About
How I Came to This Work
The name Watching with Presence has its roots in a Sufi understanding of watchfulness. It reflects something I have come to believe deeply: we don’t always have to know what to do. Sometimes we are simply asked to stay, pay attention, and bear witness.
This work became something of a calling following the deaths of several family members and friends within fifteen months of each other. It was a wave of death and dying that woke me up to what it truly means to be alive.
One minute my mother lay dying in her pink satin pajamas, and the next all that was left was the shell of her body I had loved for fifty-two years. She left. I was still here.
A death doula can play many roles during the dying experience. Sometimes I help with end-of-life plans. Sometimes I hold a loved one’s hand. Sometimes I help coordinate the practical details on the day someone dies. The role changes because every person, every family, and every death is different.
Much of my recent work has brought me to the bedside of terminally ill people choosing Medical Aid in Dying. In those rooms, as in all of this work, my role is to stay beside individuals and families as they navigate death and dying, offering practical support, calm presence, and witness to a life that is still being lived.
I live and work in Southern California.
Certifications & Associations
Certificate of Expertise in Aid-in-Dying Care
AADM offers extensive continuing education materials, information, mentoring, and resources in the field of aid-in-dying medicine, including the first full curricula for teaching aid-in-dying care—to 11 clinical end-of-life fields, from doctors to doulas.
INELDA-Trained Doula
"INELDA-practicing doulas offer holistic support to the dying person and their circle of care through presence, full-self listening, respect of autonomy, and awareness of the dying process."
Grief to Purpose Trauma-Informed Grief Coach
Grief to Purpose is a trauma-informed concept and professional certification program that teaches people how to turn personal loss into grounded, meaningful service for others.
First and Second Degree Reiki
Reiki training offered by the International Center for Reiki Training based on the Usui/Holy Fire III Reiki Ryoho
Arrangement Counselor Certification
CFDA’s Arrangement Counselor training course is designed to inform you of the laws, rules and regulations that will allow you to make at-need funeral arrangements in compliance with section 7635 of the California Business and Professions Code.
Member of The Death Network Collective
A collective of death doulas, end-of-life guides, funeral professionals, and grief guides offering compassionate support through one of life’s most sacred transitions.