In many cultures, death doulas provide assistance and care to people in their final stages of life. The doula’s role is to advocate and support. Worldwide, they are becoming more popular as an alternative to the existing end-of-life care offered by healthcare institutions. On both an individual and societal level, death doulas can bring benefits in a difficult time. Specifically, death doulas can enable a dying person more agency to choose the setting in which they receive end-of-life care, and eventually, offer a more comfortable, well-surrounded death.
For a long time, death doulas have existed in many racialized communities, including Indigenous and African cultures. An overwhelming majority of Canadians express a preference to die at home. A friend or family member can fulfill the role of end-of-life caregiver, not just a registered professional. The law doesn’t regulate death doulas, although associations and groups exist to train, register, and support the doula practice. For example, Douglas College offers two end-of-life doula courses, designed for those wanting to learn end-of-life care skills.
Students enrolled in the Douglas courses hold a variety of backgrounds and goals; some go on to work in hospice, others with individual clients, or in care homes. In partnership with the First Nations Health Authority, the school offers a modified course designed for Indigenous “community members who already do this [end-of-life] work naturally in their communities and/or regions.”
Discussing our mortality can be uncomfortable, even taboo. A doula can help a dying person and their loved ones be more open about death and grief.
Through skills and training, they can help people find some comfort and deal with a very difficult time.
In the next five years, Statistics Canada reports 1 in 5 Canadians will be over the age of 65. A growing aging population means an increase in demand for death planning and end-of-life care. Jennifer Mallmes, Métis end-of-life instructor at Douglas College and director of the End-of-Life Doula Association of Canada, told Tri-City News, “There needs to be more of us [death doulas] out there, working in the field, so that we can call on each other when somebody is dying and we aren’t available.”
Death doulas do not offer medical assistance in dying (MAiD). They are not licensed to administer an assisted death, but can help people organize their healthcare, relay information, offer therapy, and plan memorials. Sometimes, a doula will even be present and provide care during the death itself.
Nobody can escape the passing of time. The inevitability of death connects all living beings and should encourage us to be there for each other. As someone from a Western culture, I was brought up to think of death as something that usually happens in a hospital. In reality, more than 4 in 10 Canadians die elsewhere. We can learn a lot from Indigenous ways of bringing dignity to death. In doing so, we can change our own systems to a more holistic, comfortable, community-focused process.
