Andrea Sugar on Clubhouse

Bio

I am a Death Doula. I am an advocate for the dying, & as such, will help in any way I am able to move through the unknown territory as the final transition nears. I will uphold the desires & wishes of the client’s plan for death, including any after-death components.

I will assist with understanding information as it is presented & with helping family members make sense of this as well. I will assist with each piece of the transition as it arrives. I am here to be a compassionate presence throughout the process. I am here to be with you - to companion and serve - you are not alone.

I was drawn to become a Death Doula because I respect death as a natural part of the life-cycle & have a healthy understanding of my own relationship to death. A large part of my understanding comes from my personal experience with death. From the time I was eight years old until I was seventeen years old, someone very close to me died every other year & then in 2015 both of my parents died four months apart from each other. My personal experiences with life, and death, provided me a bounty of information both practically & spiritually. My attitude towards death is one of peace, compassion & openness. This is what I seek to bring to others; death is a moving on, but not necessarily an ending. The idea of death & dying can be scary, it might feel scary to talk about it or to even think about it. Together we can explore the fears associated with death & dying as well as themes of loss, uncertainty & everything in between.

I became a death doula at the beginning of 2020 after a brief conversation with Daniel Shaw that brought years of consideration to a point of movement. I received my certification from The University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine. As I was preparing to serve new clients, COVID-19 hit the world & I had to readjust what serving would look like in these new, & very challenging, times. I was inspired to create a virtual death doula network so that people did not have to move through the dying process alone despite not being able to be physically present. I called Daniel, in turn he called Emily, & the Virtual Death Doula Network was born. It was a natural & seamless alliance between the three of us & together we have cultivated, what we believe, is an opportunity to serve & reach people worldwide.

www.virtualdeathdoula.net