Should Death Doulas Be Integrated into the Hospice System?

I love volunteering. It offers me a way to do bedside work with people who are dying that matters and makes a difference. I also am able to volunteer when I may not have the capacity to take on a new client because the scope of my role is much more limited as a volunteer and I am a part of a team.

That being said, it is sometimes assumed that because I am an active hospice volunteer, I support the integration of Death Doulas within the hospice system. I staunchly do not.

I find the hospice system in my geographic location (Middle Tennessee) to be exploitative of volunteer Death Doula labor. Why would I push to further include Death Doulas in the system?

I think the hospice system is an excellent way to learn, serve and gain experience at the bedsides of people who are dying. It gives you an up-close look at where the system is well-functioning and where it is not. But to be a death doula who works for a sustainable wage, the hospice system is not supportive of that, in most of the Deep South. This is a few questions that help discern whether or not the hospice system in your area is supportive or exploitative of death doula service.

If you’re being paid a sustainable, living wage *as a death doula* within the hospice system, I’d love to hear below where you’re located and about your experience. In fact, I’d just love to hear anyone else’s experience as a death doula within the hospice system, good or bad. Knowledge is power and I would LOVE to be wrong about this one.