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Soul Midwife

Approximately 150,000 people die every day, but how many of us have thought about how we would like to die?

Presently, most death happens in hospitals, care homes, and hospices. Many of us are terrified by the thought of it. So, we choose not to think about death until it stares us in the face.
However, the tide is turning, slowly as more people are talking openly about death, thinking about their own mortality, and exploring options for facing death. More people are determined to make death a better experience, not just for themselves but also for the loved ones left behind. More people are requesting to die at home, with their families around them, and Soul Midwives, are here to help on this journey.

“A good death is an extraordinary, moving and sacred experience. It can also have a healing quality, not only for the person who is involved but their families, friends and the wider community’ (Felicity Warner, ‘Gentle dying’)

What is a Soul Midwife?

I am a Soul Midwife. I am trained by Felicity Warner the founder of the Soul Midwives movement (https://www.soulmidwives.co.uk). I work with people in the last stages of life, enabling the dying person to die with dignity and peace. As a soul Midwife I provide holistic, compassionate and non-medical approach to end-of-life care.

“We all have a need to be heard, in our grief, in our joy and in our everyday living. This is what I do, I sit alongside people at end of life or people having difficulties living in the present. In my work as a Nurse, Counsellor & Psychotherapist, Educator in Personality and Human Relations and Interfaith Minister, I have met many people, and each person who has crossed my path has taught me a precious lesson: we all are looking for connection and to be recognised and seen in who we are.”
“Whether you are at home, in hospital, hospice or nursing home, we make sure you know that you and your loved ones feel loved and supported. I am able to tune into the family’s feelings around the imminent death and I can liaise between you and them at this difficult and emotional time.”
  • End of Life Companion
  • Assist with End-of-Life Care Planning and Funeral preparations
  • Facilitating open conversation
  • Deep listening and advanced communications
  • Leaving your legacy
  • Providing gentle therapeutic techniques to ease symptoms, feelings and pain
  • The four stages of dying
  • Ceremonies and rituals – Holding bedside vigils
  • Practical consideration after death
  • Bringing closure
  • TLC – Tender Loving Care Training
  • We work as non-medical holistic companions as we guide and support a dying person in order to facilitate a gentle and tranquil death.
  • We support and recognise the individual needs of the dying person and ensure that they feel loved and supported.
  • We create and hold a sacred and healing space for the dying person (whether in a hospital, a hospice, or at home).
  • We respect and honour a dying person’s religious/spiritual or atheist/agnostic beliefs and practices.
  • We work as non-denominational, multifaith practitioners who honour the dying person’s beliefs about life, death or the afterlife.
  • We listen and provide gentle therapeutic techniques, and ensure compassionate care at all times.
  • We listen and provide gentle therapeutic techniques, and ensure compassionate care at all times.
  • We ‘serve’ our friend. We do not ‘rescue’ or ‘fix’.
  • We give healing, using sound, touch, colour, scented oils, or other gentle techniques to alleviate pain and anxiety.
  • We keep a loving vigil.
  • We work holistically with the spirit and soul of our friends at all levels and stages in transition.
  • We support families and their loved ones, giving loving care with a human touch.
  • We provide comfort, continuous support and reassurance in helping a dying person to experience the death he or she wants.
Grief Cafe


What is a Grief Café?

“Grief is, at its core, the heart's longing for something loved and lost”

When we are grieving, we don’t feel like going out into the world and yet at the same time we need to escape our own bubble, our own house and loneliness. Grief Café can help you to shift your feelings and mental outlook. We do not overcome grief. We learn how to live with it. At a grief café you will meet people who have been on the journey or you meet people who are at the beginning of their grief process. Whether it’s a loss of a child, a parent, a spouse, a miscarriage or a friend it helps to come together and interact in a safe space. It is a space in which we give each other mutual support and understanding.

The Grief Café is not counselling. Grief is not a mental issue; it is part of the human experience. Everybody’s response is unique and some people do need professional help from a trained counsellor. Journeys of the Heart and Soul Grief Café is for everyone who needs a safe place to talk, laugh and maybe make new friends.

The next Grief Café is on the 5th November. It will be held at Maria’s place in Streete, Co. Westmeath. RSVP on WhatsApp at 087 2812543 early as places are limited.

 

“Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it” Haruki Murakami

A Death Cafe is a place where people can gather together in an environment of safe, like-minded souls and talk openly about the inevitable – Death. There is no agenda, no pre-designed themes or messages. Just free open discussion where you can participate, share, or just listen. The cafe is run by myself, Maria Van Zetten. I wanted to introduce the Death Cafe to my customers and friends as a way of opening up the conversation about death. Helping people to become more comfortable with their thoughts about death and perhaps think about how they would like to plan their own departure from this life. The conversation of death arouses many thoughts, emotions and fears in people. I believe that by having a more open discussion and exploration of the subject, we can come to celebrate death as we do life and birth.

Are you interested to attend a Death Cafe? Please contact Maria or if you would like to hold a Grief Café or a Death Café in your own home with friends.

Contact Maria

“Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance, you must keep moving”
~ Albert Einstein

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