Crossroads End of Life Doula Services

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I will be at the RaSani Fair Spring Expo is happening this weekend! Oregon’s largest premier body mind spirit holistic fair at the Linn County Fair & Expo in Albany from 10 am - 5 pm Saturday & Sunday. Be sure to come by and hello!

The way our society handles death and dying is broken in many ways. https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/

How to become a Death Doula eBooklet walks you through the journey to become an (EOLD) End of Life Doula. Available now - Scan the QR code for instant download.

How to become a Death Doula eBooklet walks you through the journey to become an (EOLD) End of Life Doula. Available now - Click the link below. 👇

@thejoyfulalchemist How to Become a Death Doula

New project!

What is an end of life death doula?

You may hear end of life doula referred to as a soul midwife, end-of-life coach, death midwife, transition guide, or death doula.

End of life death doulas are among the professionals who can help someone prepare for their death and reflect on their life, their greatest joys and regrets, any fears or worries on their mind, and how they want to be remembered.

End of life doulas are non-medical professionals trained to care for a terminally ill person's physical, emotional, and spiritual needs during the death process.

End of life doulas work in conjunction with hospice and palliative care programs to provide interpersonal, social, logistical, and spiritual guidance to the individual that complements the clinical support they receive.

End of life death doulas help manage the transition between life and death. During this time, a doula may act as a companion to the dying or as an advocate for the family’s needs.

By nature, this role is holistic and highly personal. Every death is unique as each death doula.

Each having their own life experience and background that they bring into their services, in addition to specific training and study.

Dena Swift of Crossroads End of Life Doula Services received the call to be a death doula, and she answered that call. Her background and unique experiences will help you to understand more about how she approaches her services for clients.

She’ll be at the RaSani Fair Spring Expo April 13 & 14 in Albany at the Linn County Fair & Expo Center booth 22.

Endoflifedeathdoula.com

https://www.endoflifedeathdoula.com/

Crossroads End Of Life Doula Services Salem Oregon What is an End-of-Life Death Doula?   You may hear end of life doula referred to as a soul midwife, end-of-life coach, death midwife, transition guide, or death doula.    End of life death doulas are among the professionals who can help someone prepare for their death and reflect on their life, t...

Making peace with dying: How death doulas in Oregon help terminally ill die on their own terms In Oregon, the first state to legalize physician-assisted death and supervised magic mushroom use, doulas and volunteers usher people through dying.

I’m proud to partner with Salem Health NODA (No One Dies Alone) program. It’s an honour to serve our community. 💜

Holiday host etiquette: If you’re inviting someone to your home and they’re grieving, be sure you’re inviting their grief to attend, too. It will be there, anyway.

Don’t invite someone with the goal of cheering them up for the holidays. Don’t expect them to put on a happy face in your home. Don’t demand they fake it til they make it or do something they don’t want to do, either.

Invite them with the loving intention of offering cheer and companionship and unconditional care during the holidays. To do this, you will need to honor and be responsive to their needs and emotions.

You can do this by privately acknowledging their grief when you make the invitation:

“I know this season is extra hard and your heart is hurting. You and your grief are welcome in our home. Come as you are, we’d be honored to have you with us.”

It’s also incredibly loving to honor the reality that it’s often hard for grieving folks to know what they will want, need, be up for, or able to tolerate at the holidays.

Giving them an invite without the need for commitment and permission to change their mind is extra loving:

“You don’t have to decide right now. If it feels good to be with us, we will have plenty of food and love for you-just show up! I’ll check in again the day before to see if you’re feeling up to coming over and if there’s anything you’d like me to know about how we can support you.”

Your grieving friends and fam need attentive care and responsiveness at the holidays, not plans to keep them busy, distracted, and happy.

If they’re laughing, laugh with them.

If they’re weeping, ask if they’d like your company or your help finding a quiet place to snuggle up alone for awhile.

If they’re laughing while weeping, and this is more common than you’d think, stay with them - this is a precious moment of the human experience that is truly sacred.

We don’t need to protect ourselves or each other from grief at the holidays. In fact, the more we embrace grief as an honored holiday guest, the more healthy, happy, and whole our holidays will be.

In solidarity, Sarah Nannen

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“Even the simplest of rituals is a way of acknowledging the unseen, the unspoken-about, the holy, which feeds our lives with its inexhaustible generosity. Ritual restores us to one another and to that grander coherence to which we all belong. Devoting your time to a ritual is like tending to a living bridge between the seen and the unseen, keeping that reciprocity alive.”

