As a Death Doula she aims to educate, serve those that are dying and support their loved ones. In Jan of 2022 Dayshia stepped into the role of Death Doula after having a dream that gave her a title that she wasn't all that familiar with. In the last decade Dayshia has assisted over 50 families in honoring their murdered loved ones and accompanied multiple as they took their final breath and joined the ancestors. Dayshia's practice is one that is rooted in Spirit and will often say "You Is Spirit" to serve as a reminder that it is all about you! She grew up Southern Baptist and for many Black women of trans experience raised in the South our experience with religion/church was one that had beautiful moments and moments that usually pushed us away from the church. She reflects on a lot of the things she's learned and uses that in her practice to make the needed connections form a spiritual approach which also allows her to work well with Atheist, Buddhist and many other religions and practices. Dayshia noticed that when sitting bedside with queer folks that often no one else was there and although she didn't have all the right things to say she felt it was important just to be there even if it was to hold their hand, call them by their preferred name and pronouns, remind them that they are loved and most importantly to be present in that right now moment. Although doing this for years she saw it as her way of advocacy work in which she advocated for the individual to be honored for who they were and how they lived during their passing or murder. Dayshia assisted with raising the funds to cover the final arrangements, obituary writing, programming for the celebration of life, vigils and so much more. Giving the family a chance to just be in the moment as murder and death can cause trauma and often families become lost on what to do for their queer or trans loved ones after their death or murder. As the years went by she started to notice that murder wasn't the only thing taking out trans and queer folks but natural causes and illnesses just like anyone else was also impacting the community. "We got so lost in all of the murders that we've forgotten that death is a guarantee" said Dayshia during a panel on safety. This made her wanna learn more about preplanning and life insurance so that she could better prepare community members about how to ensure that their final wishes were honored. She now has so much to offer to clients and their families which are listed under the services tab on the page. Dayshia will have group discussions on death, fear of dying and grief via facebook LIVE click Follow on the page for updates and details on events.
*Story time with Dayshia
In early 2021 I had a dream and in the dream I walked up on a small group of people that were standing near the edge of a cliff. You could hear the waves from the ocean crashing against the wall below, as I approached the group I saw a woman with beautiful grey locs (hair) with a dress and a long flowing shaw that was blowing in the wind. She was on the very edge of the cliff with her back to the group and as the wind blew it was as if she was an angel! She raised her hand in the air like she was releasing something, I asked the person next to me "who is she?" and as he responded saying she's the death doula. She turned and looked at me. In that moment it all made sense all of these years wondering why was I so devoted to this work even when I tried to turn away I was lead right back to it. Following the dream I enrolled in training's, joined facebook groups and started to see there's a community of Death Doula's but not many that looked like me. My mission is to educate and offer a new way of looking at death and dying. Develop a new norm around preplanning so that fundraising isn't always the need and continue to be an advocate for those that are receiving care ensuring that the correct pronouns are being used and that their final wishes are being honored. My goal In my practice I believe the greatest gift of all is the completion of one’s journey to everlasting life. It would be my honor to join you on your journey to walk with you and talk with you along the way, for it's not always the end sometimes it's the beginning! Love and Light
