I was once again honored to be Lucy Birnbaum’s Project Director for her 2025 January Short Term Project at Roycemore School. Lucy’s topic this year was “A Historical Timeline of Funerals in America”, and we were very fortunate to collaborate with the incredible Brooke Benjamin of Inclusive Funeral Care (also pictured).

The Chicago Death Doula Collective was recently featured in local news site Block Club Chicago. Read the article here!

I am so honored to have participated in this year’s Day of Remembrance event at Gilda’s Club Chicago. Gilda’s Club is a wonderful organization that supports people living with cancer and their families. I led a grounding Gratitude and Release Meditation at the start of the event, and we all shared stories about those we’ve lost over the years. It was truly an honor to share the space with these grievers and to hear stories of their beloveds.

The Chicago Death Doula Collective hosted a Home Funeral Demonstration at Chi Yoga Shack on Sunday, November 10. It was a beautiful event filled with like-minded people, and we shared our knowledge with each other about laws, logistics, and rituals that can be used in a home funeral. Special guests were Tiffany of We Too Shall Pass and Anders of Burial Blankets (willow casket and organic shroud pictured here.) More information and photographs can be found on the CDDC Instagram .

I am featured in this week’s Evil Witches Substack alongside the brilliant Patrice Dwyer. We talked with my beloved friend Claire Zulkey back in March about our experiences being Death Doulas. It was a great conversation, and I am so grateful to Claire for giving us this space to help spread the word about the valuable services that a Death Doula can offer.

I joined the non-profit Loose Ends at h+h americas to help spread the word about this amazing organization that I am proud to be a part of. The mission of Loose Ends is to connect fabric projects left unfinished due to death or disability with a skilled finisher who can complete the project and return it to the family. I met so many amazing people who were willing to share their stories. I left with a very full heart.

National Grief In Public Day is April 23, and this year I celebrated the event with a public art project in a neighborhood park. I invited community members to write what or who they are grieving on a ribbon and then tie it to a tree. It was a cold and blustery day, but I had amazing conversations with neighbors and friends. I was even visited by my ward’s Alderwoman and was featured in the ward newsletter.

Death doulas offer different way of dying in Chicago

I was so fortunate to speak with Axios Chicago about the Chicago Death Doula Collective and the importance of death work. Read the article here.

I joined the Board of the Chicago Death Doula Collective (CDDC). A non-profit organization, the mission of the CDDC is to provide Chicagoans with holistic, inclusive and accessible death care, death education, and death advocacy. I’ve enjoyed sharing my knowledge of non-profit work with these amazing individuals, and it is so nice to be in community with other folks doing the work.

I had the honor of being a Project Director for Roycemore School’s January Short Term (JST) Project. I was paired with Lucy Birnbaum, a Junior in high school whose project was titled “Facing Death from a Modern Perspective.” Lucy is a remarkable human that gives me so much hope for the future of death care. I loved working with her and learning from her in our time together. Her project won an award for Excellence, and I am so fortunate that I got to be a part of it!