Be is an ordained Sufi minister, teacher, guide, funeral director, and bereavement counselor on the island of Maui. He is also the founder and director of the International Death Doula Certificate Training program, which is going on its 4th year. We talk about the sacred aspect of death and dying and the importance of death doulas. Learn more at his website:

www.doorwayintolight.org

Listen here:

 

This episode includes:

  • Bodhi’s long journey from becoming a hospice volunteer to mentoring death doulas
  • Why people need to wake up to plan the importance of planning and preparing for death
  • How hospice care has changed over the years
  • Why he started The Death Store and what it offers
  • How death doulas are changing the conversation about death and dying for the better
  • The International Death Doula training he offers annually
  • His future vision of a conservation burial ground and a guest house for the dying

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes! Thanks again to all supporters on Patreon.com/eolu, your contributions mean  everything to me!