Excerpt from “Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home” by Toko-pa Turner (belongingbook.com)

Artwork by Saara Alhopuro - Art & Photography

Thank you to all who attended today’s Remembrance Ceremony. For the sacred space we created together to turn down the volume of the outside world, as we amplified the voices of our ancestors with love and gratitude.

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Mmmmm… the smell of fresh cedar… Our healing prayers and memorial table is a sacred space we have created to honor our vendors that have passed that are assisting from the other side this weekend. We honor our ancestors and the generations to come. Do you know someone that needs healing? We have a basket that you can drop off notes of remembrance or prayers honoring those you hold dear to your heart. They will be released through fire at the end of the weekend since we are still in 🌕 full moon energy. 💙💜🧡

Join us tomorrow for the final day of the RaSani Fair Fall Expo at the Linn County Fairgrounds in Albany. We are opening to the public for the first time our vendors drumming opening ceremony. Gather my 9:15am, we’ll start drumming by 9:30am then we open the doors to the fair at 10am. Bring your rattle or drum and join us. Then stop by the memorial table. Take a moment to send love to a loved one and feel free to leave a note of remembrance or healing prayers.

I’m here at the RaSani Fair Fair this weekend, Willamette Valley’s Premiere Body Mind Spirit Holistic Fair, Saturday September 30th & Sunday October 1st from 10am - 5:00 pm. This is Oregon’s largest metaphysical gathering, featuring 100 vendors and practitioners from all over the state.

RaSani Fair Fall Expo is happening this weekend! Oregon’s largest premier body mind spirit holistic fair. On Sept 30 & Oct 1, 2023 at the Linn County Fair & Expo in Albany from 10 am - 5 pm Saturday & Sunday. Be sure to come by and hello! Join me on Sunday Oct 1st at 3pm for my presentation ~ What is a Death Doula and What do they do?

Sunday 10/1 at 3pm in Class Room B

Join Dena Swift of Crossroads End of Life Doula Services for:

"What is a Death Doula and What do They do?"

Dena Swift is a Death Doula. She helps people who have discovered their time is running out, make the most of their final months of life. It is her mission to help people complete their journeys, in spite of a ticking clock. Some have dreams they need to realize, others have confessions they need to make, and most need to forgive or find forgiveness - before their time runs out. When they know the end is coming, she can help them live.

You may hear end-of-life doula referred to as a soul midwife, end-of-life coach, death midwife, transition guide, or death doula. As an end-of-life death doula I help manage the transition between life and death. During this time, Dena acts as a companion to the dying or as an advocate for the family’s needs. She works in conjunction with hospice and palliative care programs to provide non-medical companionship to the dying and their families to complement the clinical support they receive. Providing a wide range of holistic services, including physical, emotional, spiritual, and practical support from the time of initial diagnosis through bereavement.

As part of her practice, she also assists the living by crafting holistic death and rebirth rituals & ceremonies. By nature, this role is holistic and highly personal.

All you brave souls ready to explore your curiosity and fear around death and dying? Come join the conversation ~ Let us talk about death and learn about life.

EndofLifeDeathDoula.com
Find Dena Swift in Booth 58

RaSani Fair Fall Expo
Linn County Fairgrounds
3700 Knox Butte Rd E
Albany, OR 97322

Sunday October 1st @ 3pm in Classroom B

Join Dena Swift for:

“What is a Death Doula and What do They do?”

Dena Swift is a Death Doula. She helps people who have discovered their time is running out, make the most of their final months of life. It is her mission to help people complete their journeys, in spite of a ticking clock. Some have dreams they need to realize, others have confessions they need to make, and most need to forgive or find forgiveness – before their time runs out. When they know the end is coming, she can help them live.

You may hear end-of-life doula referred to as a soul midwife, end-of-life coach, death midwife, transition guide, or death doula. As an end-of-life death doula I help manage the transition between life and death. During this time, Dena acts as a companion to the dying or as an advocate for the family’s needs. She works in conjunction with hospice and palliative care programs to provide non-medical companionship to the dying and their families to complement the clinical support they receive. Providing a wide range of holistic services, including physical, emotional, spiritual, and practical support from the time of initial diagnosis through bereavement.

As part of her practice, she also assists the living by crafting holistic death and rebirth rituals & ceremonies. By nature, this role is holistic and highly personal.

All you brave souls ready to explore your curiosity and fear around death and dying? Come join the conversation ~ Let us talk about death and learn about life.

