It is my honour to live, work & play in the traditional territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Mississaugas.
Rates & Services
To me, ensuring that I can manage your needs and provide high quality care is important, which is why a 30-minute discovery call with me is always free of charge.
Celebration of Life/Funeral/Memorial Service - Service rate begins at $395. Event Planning and facilitation is available and priced according to scope of event.
My hourly rate for all other services is $75.00
Contact me for sliding scale options and/or pro-bono offerings.
Advance Care Planning (ACP) Facilitation
Advance Care Planning (ACP) - Your legal documents include your Will and Power of Attorney for Property and Personal Care. Your ACP can be included with your Power of Attorney for Personal Care or it can be a stand-alone document. It is not a legal document and no one can be forced to act in accordance with it, however it can help your Substitute Decision Maker (SDM) feel confident in the fulfillment of your wishes.
ACP is a process of reflection and communication. It will prompt you to:
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Consider the values you hold close, as well as your own understanding of your specific healthcare needs
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Learn what you can about any medical procedures specific to you, as well as what each one can and cannot do to help you
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Make decisions surrounding who will speak and advocate for you should you no longer be able to speak for yourself
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Speak openly about your final wishes with your loved ones, your appointed decision maker, and your healthcare professionals
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And finally, document those wishes
While these conversations can be difficult, they will provide those close to you with a sense of comfort knowing that they will not be troubled by contemplating how to care for you, and the process will also instill confidence in your appointed decision maker by empowering them to speak on your behalf. Lastly, they will give you peace of mind by alleviating those worries while you are living your best days. It is my aim to be able to guide and assist you through this process and in the creation of your own ACP document.
For more information on Advance Care Planning, visit: speakupontario.ca
Advocacy Support
There are many decisions to be made surrounding your end of life transition, and it is important to have conversations regarding these decisions to ensure that your needs are met and your wishes are fulfilled. During this process, I, as an advocate, can support you by:
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Helping you to navigate the medical system and gain a clearer understanding of your options
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Ensuring that you have a say in any decisions that will affect you, making sure that your specific needs are being met
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Creating opportunities for you to have supportive discussions with loved ones and healthcare professionals about death
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Assisting with post-death support, including the completion of any required paperwork
Caregiver Respite
If you are currently a caregiver you understand how you have to shift roles to care for someone who is ill. The very role of caring can take a toll on your own well-being.
Caregiver respite can provide an opportunity for a break from responsibilities whether it be for a few minutes to several hours. Whether your loved one is at home, hospice, LTC or hospital a doula can sit at bedside or take care of some basic errands allowing the primary caregiver to have a break.There is never a need for you or your person to be alone.
Compassionate Companioning
As a companion, it is my honour to be present from diagnosis to death and to assist others (family, circle of care) in the process. Rather than guiding and providing expertise, companioning is simply about being respectfully present, listening, learning, and honouring.
It is often easier for both the living and the dying to feel a sense of togetherness during an end of life transition, and, as your doula, I can provide this type of support to you and your loved ones, as well as to members of your healthcare team.
Funeral Celebrant
A funeral celebrant is a qualified person who officiates services by planning and overseeing funeral proceedings. Many celebrants focus on honouring an individual’s memory through a “celebration of life”, emphasizing how the individual lived, their vibrant personality, and the fond memories held by their loved ones. This type of ceremony is often very substantive and meaningful to those involved, without necessarily taking any kind of religious focus.
As your chosen celebrant I would work closely with you, your family, and your loved ones to ensure the ceremony truly reflects the personality of the individual being honoured.
Legacy Project Facilitation
A life-limiting diagnosis often leads people to contemplate what they will be leaving behind— their legacy. Unfortunately, it’s all too common to see these thoughts remain unexplored and, as a result, they are never actually put in motion.
Legacy work is the process of transforming these thoughts into action; it is the act of purposefully creating something tangible that your loved ones can treasure, whether that is a piece of art, written word, a recording, or something entirely unique to you.
This process provides opportunities for both meaningful connection between you and your loved ones and for deep reflection from everyone involved. I am always honoured to be able to be a part of this deeply personal process and to facilitate the creation of a memento that encompasses your essence.
Vigil Attendant
Vigiling with the dying means being peacefully present at the bedside during the final hours of an individual’s life so that the loved one is not alone. A vigiler accompanies a person from life to death.
In my role as doula, it is my privilege to be respectfully present during this sacred transition.
The vigil process can include: sitting together, talking and listening, sharing silence, reading, providing healing touch, and creating rituals.
Community Groups
The Goodbye Story Cafe - rather than a grief support or counseling session the storytelling cafe is intended to serve as an open,accessible space for sharing our experiences of death, loss, forgiveness and understanding. Stories or discussions are respectful, honouring our varied perspectives and experiences on dying, death, grief and bereavement.
Related Industry information Groups - an opportunity to learn more about living well, dying, death, and grief and bereavement topics.
