Fund Iris's Death Doula Training

This fundraiser is to support me attending death doula training- specifically the Going with Grace End of Life Training Retreat - in summer 2025!

Where the money will go: Total cost of this training is $4000. I received an award from West Virginia Can't Wait which will cover half of this training, but I need some support to cover the additional $2000. Any funds raised over $2000 will go to travel costs and the cost of boarding Lou while I am gone. If that need (roughly ~$300) is met, I will close the fundraiser!

Why I want to go: I live at the very heart of the opioid crisis, where people who use drugs and unhoused people are met with increased surveillance, criminalization and punishment. In the space of a week in January 2025, our community lost four people. These deaths hit me and the community of people I work with incredibly hard- a large part of my job lately has been helping people process these awful, preventable deaths while they are often grappling with their own traumas (recent and past). I am drawn to death work because when people in our community die there are so many things that go unaddressed- it can take a while to identify people, they may not have anyone to contact, funerals or wakes are rarely held, and as unhoused people or drug users they are often looked down on or treated dismissively even in death. I hope to expand my professional work to include some other initiatives such as helping unhoused people with end-of-life planning and offering support for community members at the end of their lives who do not have family or community support.