Contemplative Doula and Compassion & Choices are thrilled to announce the full launch of The Community Death Literacy Project. This project builds on Contemplative Doula’s Death Literacy Educator training program by awarding ten graduates with funds to support the costs of their educational series – including printing costs, rental fees, and student supplies. The goal with this support is to build a deeper understanding of both health and death literacy, but also to normalize conversations about end-of-life by offering professionals the tools to provide community education, including Compassion & Choices’ End-of-Life Decisions Guide.
“As a community doula, I have long admired the initiatives of Compassion and Choices. The Community Death Literacy Project expands our shared advocacy efforts to reach gathering places across the country. We’re not only able to prepare educators to become sensitive and skillful guides, we’re helping to elevate various voices and make space for vital conversations” says Francesca Arnoldy, of The Contemplative Doula.
Contemplative Doula’s Death Literacy Course & Community empowers educators with the knowledge and confidence needed to lead meaningful conversations and events about living, dying, and grieving. ‘Death literacy’ is having the information and support needed to navigate the end of life. This includes understanding the physiological process of dying, recognizing what quality end-of-life care entails, being knowledgeable about deathcare systems, and knowing what related support is available – locally and virtually.
This knowledge allows people to make value aligned decisions, reduce fears around death and dying, and helps individuals and caregivers feel more prepared for loss.
“We know that 9 out of 10 adults in the U.S. struggle to find, understand, and use health information according to the CDC; workshops like this open doors and answer questions that can make an incredible difference in someone’s life, and their death,” says Jessica Empeño, National Director of Clinical Engagement at Compassion & Choices. “We are thrilled to be a part of this project with Francesca and the wonderful death educators offering this workshop to their communities. Our goal is to empower everyone to discuss their own wishes, and information to improve death literacy is a powerful tool to support someone in that journey.”
The ten Community Death Literacy Project awardees are working across the United States – including California, Missouri, Vermont, and Montana – offering death literacy programming through local community centers, arts nonprofits, and libraries. Copies of the Compassion & Choices End-of-Life Decisions Guide as well as The Death Doula’s Guide to Living Fully and Dying Prepared are featured texts.
“Stepping into deep conversations about our hopes, fears, and wishes surrounding our own mortality, enables us to navigate the often unspoken territory of end of life choices. We become empowered, transformed, and more fully engaged in our lives.” says Jill Greenbaum, who will be hosting the workshop in her area. “I am thrilled to offer the Living Fully, Dying Prepared Community Series, developed by Francesca Arnoldy and supported by these funds from Compassion & Choices, at the Suffern Free Library (NY). We will read and complete exercises on our own and share our thoughts in an open and friendly group experience.”
Compassion & Choices and Contemplative Doula look forward to gathering feedback and insight from the awardees and participants, to identify the impacts of this kind of community education, and offer insight and lessons learned to those who may want to offer death literacy events in their community.
ABOUT COMPASSION & CHOICES
Compassion & Choices is the oldest, largest and most active nonprofit working to expand and improve healthcare options for the end of life in the United States, with 450,000 supporters nationwide. For more information, visit: CompassionAndChoices.org.
ABOUT CONTEMPLATIVE DOULA
Francesca Lynn Arnoldy has been a community doula since 2009, supporting people through birth, death, and grief. She is the author of Cultivating the Doula Heart, Map of Memory Lane, and The Death Doula’s Guide to Living Fully and Dying Prepared. Francesca is a published researcher with the Vermont Conversation Lab and she runs the Death Literacy Educator Course & Community. For more information, visit: francescalynnarnoldy.com
Compassion & Choices
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