Collaborative Spotlight
Everything You Need to "Be in the Know"
End-of-Life Doulas are a busy bunch, both as a collaborative and in their individual businesses. 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 - 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.