The role of a Death Walker is to provide support - emotional, spiritual, and practical, at an extremely confronting, and critical time of personal and emotional crisis. With the support of a death Walker, dying patients and their families find reassurance, comfort, breathing space, and peace during this final phase of living. My goal is to help people deal with their impending death, or the impending death of a loved one, and to guide and support them in any preparations they need to make. The ideal outcome is enabling individuals to be at peace with, or at the very least, to come to an acceptance of their death. Through the provision of time, a range of support options, and help with non-medical tasks, my goal is to assist patients and their families in creating a personal, peaceful, and special end-of-life transition. Our Western world is very good at celebrating the birth of babies into our lives however we have reached a point where we neglect to guide and honour people through the process of dying. This has led to a growing fear of death and dying in many within our society, and the topic is often one avoided rather than welcomed as a natural, albeit painful, aspect of life. Because of this death and dying can be taboo topics that families avoid. Accordingly, when a loved one ages or becomes ill, the family and friends are ill-equipped emotionally and unprepared to have the necessary conversations about a person’s death and end-of-life wishes. Death Walkers remove some of the ‘effort’ of the death experience away from the family enabling the space for them to be completely present with their loved one, and for the dying person to be completely present with both their family and themselves. It is the Death Walker’s role to engage in these painful and difficult situations with empathy and non-judgemental compassion. In doing so we are helping families come together to have honest, heartfelt conversations ensuring that nothing which needs to be expressed is left unsaid. This affords peace for the dying person and a sense of closure for the bereaved family and friends, which aids in moving their healing process forward. As a Death Walker and Funeral Celebrant, I work with compassion, empathy, and love to support an individual or family in navigating the challenging pathways experienced before, during and after the death of a loved one or loved ones. It is my responsibility to work to ensure that the dying process is made more meaningful and emotionally healing for everyone involved.
