Lisa Sabol says she has been to too many funerals where she knew the person wouldn’t have wanted to be dressed the way they were, or be in a funeral home at all.

Sabol runs a free end-of-life workshop through the SCRIPTed Project that encourages conversations and planning with loved ones to help remove conflict and confusion regarding death and the real-world process of dying.

SCRIPTed stands for Support, Community, Resources, Intention, Planning, and Transition. The project’s website links to The Cleveland Collective, a resource list of service providers who work with people in end-of-life transitions, including everything from photographers and other creative professionals to event planners and Reiki masters.  

“I realized that there needed to be a connection between the people with needs and the people that can provide services,” said Sabol. “I wanted to make the connections between those people.”  

Attendees at a recent end-of-life workshop received a folder that included handouts on how to engage in conversations about death and end-of-life planning with their loved ones and blank copies of legal documents to be completed, such as a living will and health care power of attorney. 

Participants also spent time creating end-of-life scrapbooks to share with family members that hold basic details like organ donor information and next of kin. 

“[The death] process is inevitable for everyone,” said Sabol. “It’s going to look different for everyone.” 

What is a ‘death doula’?

Jenn Miler-Most is an end-of-life coach and certified death doula. She is part of the Cleveland Collective through her organization, Journey’s End Cleveland.   

A death doula, she explained, provides non-medical support to individuals and their families before, during and after the end of life. This includes physical, emotional and spiritual care, helping people navigate the end-of-life journey with peace and dignity.  

Some services a death doula may provide include helping with advance care planning, ensuring a person’s dying wishes are respected and assisting with arranging for hospice care and end-of-life rituals. 

Miler-Most said she was inspired to become a death doula after caring for family members at the end of their lives. “I saw firsthand how crucial it is to have compassionate and informed support during those times. I wanted to be there for others in the same way,” she said. 

“I’ve always been passionate about breaking the silence around death and dying,” she added, “and I truly believe that providing a safe space for these conversations can help people feel empowered and supported during one of the most profound moments in life.”

Journey’s End Cleveland and Neptune Society, which offers cremation services, co-host networking meetings for end-of-life service providers such as artists, hospice and funeral professionals. Their next networking event is Monday, Oct. 6. 

‘Death cafés’ and bar nights normalize talking about death and dying

Brandi Wiles, of the Cleveland Death Society, runs a monthly “death café” that is in part support group, with the audience and speakers sharing their lived experiences, and in part an opportunity to learn about the emotional and physiological process of dying. 

“The point of these ‘cafés’ is to get people to open up,” she said.

Guest speakers at the death cafés have included nurses, comedians and members of Alcoholics Anonymous discussing topics such as approaching death with humor, the physical process of dying, and handling grief whilst living with an addiction.      

The Cleveland Death Society also hosts a bar night similar in content to the death cafés though more loosely themed, Wiles said. The next Drinks over Death event is Wednesday, Sept. 3, at the B-Side Lounge in Coventry.