What I do
If all of a sudden you have heard that you are not going to get well anymore and you will die within a year, I can help. I guide people in the last phase of their lives so they can die peacefully and gracefully. There is no one way to describe what I do as every person is different and has different needs. Yet, whatever I do, it all comes down to walking the journey together leading to a more peaceful, more graceful and perhaps even a more joyful death. To give you an idea of what I do: I wash people, visit doctors, inform children, prepare food, mediate in family disputes, clean up houses, make final plans, close down a business, organise a party, make a last trip, give guided meditations to ease the fear of dying, listen to music together, give massages, go to museums, be in silence together, do yoga and breathing exercises to calm the mind, talk about death and life, about what’s important to leave behind for loved ones, and make sure the funeral is in accordance with the last wishes.
How I do it
In general, due to my divers business and care background, I can support you mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. And if your needs exceed what I can offer, I probably know a way to satisfy those needs as well. The most important thing is that I can listen, tune into your world and go from there in what is good for you on your last journey to make it a graceful one. In walking the journey together I make use of what I have learned so far, my experiences and my intuition.
Why I do it
After working many years as a project manager and traveling around the world, I thought that there should be more in life than doing all kinds of business projects. It was not satisfying enough anymore. I decided to take a year off and see what would happen. The first month my mother died unexpectedly. I coordinated a funeral in line with her wishes. It was so healing for all of us and the people around her. Just before she died my father moved to a nursing home. Every other weekend I spent a few days in my father’s house and took him ‘home’. I noticed that I loved to visit him in the nursing home and to have contact with the ill people around him. Their eyes started to shine when I paid attention to them. It was so simple. Then a dear friend, diagnosed with incurable cancer, asked me to guide him. It was the best year of his life and he was able to die peacefully. It seems that I have a quality that comes so naturally to me. This was what I wanted to do in life; guiding others in the last phase of their life so they can die peacefully and gracefully. Finally I started to work in a hospice with young adults and with people wanting to at home. It might sound strange as it is their journey, but in this work I encounter the same shining eyes as I saw with the people in my father’s nursing home.