Collaborative Spotlight
Everything You Need to "Be in the Know"
Our members are a busy bunch and the end-of-life field is growing and evolving in wonderful ways. This page highlights what's happening among our members, affiliated partners, the collaborative, community & the end-of-life industry.
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Collaborative
Events, workshops, seminars? What's new with the Collaborative itself?
"While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die." ~Leonardo da Vinci
"While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die." ~Leonardo da Vinci
CEOLC Spotlight
Member Spotlight - Vanessa Johnston, Nicole Matarazzo, Veronica Wiley, and Sara Aumann.
Winter 2024
From Memento Mori, the official magazine of the ICCFA (The International Cemetery, Cremation & Funeral Association). Meet four end-of-life doulas: Vanessa Johnston, Nicole Matarazzo, Veronica Wiley, and Sara Aumann. They share about what the work they’re doing in Colorado and describe a movement of hope and support that is blossoming throughout our country. Between hospice and the funeral home, there is finally a bridge—a lifeboat to a calm, peaceful surrender.
Member Spotlight - Sigrid Swerdlin
Summer 2022
I grew up a little sheltered from the world in a small rural town in Germany. Growing up I only had one living grandparent, but I was very close with my grandma, Anna, who passed away when I was 16 years old. She always said, “If ever I end up in a hospital, I will come out feet first.” And that’s exactly what happened.
Industry Spotlight - End-of-Life Care Homes
Sumner 2022
End-of-Life Care Homes
End-of-life care is the term used to describe the support and medical care given during the time surrounding death. This type of care does not happen only in the moments before the last breath or when the heart stops beating. Older people and those with a terminal illness often need significant care for days, weeks, and even months before death.
Community Spotlight - Dancing Spirit Equine Facilitated Learning & Coaching
Summer 2022
Dancing Spirit Equine Facilitated Learning & Coaching is a gem of a service in our community! Jackie Hibbard, MDiv, the Owner and Coach of Dancing Spirit Equine Facilitated Learning & Coaching, partners with horses to offer individual and group coaching sessions, workshops and retreats. Recently, Cindy Kaufman, our President and Co-Founder, had the opportunity to experience a “Healing with Horses” Grief Support Workshop at Dancing Spirit, and she spoke with Jackie to get the story behind Dancing Spirit.
Affiliate Spotlight - Feldman Mortuary
Summer 2022
Feldman Mortuary has been serving families in Denver since 1936 and is the oldest family-owned funeral in Colorado. We are educators, not order-takers. Everyone at Feldman’s helps families to figure out what is important at the time of a death and to meet those needs.
Affiliate Spotlight - 4 Winds/5 Elements
Winter 2022
n 2019, after completing the rigorous requirements needed to add the “clinical” piece to an LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker), I made the decision to seek part time hospice work and open a part time counseling practice. I wanted to support adults experiencing life’s transitions, helping them to become empowered with tools and healing that would help ensure a richness in living that they may have doubted. I wanted to empower people to feel part of something meaningful again. To that end, I am also and End of Life Doula, and a Reiki Master, offering energy healing work to those who desire a different level of care.
Member Spotlight - Janet Reichart, LCSW
Winter 2022
For as long as I can remember, I have experienced a fascination with death, with the dying process, and with how people grieve. Even as a child, I was drawn to stories about end of life, and about the medical aspects of death. Somehow, even in youth, I knew that the experience of leaving this physical existence is a deeply sacred transition, one that extends far beyond the cessation of a heartbeat.
Member Spotlight - Sara E. Stewart
Fall 2021
After a stroke in October of 2015, Sara had to focus on rehabilitation. Her recovery was underwhelming. It was not until she realized she was grieving that things changed. Sara turned that grief into mourning the person she was prior to the stroke, and she began to speed up her recover process.
Affiliate Spotlight - Labyrinth of the Heart Center LLC
Fall 2021
The Labyrinth of the Heart Center, LLC was created to support families going through pregnancy and infant loss and grief in order to honor our dead and our journeys with them in unity and love. Classes are offered to support families by learning appropriate communication skills around death, using ritual and creative arts for healing, and strengthening networks and communities. Writing classes are offered to individuals who are seeking a modality to express grief and honor loved ones. Motherhood includes all of our losses at the Center. We honor each other through compassion, and work with the ancestors who have also lost pregnancies and babies from the beginning of humanity. All are welcome at our table.
Affiliate Spotlight - Skipton Law, LLC
Spring 2021
Our firm’s mission is to provide personal and professional service to our clients, and to excel in all areas of estate planning and elder law. We constantly strive to maintain a high level of personal service while keeping costs reasonable through effective management and consultations. Our firm realizes that clients are entrusting us with the matters that are most important to them.
