Seattle End-of-Life & Threshold Doula
Helping clients achieve a sense of purpose and meaning in the years they have lived.
In times of grief and loss, there is a threshold we must pass over.
Whether we are ready or not, it demands of us to pay attention, to ask hard questions, and to redefine how we are living. I help individuals and families who are experiencing grief and loss to discover new ways to navigate the great unknown with connection, clarity of purpose, and heart. This is your legacy.
Hi, I'm Colleen
Colleen J. Hewes DC, MSN, RN
I'm an East Coast native and Seattle transplant. My career focuses on Geriatrics and Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing. I was introduced to hospice while working in community health and a seed was planted. Experiencing my mother's care in a hospice in the early 90s I witnessed the compassion, ritual, and sacred bathing of her body. The compassionate care she received led me to devote my life to walking others home as an end-of-life doula.
My passion is finding the meaning and purpose of a life lived. I work with clients through Best 3 Months, Life Review, and Legacy Tools.
Birth and Death are the bookends of life.
Your Best 3 Months: A visionary care plan for your end-of-life.
When you have a chronic or terminal illness it can be hard to feel ownership of how you live your days. My Vision Mapping process with the Best Life Care Plan provides in depth assessment and intention setting so we can co-create a plan that allow for new ways of being.
I am here to support and advocate for your wishes and needs. What will be most important to you? What priorities, wishes and dreams would you want to focus on if you had 3 months to live? Who will you want to help you fulfill your Best Life Care Plan? This holistic care goes beyond an advance directive. You will feel more completion and fulfillment.
Life Review & Legacy Projects
Life Review and legacy projects explore the highs and lows of one's life. Asking, how well did I live? What did I accomplish? and how have I impacted others? I offer consulting and guidance on life review and legacy projects.
Personalized Rituals
Ritual plays an important role in times of grief and loss. It can help us release emotions, find new understanding, and create closure. I help clients create unique and deeply personal rituals for themselves or with loved ones to provide the space they need for healing.
Begin the conversation with a free consultation.
Let's explore what will be most important to you, your wants and needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
An End-of-Life Doula is a non-medical professional caring for individuals before, during and after death. I support what is meaningful and important to you. Providing a holistic approach to your needs, the emotional, spiritual, physical and practical areas are addressed. I facilitate conversations and planning on death and dying.
No, I work with people at all stages of life. From those that are healthy and curious about preparing for death and dying, as well as those who have a chronic illness or a terminal diagnosis (and their family members). I find that examining death while you are healthy can give a positive perspective on your life.
I support people exactly where they are. Sometimes people who are dying are simply unable to accept help or acknowledge what is happening. I can provide resources and support so you can best support your loved one.
Hospice provides comfort care to patients with terminal illness when medical treatments are no longer effective. These services are provided by an interdisciplinary team.
Palliative care is specialized, remedial medical care for people living with a serious illness.
An End-of-Life-Doula is a non-medical, compassionate, advocate empowering the client. They provide non-judgmental, emotional and spiritual support from an initial diagnosis through after death care and bereavement. Providing deep listening they help the client identify their needs and wishes by planning this sacred passage with dignity.
Life Review is a time of reflection, looking back over the years lived. It is a time to make meaning of the stories in your life, the joys, special moments, sorrows and sadness. Finding regrets, missed opportunities, and unresolved issues gives one a chance to find peace and forgiveness.
These conversations can be so challenging, and not all those who are aging are ready to listen. I provide guidance for loved ones on how to respectfully approach this conversation with the resources they need to address advanced care directives, funeral planning, and more.
"The Best 3 Months Planning work I did with Colleen was transformational for my approach to end-of-life planning. Colleen takes her clients by the hand to navigate very personal and sacred decisions based on what matters most to them, what they value, and wish for at their end-of-life. Her work is well structured and gave me the opportunity to think about things that hadn't crossed my mind."
MAUREEN K., RN
"Colleen's expertise with end-of-life planning for my mother was beyond valuable. She helped me prepare for that difficult conversation."
JOYCE N.
"There were so many things I had not considered when working with Colleen on my Best 3 Months vision planning. We covered emotional, spiritual, and physical areas giving me a clearer vision of what I want at the end of life. I found great value in doing this while healthy."
LAUREL L., RN