EndofLifeDeathDoula.com
Find Dena Swift in Booth 58

https://rasanifair.com/speakers/

Speakers RaSani Speakers & Presentations at the Linn County Expo Center, 3700 Knox Butte Rd E, Albany, Oregon 97322.

Gov. Tina Kotek on Thursday signed into law an updated version of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act. The original act, affirmed by voters in 1997, was the first in the nation to allow doctors to provide medical aid in dying to terminally ill patients. To qualify, patients had to be Oregon residents. The new version waives the residency requirement.

Oregon’s landmark Death with Dignity law now extends to patients who come from other states Gov. Tina Kotek on Thursday signed into law an updated version of Oregon's Death with Dignity Act that allows doctors to provide medical aid in dying to terminally ill patients not just to Oregon residents.

Proposed changes to Oregon's 25-year-old Death with Dignity Act could expand access A bill in the Oregon Legislature would expand Death with Dignity Act to apply to out-of-state visitors and reduce the waiting period for medication.

What Is a Death Doula? Meet the Specialists Who Make Life’s Final Moments Easier They tell us what it's really like to watch death happen.

Here is a link to Willamette Wake Up, Taking Charge ~ A Day in the Life of a Death Doula!

In this episode of Taking Charge: End of Life Options, we talk with Salem resident and death doula, Dena Swift. She talks about non-medical companionship services that she provides to the dying and their families. This is the second half of a two part discussion on death doulas. The December 2022 discussion was with the National End-Of-Life Doula Alliance.

KMUZ Community Radio In this episode of Taking Charge: End of Life Options, we talk with Salem resident and death doula, Dena Swift. She talks about non-medical companionship services that she provides to the dying and their families. This is the second half of a two part discussion on death doulas. The December 2022 di...

Taking Charge: End-of-Life Options in Oregon is a series on charting our journey at the end of life. The series is a collaboration with Compassion and Choices.
In this first episode Barbara Coombs Lee, one of the chief petitioners of the ballot initiative that created Oregon's Death with Dignity procedures, walks us through the history of this 25 year old law - the first in the nation.

Taking Charge. History of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Law – KMUZ Community Radio Taking Charge: End-of-Life Options in Oregon is a series on charting our journey at the end of life. The series is a collaboration with Compassion and Choices. In this first episode Barbara Coombs Lee, one of the chief petitioners of the ballot initiative that created Oregon's Death with Dignity pro...

According to one statistic, nearly 100% of us will die someday, but most of us avoid the subject, imagining we’ll somehow know what to do when the time comes. But will we?

Enter the death doula, a person who helps people die better.

How to deal with ‘squishy emotional things’ around dying? Death doulas can help Dying is a complicated process. Death doulas want to make it better. That can mean helping with your will, spiritual issues, or just a great going-away party.

When you die, don't worry about your body...

Your relatives will do whatever it takes.
They will take off your clothes
They will wash you
They will dress you up
They will take you out of the house and deliver you to your new address.
Many will come to the funeral to honor you.
Some will even cancel their plans and ask for labor to go to the funeral.

Your things you didn't like to borrow will be sold, donated or burned.
Your keys
Your tools
Your books
Your CDs, DVDs, games
Your collections
Your clothes...

And be sure the world won't stop and cry for you.
The economy will continue.
You will be replaced in work. Someone with the same or even better ability will take your place.

Your property will switch to heirs.
And don't doubt that about you for the small and big things you have done in your life will speak, judge, doubt and criticize.

People who only knew you face will say, ′′ Poor thing!"

Your good friends will cry for a few hours or several days, but then they will laugh again.

Your pets will get used to the new owner.

Your pictures will be hanging on the wall for awhile, then they will be put on furniture and finally stored at the bottom of the box.

Someone else will sit on your couch and eat from it.

Deep pain in your home will last a week, two, one month, two, one year, two... Then you will join the memories and then your story will end.
It will end among people, end here, end in this world.

But your story begins in a new reality... in your life after death.

Your life is earthly where you couldn't move with the things you had here will lose the meaning they had.
the beauty of your body

Last name
property
loans
working position
bank account
the house
the car
academic titles
Classmates
trophies
Friends of the world
man / woman
the kids
the family...

In your new life, you will only need your soul.
The only property that will last is the soul.

So try to live your life full and be happy while you are here because, as Francis of Assisi said, ′′ You won't take what you have from here. You only take what you gave!"