How the money works
This is the toughest part for me frankly. As part of the ‘death positive’ movement, I am committed to a cultural shift to bring deathcare back to our communities and families and homes, so I struggle with charging money to support people to do that. I am also committed to having our work recognized and valued, and to seeing the death doula role become real for more people - so we have to make it possible to make a living doing it. I also need to make some money in my life - at least enough to support my habit of reading and training related to death and dying!
Money is just energy. We all need some to live - like food and water and air and warmth. I view charging for my services as a harmonious exchange of energy. I provide you with services. You provide me with something in return – ideally that is money, but it does not have to be. I don’t want financial means to be a barrier to accessing my services.
There are several ways you can purchase my services – depending on what you are looking for and how much you want to spend. We can also do a mix of these if there are several kinds of support you want or if what you want changes over time:
Hourly
Hourly works best when we are not sure how long something is going to take – such as writing a life story or supporting a family through multiple types of planning and the death of a loved one.
My hourly rate is $95 and we can agree on a billing cycle when we sign a contract. We can set a maximum total amount or not. Or you can just pay me after each visit.
There are ways to keep the number of hours down if that is a concern, such as having me provide prompts, suggestions and feedback support for life scribing, rather than actually doing writing or editing. Or having me coach you through creating your own ceremony rather than me creating and leading it.
Bundle
If you buy a bundle of hours and pay in advance, you receive a 10% discount. For example, 11 hours for the price of ten. This works best in multiples of five.
Flat Rate
Some services lend themselves to a flat fee. Where it is fairly predictable how long the work will take, and the client agrees to certain parameters to keep it contained to that. Generally, this is paid 50% up front and 50% upon completion. Some examples:
Simple obituary $350 (maximum about 300 words, one person to work with and easy materials)
Simple ceremony $950 (one person to work with and no extensive materials to review)
Energy Exchange
If paying with money is a barrier, I am open to creative suggestions about how to manifest an energy exchange that feels fair to both of us. Don’t be shy. If it’s a fit for us to work together, I trust we can figure something out.
Please note that I charge GST on my services. And that any driving time in excess of 30 minutes one way is charged at my hourly rate.