Lives in a landscape : the death doulas.

This programme explores the role of people working in palliative care as companions - known as 'death doulas' - for people who are dying. Oral Historian Alan Dein shadows a gathering for doulas and their companions, known as a "Death Cafe". Various attendees relay their experiences of having or being a death companion, and comtemplate the more philosophical ideas surrounding their own death. Dein visits Hermione Elliott at the headquarters of Living and Dying Well to discuss the ethos of the charity. Dein then shadows several different doulas, encouraging them to speak about their motivations for taking on the role, their experiences of assisting dying people, and the work in more detail. One doula explains an arrangement with her personal friend to become her doula once she begins to die. In another visit, a companion is heard expressing her wishes for the treatment of her body immediately after death.