What is a grief-informed end-of-life specialist?
Grief-informed end-of-life specialists are a catalyst of death-positive experiences for all involved - whether they be clients, loved ones or other professionals. Learn about how grief-informed end-of-life specialists are raising the bar on end-of-life and grief care, raising grief and end-of-life literacy AND empowering those facing death and loss.
What is a grief-informed end-of-life specialist?
Grief-informed end-of-life specialists take a special approach to guiding clients through experiences of death. With an in-depth knowledge of how to facilitate the natural process of grieving, they support individuals and those close to them in a way that reduces the unnecessary harm that is often the result of grief myths and unhealthy grieving practices. They offer personalized grief support and resources on grief to help prepare everyone on how to navigate the grief.
What are the possible benefits of grief-informed end-of-life care?
By supporting the dying, their families, friends and caregivers, our doulas are able to walk with those facing the end-of-life process in a way that encourages the most empowering and peaceful outcomes possible. Holly Strelzik, seasoned end-of-life doula, explains: “not only does this help the individual, but it also plays out for their families, those involved in their lives – when there is an unpeaceful death or uncompleted grief after a loss, it ripples out and affects our society and ultimately humanity in far-reaching ways that we cannot even really fathom. What would the world be like if we could start to shine a light into some of these dark places and impart just a little peace. A little understanding.”
End-of-Life Literacy: What is end-of-life care?
A recent study (Rawlings et al, 2023) conducted a series of interviews with families on their experiences after engaging a “death doula” for the person they've just lost. “The most valuable attribute the families gained from death doulas was an increase in death literacy resulting in personal empowerment. Empowerment enabled positive end-of-life experiences for the family and personalised deaths for the patient. A novel finding was that the connections and knowledge shared between the death doula and family had a resonant effect, resulting in families being more comfortable with death and keen to share their knowledge with others. Therefore, family engagement of a death doula led to an increase in community awareness around death and dying.”
This is no news for us here at Center for the Heart, where we seek to facilitate empowerment and death positive experiences for everyone we encounter.
So what does end-of-life doula care look like? We've come to define four overarching types of engagements.
BUT, no two scenarios are alike. Each situation involves different needs and asks, and EOLD care is incredibly personalized.
Engagements can be more sporadic, long-term or take all kinds of forms.
In essence, end-of-life doulas filter out needs and wants through active listening, just being a heart with ears and then taking our skills and resources to make the individual and their loved ones as comfortable as possible.
They facilitate communication between all parties involved - whether professional or personal. That same November 2023 study from the Journal in Palliative Care and Social Practice further explains just how beneficial having end-of-life doula care can be: “Family members' experience with a death doula was overwhelmingly positive, empowering them practically and emotionally to deliver the best end-of-life care…Furthermore, the relationships formed between doulas and families have the potential for a lasting, resonant effect” (Rawlings et al).
Why did Center for the Heart begin offering grief-informed end-of-life care?
Center for the Heart EOLDs bring a unique grief-informed perspective to reduce harm and facilitate a healthy grieving process. We seek to provide grief-informed end-of-life doula care for anyone in need of support. This may include assistance with complex logistical and relational issues; planning; death vigil; as well as ongoing emotional, spiritual, and grief support. In order to fulfill this mission, we continue to seek volunteers, donations and sponsors so that we are able to serve as many as possible!
After years of working as an end-of-life doula, our Founder and President Holly Strelzik noticed how being present for those at the end of their life, offering choices and accompanying them through their grief journeys was so important in order for them to have a peaceful life thereafter. Working with the grief of individuals in urban areas made it even more poignant to Holly how rampant, unadressed and misunderstood grief affects our society. “I couldn’t ignore its effects and felt compelled to bring awareness to how badly loss and grief needed to be addressed at a societal level” Strelzik describes.
Looking for grief-informed end-of-life care services?
We are amazing resources for your end-of-life planning - not only in terms of near death decisions, but also for more advanced planning. A good place to start is our free End-of-Life Care Planning Guide, which can help guide you through these important decisions. You can also schedule a Free Consult to learn about our End-of-Life doula services. You'll discuss how an end-of-life specialist could fit into your current needs and situation. Schedule here>>
Making Access to Grief-Informed End-of-Life Care Equitable and Standard
We are dedicated to providing end-of-life support to ALL people. Help us raise the bar on care for those facing loss and death?
There are so many ways to get involved:
Donations to Center for the Heart
One hundred percent of every donation received by Center for the Heart helps us provide critical end-of-life services and compassionate grief support services FREE of charge or discounted to anyone struggling to cover the cost! There are a few key ways to give:
Make a one-time gift - Donate now!
Become a founding donor in our Tapestry of Life Launch Campaign! - Find Out How to Help Us Launch Our Vital Services
Sponsor an event - learn more here!
Volunteering at Center for the Heart
Volunteers are the heart of what we do, and there are three key ways to be involved at Center for the Heart
One-Time Volunteer Opportunities - See our individual volunteer needs here!
Committees - Find out how to join a Center for the Heart committee. We need your help!
Special Skills Volunteers - If you have special skills to share, please consider giving your time and talent. More information here!
Joining the Center for the Heart Community on Email and Social
Following us and signing up for our email list is a great way to begin getting involved with the Center! You'll be exposed to lots of enriching information that can increase your own grief and death literacy, in addition to knowing about the Center's programs, mission and all of our volunteer and fundraising opportunities. Join our email community and socials now!
Spreading the Word about Center for the Heart
Telling others about Center for the Heart is an amazing way to ensure that we move closer to our mission of providing compassionate care before, during and after death! If you know of anyone who may benefit from the Center's services or who could help the Center in fundraising, volunteering, partnerships or any other way, please share our info!
