Meet Marisa
Marisa has trained with Kristoffer Hughes, Death Midwifery, William Bloom's 'Passing Over', 'Creating a Graceful Death' and 'Transfer of Consciousness' and with Felicity Warner on her Soul Midwives training. She has also attended workshops with Stephen Jenkinson, who was her initial influence upon embarking on this work. She has been a Facilitator of Death Cafe Glastonbury .
She has previously volunteered at Weston Hospice care, Somerset as a companion, and with Marie Curie, based at Musgrove Hospital, Somerset, as a helper and also a companion offering emotional and practical support for adult in-patients who are in their final days or hours of life. She also completed her Funeral Celebrant training with the Fellowship of Professional Celebrants early in 2015.
Marisa's strong interest in the end-of-life cycle began when she realised that our society, on the whole, has a death phobia which therefore often leads to an unsatisfactory end of life care. She wanted to counteract that and offer a service where she can be present and honour our life's journey as it ends.
Marisa moved to Glastonbury in the winter of 2009, at least in part to deepen her spiritual practices within a community. A keen student of spirituality teachings from the sacred land, Marisa follows an eclectic mix of traditions, finding nourishment in her own personal nature based spiritual practices.
More About Marisa’s Offerings
END OF LIFE COMPANION:
Marisa offers non-medical, holistic companionship to guide and support the dying in order to facilitate a gentle and tranquil death.
Doula is an ancient Greek word that translates as “woman who serves.” End of life doulas sits vigil with dying individuals, providing a continuous and compassionate presence through the final hours. Based on the concept of a birth doula, a death doula or soul midwife honours the sacred nature of the dying process as a natural part of the cycle of life and helps individuals achieve a 'good death’.
‘A Soul Midwife works with individuals to enable them to regain some control over their situation and to ensure that their independence is maintained and choices and preferences are heard and worked towards being achieved’.
What does a Soul Midwife do?
Helps individuals to plan and prepare a death plan
Provides comfort and support through the dying process
Supports individuality, choice and independence
Creates and holds a sacred and healing space for the dying person
Keeps a loving vigil
Visits the individual at home, in hospital or in a hospice
Provides a listening ear to the individual and their family
Provides gentle therapeutic techniques and compassionate care
Provides practical support such as essential shopping or housework
Supports the individual in enjoying their remaining time as much as possible
Offers complementary therapies for the individual, to aid relaxation and symptom control
Offers complementary therapies to the individual's loved ones
Uses sound, touch, smell and other gentle techniques to help alleviate pain and anxiety
Provides hands-on personal care for the individual
Is present at hospital appointments if required
Provides support for the individual in carrying out preferred spiritual and religious practices prior to and after death
Provides respite for family members to enable them to have a rest
Provides support in carrying out the individual's plans prior to and after death
Cares for the person after death, in accordance with their wishes
Offers to visit the loved ones of the individual after death, to share experiences and to talk about and reflect upon the experience
Supports families and loved ones.
Working with you at any stage you would want or wish however brief.
Vigiling with the dying is being present at the bedside, quietly, peacefully during the final hours of a person's life. It is keeping watch so that the loved one is not alone. It is providing spiritual presence with the dying. It can include talking, and performing rituals, and silence. A vigiler accompanies a person from life to death, while providing whatever is necessary to make the transition peaceful. Death is a sacred transition, and we, the living, are honoured to be in its presence.
Too often when a person is actively dying they and the people taking care of them are mostly, if not entirely, alone. The doula meets a need at this most crucial moment. The dying process can take days to unfold, and that can be incredibly difficult and stressful and this process is acknowledged and supported.
Doulas meet with the individual and their families approximately three times beforehand to develop an individualised vigil plan that specifies their wishes for the time of death. It is different for everyone, some people want their hand held while others may want to be left alone. Some may want music, silence or something read to them? Are there objects they want near, such as a collection of photos or an altar. These are just a few of the things doulas can take into consideration when writing the plan together.
During the vigil, which can last anywhere from a few hours to a few days, doulas help to ensure the individual's wishes are met. Doulas sit with the individual and the family, helping to ease anxieties and fears. Following leaving the physical body, the doula helps caregivers perform rituals designed in advance to help the passing, journey onwards and grieving process, for example washing, anointing and blessing the body.