PRESS: Interviewed by Vox

I had the absolute pleasure of corresponding with Anna North of Vox on a piece about why people want to be death doulas. In particular, the piece focused on recent news about famous people wanting to be death doulas, namely, Nicole Kidman.

Anna, with additional interviews with mentors and colleagues of mine that I admire, Alua Arthur and Cole Imperi, theorized that recent increased interest is part of a larger shift in how we think about mortality.

Here are my quotes in context:

What a death doula does

Death doulas can also advocate for a dying person with doctors and other medical staff. “A lot of times, people just will believe doctors as the expert in a situation when there’s actually a lot of room for negotiation, questions, space, time,” said Madison Barras, who trained as a death doula and now helps people think about their own mortality.

Why more people want to be death doulas

… in recent years, more people are moving … toward a greater embrace of mortality. The pandemic, in particular, forced the whole country into a new intimacy with death and dying, Barras said. “It sort of bubbled to the surface that, Oh, this is happening to everybody, all of the time.”

That’s been coupled with a rise in emotional openness, fueled by social media confessionals, Barras said. “It’s more acceptable and encouraged to share the human aspect of being alive,” Barras said.

…

Many people become interested in death doula work after a personal loss — Barras, for example, started training after caring for her dying grandmother.

Click here to read the entire article, though you may need a Vox membership to read it in entirety. Feel free to send me a message if that link isn’t successful and I’ll send you a gift link to read it.