Starlight
Doula
Helping to create a more easeful and meaningful end of life experience.
What is a Death Doula?
A death doula is someone who provides holistic, non-medical support for what may be the most difficult and confusing time in a person’s life- whether they are planning advanced care, navigating a diagnosis, or supporting someone else who is dying.
A doula works alongside the medical or hospice team to help make informed decisions, provide guidance and resources, and provide emotional accompaniment and physical support for the whole process.
I can also support with the death and dying of pets.
Serving Southwest Michigan.
With a calm heart and compassionate intention I am here to:
- Provide candid, objective and relevant conversation around death and dying.
- Help create a personalized advance care directive
- Keep all client and family information confidential
- Explore meaning making and realization of final wishes
- Create a plan for support
- Create rituals or ceremony to honor life and legacy
- Encourage participation from family and loved ones
- Supply a calm and intuitive presence
- Provide respite care when tired caregivers need a break
- Sit vigil during the dying process
- Use gentle massage and/or energy work to create ease
- Educate about what happens during the dying process
- Provide advocacy for the dying person ensuring their wishes are carried out
- Assist with wrapping up affairs
- Provide guidance to create a home funeral
- Provide bereavement resources
“When the sun goes down the stars come out”
– unknown
About Me
My name is Alycia Lee and I reside in Kalamazoo, Michigan. My death doula journey began several years ago with the deaths of some family members and pets. In realizing that I had a high comfort level and an affinity for being in the space of dying, I started to look for ways that I could serve in that space. I discovered that I could train to become something called a death doula, and in many ways realized that I already was one!
I began to research training opportunities and settled on Going With Grace for my death doula education and The Dying Year for my home funeral training. I have since attended several other conferences, trainings and workshops for advance care planning, home funerals, pet death and other doula related training. I now seek to serve my community by providing these services.
I host a monthly discussion group in Kalamazoo called a Death Cafe.
“A Death Cafe is a group directed discussion of death with no agenda, objectives or themes. It is a discussion group rather than a grief support or counseling session. Our objective is ‘to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives’.” – Deathcafe.com
This Death Cafe is an open, candid group exploring all things mortality. Often lively and even humorous, it is far from a morbid or depressing experience and can be immensely rewarding for those looking to ease fears and illuminate the dark spaces in our death-avoidant culture.
4th Tuesday of every month at Kazoo Books from 6-8pm
2413 Parkview Ave.
Kalamazoo, MI 49008
“For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.”
– Kahlil Gibran