Caring for the Dying

The Doula Approach to a Meaningful Death

By: Henry Fersko-Weiss LCSW

Narrated by: Barry Abrams

Length: 7 hrs

Publisher's summary

Caring for the Dying describes a whole new way to approach death and dying. It explores how the dying and their families can bring deep meaning and great comfort to the care given at the end of a life. Created by Henry Fersko-Weiss, the end-of-life doula model is adapted from the work of birth doulas and helps the dying to find meaning in their life, express that meaning in powerful and beautiful legacies, and plan for the final days. The approach calls for around-the-clock vigil care, so the dying person and their family have the emotional and spiritual support they need along with guidance on signs and symptoms of dying. It also covers the work of reprocessing a death with the family afterward and the early work of grieving. Emphasis is placed on the space around the dying person and encourages the use of touch, guided imagery, and ritual during the dying process. Throughout the book Fersko-Weiss tells amazing and encouraging stories of the people he has cared for as well as stories that come from doulas he has trained and worked with over the years.

©2017 Henry Fersko-Weiss (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Fersko-Weiss's perspective is a desperately needed reminder of the value of facing life's most difficult transitions with open eyes and hearts." ( Publishers Weekly)

Narrator’s feminine voices are upsetting

This written review is completely focused on the narrator - it is not a review of the author or of the substance of the book. As other reviewers have noted, the high pitched tones the narrator adopts whenever he is reading a woman’s statement just made my skin crawl. There is a long history of men mocking women with that tone of voice in a derogatory way, and I wish male book narrators would find a way to signal that the person talking is a woman without resorting to raising their voice into a fake sing-songy approximation. It immediately degrades the value of whatever it is the woman is saying and makes her sound unreliable and weak because of our culture’s long history with degrading women by mocking their voices for comedic effect or otherwise. Unfortunately, this seems to be an industry-wide practice in audiobooks and is not just a problem in this audiobook. But for some reason it felt particularly egregious in this beautiful book because of the sensitive subject matter.

Good introduction

I feel this is a great, thoughtful introduction about the important work of death doulas. I'll be buying a hard copy for reference.

Good; Narrator a little too "much"

It's a good book, and a great starting point for anyone interested in becoming a death doula, confronting their own grass and beliefs around dying, and working through and with the death of a loved one. However, personally, this narrator is a little... "much" sometimes. Is it really necessary to do a higher "female" voice (that sounds oddly antebellum south) everytime a woman is directly quoted in the book? I had several eye roll moments at the narrator's "actor-y" choices. I appreciate that there are stories and narratives present in the book, but this isn't a fiction book. I'd prefer a less "embellished" reading. However, this may not bother other people.

Narration is terrible, book itself is great.

Awesome book! Better to keep as a resource and read instead, Audible narration is terrible. Sounds like a robot.

Good book for someone that wants to become a doula

it is a book that covers all the bases about the doula service. It contains very good information also for someone that is in need of an end of life helper for her/himself or a family member or a friend.

Good introductory.

great information! Like some of tge other reviews I didnt care for some of the voices used in the readings for sick people and women. The book itself was very good.

A very deep reading

I got this book before covid in October2019 I think but I didn't read it until 2022 I had my own personal experience with dead in the family. I really wish I had read it before when I just got it would have make a big difference with all my experiences.
I had cancer for a little while and I needed to focus in my healing. But the truth is this would have help me to with that processes too.

A valuable read

Very digestible and comes from a place of great kindness and care. I recommend it for anyone who is considering hospice or End-of-Life work.

narrator's character voices are bad

the content of the book is wonderful but it's ruined by the voice actor's decision to make every person's voice in the book absurd. it often seemed like right when you're getting to some real moments of gravity and authentic wisdom given to us from the dying, the voice jumps in to make it all sound like a silly radio play.

A few good nuggets

struggled at periods during the book. however, there were some very good take aways.