Life is marked by many sacred crossings. Birth. Love. Loss. Death. I am here to help you meet the last one with dignity, intention, and the people you love beside you.
Begin with a conversation Free 30-minute call · No obligationDeath is not a medical event. It is one of the most profound passages a human being will ever move through — and for most of us, no one has ever taught us how.
We live in a culture that has largely removed death from ordinary life. It happens behind closed doors, handed over to institutions, managed rather than witnessed. And so when it arrives — as it always does — we often find ourselves frightened, unprepared, and alone in ways that have nothing to do with the people standing right beside us.
I believe we can do better. And I believe this because I have seen it done better.
Every life is made of sacred thresholds.
Death is simply the last one.
A good death is not a painless death, or a perfect death. It is a death where the person at the center of it has been truly seen — where their wishes have been honored, where the people who love them have been given a way to be present rather than helpless, and where something remains behind as a gift.
My work is to hold that space — with steadiness, with love, and without fear.
She has learned that grief and joy do not cancel each other. They are the same breath, moving through the same body.
Bearing witness is its own form of love.
On presence & the threshold
Isabella KritzerMy relationship with death began early. I was exposed to loss at a young age — experiences that, rather than turning me away from death, drew me toward it. I wanted to understand it. I wanted to be near it, not despite its weight but because of it.
That pull led me first to hospice volunteering, where I began sitting bedside with people in their final days and hours. I was not a clinician. I was simply a presence. And in that simplicity, I learned something I could not have learned anywhere else: that there is a profound difference between dying alone and dying witnessed.
Those early years led me to my end of life doula certification — a formal language for something I had long been doing by instinct. Over time I layered in training as a certified yoga teacher, Reiki Level II practitioner, wilderness first responder, and photographer. I hold these not as credentials, but as different ways of speaking the same truth: that every person deserves to be held, seen, and honored.
I am not a medical professional. I am not a therapist. I am a companion, a witness, a guide, and a keeper of your story.
My work is designed to complement hospice care, not replace it. I am experienced working alongside hospice nurses, social workers, and chaplains. Bringing in an end of life doula adds another kind of presence: unhurried, creative, and deeply personal.
Every person I work with is different. Every death is different. These are not services so much as doorways — we find, together, which ones you need to walk through.
Before anything else, I listen. We talk about what you are facing, what you hope for, what you fear. From that conversation, I help you build a death plan — a living expression of your wishes that your family and care team can actually hold onto.
Gentle yoga, Reiki, Yoga Nidra, and guided meditations developed specifically for end of life. When fear is at the forefront of someone’s mind, these practices offer a pathway into stillness that the thinking mind alone cannot always find.
As the final hours approach, I can be present. I know the signs of active dying. I know how to guide a family through what they are seeing and how to create a space that is quiet, intentional, and full of love rather than fear.
The creation of something that outlasts this season of life — a photo album, a recorded story, a memoir written in your own voice. A gift that the people you leave behind will return to again and again.
With your consent, quiet and unhurried sessions that honor you as you are right now — fully alive and fully loved. These images become part of what your family carries forward.
Where possible and desired, I bring the outdoors into our time together. My wilderness training allows me to do this safely, whether sitting outside or going deeper into a natural setting.
We are so small beside what is vast and ancient. And yet we are loved — held — exactly as we are.
On nature & impermanenceEvery journey is different, and so is every path of support. Below are the ways I typically work — though nothing here is fixed.
Investment is personal and always discussed together during our first conversation — shaped around your situation, your timeline, and what you truly need.
For those who want to begin the conversation before active decline — months or even years ahead
Full support through active decline and the final passage
A lasting creation — standalone or woven into either path, at any time
One of the things I treasure most in this work is the creation of something that outlasts it.
A legacy project might be small and intimate — a single handwritten letter, a photograph taken on a quiet afternoon. Or it might be the work of months — a full memoir, a recorded oral history, an album that spans an entire life.
Whatever form it takes, it is a gift. One that the people you leave behind will return to again and again, in the years when they most need to hear your voice.
If you have a vision — however unexpected, however large — bring it to me. The size and form of a legacy project should never be constrained.
A handcrafted album built from the photographs of a life, curated and arranged with care.
An audio or video recording — interview-style or free-flowing — edited and preserved for the people you love.
Facilitated sessions helping you find the words you have always meant to say — to children, grandchildren, old friends.
Quiet, unhurried sessions honoring you as you are right now — fully alive, fully loved, fully yourself.
Your life, written in your own voice. We meet over multiple sessions; I help you shape, organize, and render your story into something that can be held and passed down.
A piece of music. A garden plan. A film. A series of paintings. Whatever you are imagining — the creative expression of a life should never be constrained.
There is no perfect moment to begin. The light has always been waiting for you at the threshold.
On finding your wayEvery person who comes to me arrives in a different season, with different needs, different timelines, and different resources. Investment is discussed openly and honestly in our first conversation — shaped around your situation, never around a fixed menu.
If cost is a concern, please tell me. I hold a small number of reduced-rate spots, and I would rather find a way to walk alongside you than turn you away at the door.
I do not bill by the hour, and I do not watch the clock. When we are together, we are together fully.
Before anything else, I listen. Fill in a few words below and I will be in touch within two business days to arrange our free 30-minute call.
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There is no wrong time to have begun.
A free 30-minute phone call — no obligation, no pressure. You tell me where you are and what you are looking for. I tell you more about how I work.
If it feels right for both of us, we begin. If it doesn’t, I will do my best to help you find someone who is a better fit. There is no wrong time to reach out.
Begin with a conversation