Initial Consultation
The Initial Consultation is an opportunity for you to learn more about the services Final Chapter Doula Services, LLC (“Final Chapter”) provides, and for Final Chapter to learn about why you decided to consult an end-of-life doula.
If you are interested solely in advance end-of-life planning, the initial consultation may be the only session you’ll need. During the session, we’ll discuss what end of life planning you have already done, and what is still ahead of you. Final Chapter does not provide legal services, so we can’t help you with writing your will, or setting up trusts, but we’ll be asking whether you’ve already made these arrangements and when the last time was that you reviewed them to make sure they reflect your current wishes.
It’s my job to make you think about the things you’ve put off thinking about because they are difficult or upsetting. Nobody likes to contemplate the possibility that they or someone they love may face a serious illness, a catastrophic accident, or dementia. And no one wants to talk about the fact that humans are mortal and someday we will all die.
We’ll talk about who you’d want making decisions about your health care if you suddenly became unable to make those decisions for yourself, even temporarily. We’ll talk about what you’d want those decisions to be in a variety of different circumstances. We’ll talk about the importance of having those decisions in writing, and how to go about putting them in writing; something you can do yourself or have Final Chapter do for you. And we’ll talk about how to talk with your chosen health care proxy about what you would want, and how to communicate your choices to your doctors.
We’ll also talk about dementia and death. How would a diagnosis of dementia change what you would want your health care proxy to know? If you had the choice of dying at home or in a medical facility, where would you prefer to die? What do you care more about: the duration of your life or the quality of your life?
These are not easy things to talk about. To facilitate these conversations, I use tools like the End of Life Deck©, the Death Deck©, and the GoWish™ game.
If you are interested in end-of-life services, the initial consultation is a time to get to know each other, to go over the terms of engagement, to discuss your end-of-life choices, and to talk about how Final Chapter can best serve you and your loved ones.