A Death Doula's Guide to a Meaningful End - by Jane K Callahan (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Most people don't know how to have a "good death"--but Jane Callahan does.
By day, Jane is a corporate marketer and mom, but by nights and weekends, she works with the almost-dead. As an end-of-life doula, she helps the terminally ill prepare for their imminent demise. And it has revealed invaluable truths about this temporary status called life.
Callahan peels back the curtain of one of our most taboo subjects and walks readers through various journeys of the dying. In vignettes that weave together patients' lives--and her own--this book will reveal to readers all the things they didn't know (or didn't know they needed to know) about our last great adventure. Along the way, readers will uncover knowledge on the raw realities of being mortal and how radical acceptance of the human condition can help us improve our deaths and lives.
Surprisingly funny and often cutting, A Death Doula's Guide to a Meaningful End shies away from absolutist advice. These stories depict how we live our lives in shades of gray--and how some questions don't always need answers. As an experienced death doula, Jane has spent years witnessing how our culture's resistance to talking about death has led to preventable suffering in the last moments of life.
This account of her up-close-and-personal experiences with the emotional, physical, logistical (and dare we say spiritual) aspects of dying shows that when we talk about death, we're actually talking about life.

Review Quotes

"It's marvelous. Callahan doesn't just deal in broad philosophical ideas but gives useful, practical, actionable advice on everything from how to engage in conversations that help people review their lives, to how to self-advocate for a better death (the only one you'll ever have!) in a medical system ill-equipped to have those conversations, and even includes details like essential items doulas carry in their bags. It's sweet, it's funny, and with real insight from the writer's own life and the experiences that led her to this work. In a society that still shrinks from conversations about death, the only certainty we have left, this book is a vital resource." --Erica Buist, author of This Party's Dead: Grief, Joy and Spilled Rum at the World's Death Festivals and features writer at the Guardian

"With heart and humor, Jane K. Callahan gently guides the reader through the topics that many of us prefer not to think about but that all of us will one day face. Through candid stories, both personal and professional, Jane shares her expert wisdom--earned from her many years as a death doula--with the warmth of a trusted friend. A must-read for anyone struggling with big existential questions about their own mortality or the loss of a loved one." --Mikki Brammer, bestselling author of The Collected Regrets of Clover

About the Author

Jane Callahan has been a death doula for seven years, initially completing training with the International End-of-Life Doula Association (INELDA). She holds a certificate in End-of-Life Planning from the University of Vermont's Larner College of Medicine and is also certified by the National End-of-Life Doula Alliance. She has worked with four hospices in two states, and currently volunteers with Transitions LifeCare Hospice in Durham, North Carolina. She works independently with clients and their families across every part of the end-of-life journey, from discussing funeral plans to watching someone take their last breath to helping those who remain process their grief. As an active member of the death care community in North Carolina, she speaks about the value of, and need for, end-of-life doula work at different events and venues. Callahan holds an MA in English and has been published in PBS's Next Avenue, Raleigh News and Observer, Commercial Observer, Reno News and Review, Next City, and Edible Reno-Tahoe Magazine.