Seattle + Puget Sound
I'm Zac, a psychologist becoming an end-of-life doula. This is a small, deliberate practice offering presence, planning, and steady company to people facing the end of life, and to the families walking with them.
The work, in plain words
A death doula (sometimes called an end-of-life doula or death midwife) is a holistic, non-medical companion who walks alongside a dying person and their family. Not as a clinician. Not as a stranger paid to "handle" something. As a steady, informed companion.
I sit vigil through long hours. I translate what the body is doing. I help you say the things that need saying. I hold the room so the people you love can stop performing and start being present.
Just as a birth doula supports a person bringing a new life into the world, a death doula supports a person leaving this life, and the loved ones who must continue.
Steady company across the long arc of dying: bedside vigil, hard conversations, quiet hours.
Advance directives, POLST, legacy work, family logistics, after-death care, all on your terms.
Education on the dying process. Grief support before and after. Practical help when the world goes quiet.
About the practitioner
A psychologist by training. An end-of-life doula in formation. I came to this work through years of study, and I'm building a practice that takes both presence and rigor seriously.
Read my storyMy background is psychology, undergraduate work at Western Washington and a Master's at Seattle Pacific. The thread through both was the same question: how do people make sense of difficulty, and what helps when nothing fixes it.
What I bring to the bedside isn't medical or religious. It's the quieter discipline of psychology: noticing what's actually happening between people, holding space for grief without trying to fix it, helping families find their own words for things that often go unsaid.
I'm currently completing foundational end-of-life doula training and accepting a small number of first families, including pro-bono and sliding-scale work. If you're considering working with me, I will tell you exactly where I am in that path and what I can and can't honestly offer.
How I help
Steady, unhurried company at the bedside.
A doula sits vigil during the final hours and days, not to do, but to be. They tend to the room, hold the silence, offer comfort touch, and ensure no one dies alone. For families, this presence means rest, meals, and the freedom to be loved ones first.
Get your wishes on paper, while there is time.
Doulas guide the conversations many of us avoid: advance directives, POLST forms, healthcare proxies, what a “good day” looks like at the end, what you want and don’t want. They help you make decisions clearly, so loved ones aren’t left guessing.
Capture the story while the storyteller is here.
Letters, recorded interviews, ethical wills, photo books, recipe collections, gifts for grandchildren not yet born: legacy work weaves meaning out of a life. Many people find that reflecting on their story is itself a gift to themselves.
Help for the people doing the holding.
Caregivers run on empty. A doula coordinates with family, friends, and care providers, helps facilitate hard conversations, and helps loved ones communicate needs when tensions are high. They bridge gaps in care that hospice or family alone can’t fill.
Knowing what is happening makes it less frightening.
Doulas explain what the body does as it shuts down (changes in breath, color, appetite, awareness), so the people present can stop pathologizing the natural and start being with it. Knowledge replaces panic with presence.
Honoring what was, gently, on your terms.
Home funerals, washing and dressing the body, sitting with the dead, planning ceremony, eulogy work, and coordination with funeral homes when needed. Doulas help families reclaim rituals that were once everyone’s and have lately been outsourced.
Death is one of life's most potent and sacred passages, as well as one of the most denied, ignored, and feared. We do not have to meet it alone.
Common questions
Most of what you're wondering, someone else has wondered too. Here's a start. The rest live in the full FAQ.
Read all FAQsBegin a conversation
Whether you're facing a diagnosis, supporting a loved one, or thinking ahead while there's time, start with a free thirty-minute conversation. There's no pressure to continue.