Finding Gratitude in the Hard Times
Studies have shown that taking even just a few minutes out of the day for mindfulness focused on gratitude has measurable positive effects on a person’s mental health. Whether you spend that time meditating, writing in a gratitude journal, or with someone else, sharing thoughts about what you are each grateful for, there is a very high statistical likelihood that your gratitude moments will help you to have a more positive outlook, a calmer general demeanor, and an easier time handling challenges that come your way.
Caring for the Caretakers
We all know the importance of self care. Part of client care is making sure that the people who are caring for their loved ones have the time and the opportunity to care for themselves as well, whether that means getting away for an afternoon to do some shopping or just a couple of hours to get a decent meal and a nap.
My Favorite Mantras
I don’t know how many mantras a person is allowed to have but I sure do hope it’s more than one, because I personally have at least a couple dozen, some of which I have already shared with you right here on the IDLM blog.
It May Be Routine For You, But It’s All New to Them
As a doula, you should be paying close attention to what is going on with your client families as the patient goes through their transition. The concerns they have can only be addressed if someone knows what those concerns are.
The Gift of Trust
A commonly held view among those who work in hospice, or with end of life patients in general, is that most people who need to go on hospice wait too long to do it. Instead of opting for hospice care when they receive their terminal diagnosis, they decide to do one more round of chemo, […]
Summer Summit Spotlight – Emma Acker
Everybody dies. We all know this; as death care professionals we face this reality every single day. One of the challenges of death care work is the fact that even though everyone dies, not everyone has the resources to pay for good care at the end of their life, and unfortunately this happens to be […]
The Words We Say
If you’re reading this, you already know how important it is to talk about death. One of the things you’ll hear over and over again in your IDLM classes, in workshops and CE classes, in Death Cafes and here on this blog, is how important it is to find ways to simply have conversations about […]
Making Personal Connections
If you work as a doula, you have probably been through the experience of helping someone put together an advance care plan—or at the very least, you have taken time to put some thought into a plan for yourself. Which means you know how challenging that project can be. One of the first, and biggest, […]
Let’s Talk About It
When it comes to working with people as an end of life doula, the first and most important thing to do issimply to start the conversation. Once people feel like they are safe to talk about death and dying, theyoften open up quickly to share stories about their loved ones who have died or their […]
Whatever You Do… Don’t Panic!
There is a classic science fiction novel you may have heard of, called The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The book itself is not a guide to the galaxy. Instead, it is about the guide, which is an electronic device, a bit like a smart phone except the idea was thirty years before smart phones, […]