Member Spotlight - Vanessa Johnston
Spring 2021
In 2015, Vanessa Johnston was looking for a new career. Her passion for teaching high school English had waned, and she wanted a different way to be of useful service in the world. She now spends her time as an End-of-Life Doula, a death educator, and an advocate for all the new options in the field of death care..
Industry Spotlight - Water Cremation: A Blessing for the Earth
Spring 2021
At The Natural Funeral in Lafayette, and now, at The Water Crematory in Denver, we have witnessed how meaningful it is for our families who choose water cremation.
As more people become aware of water cremation, we predict that it will grow in popularity and replace flame cremation as the disposition method of choice.
Collaborative Spotlight - Virtual Care and Support
Winter 2021
The year 2020 taught us that we must learn to adapt how we provide care and support as end-of-life doulas. Like many other professions, we find ourselves adapting to providing our clients with virtual services via telephone and video calls.
Member Spotlight - Valerie Nicholas
Winter 2021
Valerie has always had an affinity for working with older adults, and she attributes this calling to her loving and influential grandparents. Valerie has been a life-long professional working with older adults and has devoted herself to end-of-life care as a hospice volunteer, life-cycle celebrant, and end-of-life doula.
Affiliate Spotlight - Be A Tree Cremation
Winter 2021
Like many in this work, Emily Nelson stumbled into death care before it developed into a deeper calling. She was exposed to death early and often in her younger years, starting with the loss of her birth mother as a small child, followed by grandparents, and then the loss of a close friend to war during college.
Community Spotlight Colorado End-of-Life Options Act
Winter 2021
We’ve done the research for you! So, for everything you want to know about the Colorado End of Life Options Act, this Community Spotlight is FYI with FAQs and links to more resources and information. If you have more questions or would like to find an end-of-life doula who can offer care and support for those seeking medical aid in dying, search the Collaborative’s End-of-Life Doula Directory.
Member Spotlight - Kerry Arquette
Fall 2020
Kerry is the secretary and co-founder of the Colorado End-of-Life Collaborative, as well as the proprietor of End-of-Life Midwife. She has authored several books and is regularly invited to speak and teach about her work as an end-of-life doula, as well as a victim’s specialist for the Denver Police Department. Her most recent book, War Cries: Unheard Voices, Unmarked Graves, is a beautifully haunting collection of poems that give voice to the stories of many people much like ourselves who died during WWII. CEOLC is proud to feature her article, “Why Our Collaborative Is Imperative,” as we launch our new Collaborative Blog. Find out more about Kerry in this month’s Member Spotlight.
Collaborative Spotlight - 501(c)6 Non-Profit Status
Fall 2020
CEOLC Announces 501(c)6 Non-profit Tax Exemption Status – The CEOLC received its tax exemption status from the IRS! We are now officially a 501(c)6 non-profit membership organization, technically falling into the category of “business league.”
Affiliate Spotlight - Sustainable Funeral
Fall 2020
We are proud to shine the spotlight on our friend and affiliate member, Ed Gazdova of Sustainable Funeral. His patent-pending Alkaline Hydrolysis 2.0 and New Life Chamber offer an ecologically sound and sustainable end-of-life option. Find out more about Sustainable Funeral’s aqua cremation method in this month’s Affiliate Member Spotlight.
Community Spotlight - Rocky Mountain Life-Cycle Celebrants
Summer 2020
Offering personalized ceremonies for every occasion, these local folks co-create with you unique ceremonies to honor your milestone moments. Weddings, funerals, baby naming/welcoming, blessings, you name it! From birth to earth and everything in between, these celebrants can craft a ceremony that reflects your story and matches your personality.
Collaborative Spotlight - CEOLC Launches New Website
Summer 2020
This new website is the product of a dream to unify a community of professional end-of-life (EOL) doulas who work to empower & support one another, rather than compete with each other. We are always stronger together! Not only does this dream bring EOL doulas together, it includes many local affiliate businesses & organizations, our community & the end-of-life industry. This new model of collaboration instead of competition has the potential to change the way we collectively think & feel about death & dying—the way we live our lives to die well when that time comes.
Affiliate Spotlight - Laura Walker, Writer
Summer 2020
As a freelance writer, editor, website designer, and business marketing and communications consultant, specializing in strategy planning and writing, Laura Walker is also a flexible, quick learner and teacher who can provide many other skills and talents. She is proud to be the designer of the CEOLC website!
Member Spotlight - Cindy Kaufman
Summer 2020
Cindy is the president and co-founder of the Colorado End-of-Life Collaborative, as well as the proprietor of HeartSpeak End-of-Life Companioning. She is regularly invited to speak and teach about what it means to be an end-of-life doula. Her most recent book, The Mortal’s Guide to Dying Well: Practical Wisdom from an End-of-Life Doula, was released in May 2020. Visit Cindy’s website to see more articles, publications and interviews.