What I do.
This is not clinical or religious work. It is the work of presence, withness, support, and staying. Every engagement is shaped around the person who is dying; their wishes, their traditions, their people, and the kind of crossing they deserve.
No two deaths are the same. The work looks different every time. Here is some of what it can include.
Presence & CompanionshipIn-person companionship through the dying process. Sitting with you through the hard hours; without an agenda, without needing you to be okay. This might mean showing up with a box of second-hand dishes to smash, getting out into a park to sit in silence, or listening to you run through every curse word you know; or helping you invent some new and interesting ones.
Staying through the night. Holding the space when family needs rest. Being the one who does not leave at the edge.
Practical guidance and emotional presence in the days following a death. Help with what comes next, when everything feels impossible.
Helping you document your wishes, have the conversations that matter, and make decisions while you still have full voice. This is not morbid work. It is an act of self-determination.
Everything in one place; accounts, passwords, wishes, contacts, instructions. A complete guide so the people you love are not scrambling when it matters most.
Exploring alternatives to conventional burial and cremation in BC; including what is legal, what is possible, and what might feel most right for you.
Writing letters to send, or not, to the people you have something to say to. Unfinished business. Unsaid things. Words that deserve to exist even if you are not sure they should be delivered.
A curated book of everything the people who love you need to know; and everything they need to remember you well. Stories, instructions, wishes, the things only you know.
Capturing your voice, your stories, your wisdom. Recorded messages for future milestones; graduations, weddings, births. The parts of you that should not disappear.
Not about money or possessions; about values, lessons, and what you want to pass on. What you believe. What you hope for. What you want the people you love to carry forward.
Writing your own obituary while you can; so the story of your life is told the way you would tell it, not assembled from memory by people who are grieving.
What happens to your accounts, your photos, your online presence. Making sure your digital life is handled the way you would want it handled.
Creating a playlist for your crossing and your celebration of life. The music that has held you, that should hold the room when you go.
Designing meaningful rituals for the dying process and for after; threshold rituals, ceremonies of release, rites of passage that honour who you are and what you believe.
A celebration of life while you can still attend. Hearing what people would say at your funeral, while there is still time to hear it.
Non-denominational support for the sacred dimensions of dying. Whatever your tradition, your rites, your understanding of what comes after; they belong in the room.
Facilitating the hard conversations with family before it is too late. What you want. What you fear. What needs to be said before the window closes.
Supporting the work of finishing things; relationships, regrets, the unresolved. Not everything can be fixed, but much can be witnessed and released.
Guidance and presence for the people who love someone who is dying. Navigating the medical system, holding the grief, knowing what to do and what to say.