Holding Space:
In a movement to embrace death, end-of-life doulas grow in popularity
Story by Kara Mason, Managing Editor - May 16, 2021
CEOLC Contribution: Quotes by Cindy Kaufman, president of the Colorado End of Life Collaborative
“You’re drawn to it because either you have a curiosity or an experience,” she said.
Kaufman and a small group of other doulas organized the collaborative because they saw a need for a common place for people working in the field. Somewhere they could connect services if they needed or just have a support system. The community has been steadily growing over the years, but Kaufman said she really saw an uptick about three years ago.
That’s in part due to a growing “death positive” movement, she said, which is largely credited to Los Angeles-based writer, activist and mortician Caitlin Doughty. In 2011, Doughty started a collective called The Order of the Good Death, which became a foundation for much of the crusade to see death in a brighter light.
