Deathkeeper

What is the role of a Deathkeeper?

A deathkeeper, or deathworker or death doula, is a non-medical, trained professional who can provide physical, educational, emotional, and possibly spiritual support for abortion, loss & bereavement, and general death transitioning experiences, depending on the professional’s training, skills, and education.

Deathkeepers aim to make sure the client (s) have a clear understanding of the Death process.

A deathkeeper or deathworker assists the client and the client’s family in the preparation of the dying process and end-of-life planning. They are often hired to help guide and educate the dying client and the family during this transition. We keep company with the dying client, and we are usually available for both the pre-death and post-death functions, including end-of-life planning, vigils, terminal plans, some forms of bereavement sessions, and death anxiety navigation.

An abortion guide can consider themselves to be both a birthworker and a deathworker, and an abortion guide is able to physically, educationally, and emotionally support clients through the abortion process, either in a clinic setting or at home. A bereavement guide also can be both a birthworker and deathworker who assists families that are experiencing pregnancy loss through miscarriage, stillbirth, or a diagnosis that means the baby (babies) will not live long after being delivered.

I am also a deathkeeper/deathworker, and I offer Death transitioning services, Grief Support,Vigils, Dementia and Caregiver Support, and a variety of Educational Classes. In addition, I am trained as a full spectrum birthkeeper, which encompasses the full birthing experience from preconception through to postpartum stage; this also includes assistance for miscarriages, stillbirths, abortions, and child loss.

Note: Many deathkeepers and birthkeepers, particularly from People of the Global Majority heritages, prefer not to utilize the term “doula” because of its etymology rooted in meaning “female slave”, and doulas were often the head servant of a household. We are navigating away from that term altogether.

I provide in-person doula services in Georgia and surrounding areas, and I am also available for virtual doula services.

For more information about my services, then please see Offerings.

Services

What services do you provide?

I provide a wide variety of Deathkeeper services. These include guidance in Burial preparation, Home Funeral services, Grief Support, and End-of-Life Planning. These services can be made available for adults, children, or pets.

These offerings can be curated to include Death ceremony attendance and curation, legacy planning, major neurocognitive disorder and caregiver support, self-care education, grief support, genealogy, integrative soul work, spiritual cleansing, herbal education, crisis response, yoga, and meditation.

I also offer standalone Death ceremonies. These ceremonies include Life Celebrations (Living Wake), Home Funerals, Homegoings, Ancestral Wakes (Second Wake), Child Descendant Wakes, Animal Companion Memorials, and Familial Grief Memorials.

I also provide guidance with Vigils. I offer Bedside Vigils, in which I will keep watch and companionship with your Loved One as they cross over into Death.

I also can create Grief Support sessions for you during your time of Bereavement, and these can be curated for the death of an adult, child, or animal companion loved one.

I also provide Genealogy guidance sessions and planning. This is a way to explore the histories, medicines, and challenges of your Bloodline. I offer family tree curation and other services in the development of a plan that can explore Ancestral shrine creation, Ancestral stories, Ancestral gifts & challenges, and more for the purpose of engaging in Lineage work or just finding comfort in deepening yourself in the history of your Bloodline.

For more information about my services, then please see Offerings.

Of what do your vigils consist?

Vigils are created to the client’s and families of the client’s needs. I provide both Bedside vigils and more family-oriented vigils via Community Vigils as community offerings, particularly to my hometown of Albany, Georgia.

The Bedside vigils are for those that are currently transitioning into Death; I can be available to pray, talk, and/or read Scriptures if desired. I can also be available to just sit and keep the Loved One company during this critical time. This is a service that can be made available for one night, though additional times and dates may be discussed.

Community Vigils are for the families of Loved Ones who have died through violent means, such as murder or violent suicides. I offer prayer, meditation, and candlelight vigils on behalf of the family and Loved One.

Of what do your grief plans consist?

I provide interactive Grief guidance plans for those that are in bereavement from the Death of a loved one; these deaths include child deaths, parent or other familial deaths, pet deaths, friend or other loved ones deaths, miscarriages, stillbirths, abortions, or other birth and postpartum-related trauma. These plans may include custom conversation engagement, self and community care plans, integrative soul work, meditation, and more. Other additional services, such as herbal education, energy work, yoga, light housekeeping, and meal delivery, can also be implemented. Grief support for a variety of experiences or perinatal-specific grief support can be provided.

