During this session, we will hear from iele paloumpis, an end of life doula, about the practice of supporting people who are actively dying transition from life to death. The rituals of accompanying people on their deathbeds are as old as time, but we, as a Western culture, have become increasingly distanced from it in the last 150 years. This discussion will open us up to understanding how to define a good death through the end of life doula practice.

About The Good Death Roundtable series:

The Good Death Roundtable is a forum that seeks to foster a better relationship with our mortality. This fall’s sessions will focus on themes of rituals and ceremonies surrounding end-of-life, death, and memorialization. By exploring the rituals involved in death and dying, we can begin to understand the current cultural attitudes toward death as well as imagine what we want in our future death beds. In addition to bringing death out of the taboo, this roundtable series asks us to imagine our own deaths in terms of preparedness and understanding.

Coming Up:

Ritual and Ceremony III on December 6 focuses on memorialization.

iele paloumpis is a trauma-informed end of life doula and griefworker based in Brooklyn. iele studied extensively under the direction on Deanna Flores Cochran to receive an EOL Doula certification through Quality of Life Care LLC. iele has also received certifications from Mount Sinai’s Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute’s Doula Program and from Valley Home Care and Hospice in Paramus, NJ. In addition to their doula work, iele is also a dance artist, educator, herbalist and intuitive healer.

Bethany Tabor is a classically trained ballet dancer-turned-writer and researcher who is persistently exploring themes of death and dying in the realm of performance art. She recently earned her Master’s degree in Performance Studies from New York University where she examined the politics of decomposition as it relates to reenactment and reperformance. She is currently the Technology Programs Manager at Pioneer Works.