What End-Of-Life Doulas Want You To Know About Death And Grief

Hokyoung Kim for HuffPost What Can Death Doulas Teach Us About The Art Of Dying? Garrett Ellis A lot of people really do understand the term “doula” in regards to birth: someone who’s supporting an individual as they’re coming into life. The culture that we live in is so death-phobic, so many people feel like their reactions aren’t natural, that their grief is supposed to end quickly or they’re not supposed to feel what they’re feeling. I wasn’t really involved in hospice at the time when my dad got sick, and it was, like, “OK, the chemo is not working, and he’s going to die in six weeks.” If I only knew, I would have had conversations with my dad prior to that moment because he was not in a good place at that time. He came off of hospice, and then my mom was, like, “OK, let’s plan that trip.” They were able to go to see the Grand Canyon.