After a free consultation, these plans are customized to the client’s needs, and they usually start off as six-session bundles, although the length is also customizable.

Please note, as a Deathkeeper, Home Funeral Guide, Crisis Care Specialist, and Grief Support Specialist, I am considered a mental health professional, but I am not a licensed mental health professional or licensed therapist, so please seek out these services, especially if you are in need of emergency mental health care. My services are not designed to replace this vital aspect of healthcare, and I believe that western medicine can be beautifully complementary to holistic medicine with the right licensed professional available to a client.

How do your energy services differ from Reiki?

There are various forms of energy healing and there are also many forms of Reiki today. The reiki style that is most commonly referenced in Western society is Usui Reiki, founded by Mikao Usui. Usui Reiki, as it originated, was culturally-specific to Japan because Usui was heavily influenced by Shugendo, which is a Japanese Buddhist-Shintoist-Daoist mountain ascetic tradition. In respect for much of the cultural and spiritual context that has been historically erased from this tradition during its transmission in the West, I choose not to perform Usui Reiki-style sessions or attune others to this lineage.

Instead, I have curated energy ceremonies more aligned with my bloodline heritage that often include spiritual wellness, ancestral veneration, connection with other spirits from my familial lineage, African or Diasporic-based music, the tradition of prayer and laying hands, and a recommended energetic ritual plan for a variety of conditions, such as trauma healing, protection, dream journeying, creativity enhancement, birthing & transitioning journeying, death transitioning, and more. However, the needs and cultural considerations of the client dictate the content and length of the session.

Energy Work can be added to Death Transitioning services, Vigils, Spiritual Cleansings, and Grief Support sessions. They can be performed both in-person or virtually.

What is involved in the Genealogy bundles?

A consultation will first be needed to customize the Genealogy bundle. From there, we may research and work with a variety of modalities, including family tree curation, storytelling based on research and living elders, herbal education, energy work, dreamwork, and more. We may also explore divinatory methods, learn what arts and crafts you may want to explore deeper based on your bloodline, and also again knowledge of other messages, strengths, and challenges that may be present along the way.

What is involved in the spiritual cleansings?

A spiritual consultation will first be needed to customize the spiritual cleansing work. An in-depth spiritual cleansing of your home and the land around can then be performed, and a spiritual cleansing can also be performed for the area in which one has died if at a different location as well. Energy work can also be performed on behalf of the client and/or family members in reference to spiritual cleansing.

The time, length of session (s), content of session (s), and amount of sessions are dependent on information that comes forth in the initial spiritual consultation.

The spiritual cleansing may include prayer, light setting, water rituals, smudging, energy ritual work, plant medicine, tree medicine, crystal medicine, dream work, ancestral veneration, or other modalities.

In-person services are available for Georgia (United States), but additional transportation fees may apply outside of Albany, Georgia.

Could you tell me more about your dreamwork services?

I offer Dreamwork services in which we can dive into your Dreamscape together and discover soul, familial, and/or communal messages. We may discuss cleansing, boundaries, integrative soul work, trauma & recovery, grief work, genealogy, and much more.

We can work on one dream or curate a multi-session experience to work with the messages in your dreams overall.

The 30-minute Dreamwork consultation is ideal if you have one, no more than two, questions about a single dream.

However, if you have a recurring dream or more than two questions, then the 60-minute Dreamwork consultation is more suitable.

If you want to learn how to work with your particular Dreamscape in general more in-depth, then it would be best to book a 60-minute Dreamwork consultation for the purpose of a multi-session guidance plan.

The Dreamwork guidance plan is a personal series of Dream sessions in which we work one-on-one together for a period of 1-3 months or more. We will discuss cleansing, integrative soul work, dream journeying, dream medicine, and more.

General

Am I able to engage in your services?

All of my individual services are open to people from walks of life and all backgrounds.

Some classes may be specifically created for a certain segment of the population due to cultural or social sensitivities, and will be stated as such, and I ask that others respect the privacy and vulnerability of these spaces.

Where are you located?

I currently work out of Albany, Georgia. I may be willing to travel to surrounding areas and states for both Birthworker and Deathworker services, but please note that additional fees for transportation will be included.

How do I find out more information about your services?

I have included detailed information about many of the services under Offerings. However, please do not hesitate to message me if you need further clarification.

What if I am having trouble financial trouble, but I am sincerely interested in these services?

Contact me so we can discuss all of the options that are available. I do offer payment plans, sliding scale fees, and scholarships may be available.