The work.
The Death Tender is the practice of Meghann Coughlan, an end-of-life doula and Pagan chaplain based in Abbotsford, BC, serving the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland.
Meghann came to this work not through training alone but through lived experience. She was raised in a community that society wanted to forget, and her heart has never left those people; people who felt disempowered their entire lives, whose deaths were treated as afterthoughts. Her background is in health equity, harm reduction, trauma-informed practice, and advocacy, and it is grounded in the belief that you matter. Regardless of your history. Everyone deserves to die well, on their own terms, in a way that is meaningful to them. That is what this work is for.
She works with people in palliative and end-of-life care, people dying inside federal correctional institutions, and communities whose spiritual traditions and death rites have been historically ignored or erased. Her practice is grounded in a single conviction: death belongs to the dying. Every person has the right to die with presence, with dignity, and with someone who will not leave at the edge.
She has been doing Pagan chaplaincy and volunteer work inside federal correctional institutions for several years, and brings to that work the same commitment she brings to every crossing; that no one should have to die alone, and that how we die is as sacred as how we live.
Away from the work, Meghann lives in Abbotsford with her husband, a rotating cast of their four adult children, three cats with strong opinions, and a Great Dane named Kahlo who was named after Frida (she even has her own TikTok account.)
Meghann has tattoos, hair that changes colour with her mood, and a deep suspicion of anyone who takes themselves too seriously.
Spanish-language support is available, with the assistance of her husband. If this matters to you, mention it when you reach out.