About — Believe In Life After Loss

A B O U T M E

“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.”

Khalil Gibran

My life path has been one of challenges and self acceptance.

If the syllabus of life teaches us our most important lessons through the teacher of pain, then my experiences have offered me a wealth of knowledge. Through physical disability, abuse, traumatic injury, brain damage, and years of isolation due to the ongoing pandemic, I’ve built an abundant self-care toolkit informed by various techniques for the betterment of my emotional, mental, and spiritual well being.
I’ve learned how to understand my own nurturing.

It has become clear to me, in the times I’ve supported others straining under life stressors, that what I’ve learned through my own trials is one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received.

Few things have felt as soul fulfilling as being able to share pages from my book with others.

It became clear that it was time for me to hone and formalize my skills under
the guidance of people who have dedicated their lives to truly understanding
what a human heart needs through loss & grief.

START A DIALOGUE

Have questions, or just want to chat?
Reach out for a completely free informational phone call.

If I’m not the right person to help you,
I’ll help you connect with someone who is.

This changed the course of my life.

Taking this step led me to the CareDoula program, under the tutelage of Deanna Cochran RN, Bestselling Author and Founder of the original End-of-Life Doula Certificate Program. Deanna was an early pioneer of the Doula movement, and has pooled together a wealth of knowledge from her own experiences, as well as bringing together a community of Doulas from around the world to teach and pass on their skills to the next generation of grief workers.

In 2023 I accepted the position of Mental Health Crisis Specialist, supporting people navigating through severe mental health crisis and providing care to those in need reaching out for help. In my current position I help through offering people an understanding ear, guidance on grounding and processing techniques, while validating their experiences navigating the complex landscape of mental health. I use the skills I internalized from a life-long crash course to support people feeling seen, valued, heard, and cared for.

Loss, Tragedy, and Love are the universal languages we all are born knowing,
and yet so many of us feel unheard, unseen, and invisible.
In a world filled with those suffering in silence, I decided to be someone listening.

My Areas of Service

Loss Companion

One of the great universal experiences, and something we all will come across in our lifetimes, yet sadly so many feel lost in their grief, or worse yet abandoned. That feeling of being alone, isolated in grief, is unbelievably painful. And the thing that will help? So frequently, is simply having a trusted person in your life to reach out to.
As a Loss Companion, I hold space for your grief and the memory of your loved one. Loss can also be of relationship, home, job, friendship, no matter the loss I can offer compassionate care, coping support, and help ease the transition.
Legacy & Spiritual

Legacy & Spiritual matters can be some of the most heartfelt considerations to make for EoL planning.
Legacy looks like many things. It can be a book of recipes from a lifetime of pouring love into family meals, stories which can be recorded or written down for loved ones to cherish, finishing the family quilter’s final project, and so much more...
Whatever faith, practice, or belief, I work to ensure the sacred space of passing is honored. This covers pre, during, and after transition, detailing whatever considerations you want, what environment you want to be held in, and how you want to be honored afterwards.
EoL Preparedness

Wills, DNR’s, Dispositions, Family Heirlooms, approaching our End of Life prep can feel overwhelming to take on. I can support you through this process, whether you know for certain how you want things to go, or don’t even know where to begin.
There are 3 essential areas to consider documenting for ease at End of Life:
the Practical, Personal, and Ethical Will.
For a better understanding of what that entails, check out my videos to start the conversation with yourself on what considerations to make physically, medically, practically and spiritually.
Once you feel ready to get started, reach out to me and I can help you understand, suss, organize and make it official.
CareDoula

In person or remote support to individuals & families as they experience serious illness.
There are various support services I offer, including:
o Organizing personal & medical documentation, such as creating a care packet with a timeline of events, medical interventions, and complete medication details.
o Assistance finding possible methods to support day to day functioning, like mobility aids, grounding techniques, support groups, and movement modalities, personalized to your needs.
o Companionship, distraction, and a shoulder to lean on, free of judgement or shame.
o In person support for the every day tasks providing reprieve to those who never get a break.
When managing a serious illness, it is easy for the small things to pile up and become huge pain points. I know ways to help lighten that load so it isn’t something you’re carrying alone.
Disability

Learning to live with a new diagnosis or after a health crisis can feel like a devastatingly long road to be on, and a solitary one.
As someone who first became disabled at 10yrs old, I am all too familiar with this loss. And it represents one of the callings I’ve heard to be here, in this space, offering my support to others.
From me to you, it is connection with disabled community which helps lighten the load. I can work with you to set up personalized self care methods, offer advice, support & commiseration about navigating the world as a disabled person, and even help you find community spaces to connect with others who experience similar things as you.
I’ve learned a lot along the way I want to share with you. You don’t have to do this alone.
LGBTQIA2S+ at End of Life

If you have concerns about your End of Life preparedness as a LGBTQIA2S+ person, lets work together to do our best to address them.
We can:
o work on creating structure to protect your wishes from outside forces attempting to take control of your post mortem decisions, & discuss preparedness to lower risk of interference
o process a “death” of self with someone in community, related to transition & coming out, or are approaching the concept of “Dead Naming” and all the trauma that is connected with it.
o need help processing the trauma of existing as a marginalized & bigotry effected person.
There is something we can do together that will, I hope, leave you feeling more at ease than you were before.
Mortality Anxiety

YOU FEAR TO DIE?
"It's not that I don't want... I mean, I've always...
It's just that life is a habit that's hard to break.”
― Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man
In many ways, fear of loss, our own or loved ones, is simply part of being alive. Something we all share, and that colors all of our actions and decisions in life. That does not mean it is something we all carry the same way, or that it to each of us has the same weight or impact.
If you feel stuck in grief, or are afraid of what hasn’t yet come to pass but one day will, let’s start a dialogue about it. One of the few things I can promise is compassion & understanding.