Life Story Services
Talk to Sherryl Searle about her End-of-life Doula Services, and sharing a life story.
“You cannot really possess anything; not land, not a person, not a child …. all you can possess at the end of your life is your story”
Baz Luhrmann
Having worked as a Palliative Care Social Worker for the past 20 years, I appreciate how important it can be to the person and to those they are leaving behind to take the time to tell their story.
I have been privileged to sit with many patients to hear their life story and have observed the healing that this has brought. When a person’s life story has been documented, it also becomes a written legacy for the important people in their life.
Life story work however is not just valuable for those facing end of life. Sometimes we become aware that our memory is fading, or are concerned that this is happening to our loved ones and we decide to not delay capturing the richness of their life.
“ I was trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children…none of this is a replacement for a living parent…it’s about doing the best you can with limited resources”
Randy Pausch The Last Lecture
My services include:
- Initial obligation free consultation to discuss the process
- Provision of questions to assist with clarifying thoughts and details about your life in preparation for our work together
- An interview held either face to face, online or by phone – recorded with your permission to ensure accuracy
- Transcription and editing of the recorded interview
- Creation of a draft document emailed to you for feedback and approval
- Scanning and inclusion in the book of any photographs supplied by you
- The finished high quality book posted to you or arrangements made for collection. Extra copies available on request.
My services to you will be
Respectful
I am committed to ensuring that your life story captures what is important to you, the story teller. I have found the more comfortable a person is the more the words flow. My goal is to help you feel at ease and at the same time provide guidance for you to articulate and document your achievements, values, loves and the legacy you wish to leave behind.
You are the person who knows your story best – I just walk beside you and help you to identify and weave the different threads. Sometimes it is easier to do this with someone outside your immediate family.
Confidential
I remain respectful of what you want to share in your story. There may be parts of your life that you do not want to focus on. This is absolutely fine as it always remains your story. For this reason, you, the person telling the story, have total control over what the finished product includes. It is your story, created out of love and a desire to leave a written legacy for the important people in your life.
Supportive
I have extensive resources available to assist you in telling and documenting your story. I appreciate that often we are not familiar with talking about ourselves and sometimes we can become emotional when we talk about some parts of our life. I am very comfortable sitting with this. I will be guided by you, the story teller.