Grief, though a natural response to loss, is rarely discussed openly—especially with children. While schools cover a range of academic subjects and emotional intelligence, grief education is often overlooked, leaving many children unprepared when they face their first loss. This unaddressed grief can lead to long-term emotional struggles and confusion.

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.

Social barriers, stress, avoidance and lack of knowledge are leading to huge disparities in end-of-life planning and care in the United States.

Because of our inherent susceptibility due to the nature of our work, it's really important for end-of-life doulas and grief specialists to be able to recognize the signs of compassion fatigue and have some resourcing in place for how to recharge and process. It's also key that we have measures in place for when we may need to take extended periods off. Compassion fatigue is real. It's happened to me, caring for my husband Jonathan with Alzheimer's. It happens to people that I know who are working in the field. So what do we do about that?

When grief strikes, it's disruptive. There are changes in your brain, in the rest of your physiology and also in your emotional state - all resulting in altered behavior. Because you often don't recognize what's happening, these behaviors creep up on you in your ever-effort of pushing down or avoiding the feelings of isolation, pain and loneliness…But if you don't even know you're grieving, how can you begin to take steps toward recovery? Read on to learn some signs that you may be experiencing grief that needs to be explored.

You may think end-of-life doulas are only for the last days before death or at least when there has been a terminal diagnosis, but they can actually be engaged at various points long before death. Here's how and when they can help.

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