WALKING YOU HOME is a Community Interest Company (registered with Companies House #17262804) providing palliative & end-of-life soul nursing, education, and funeral & bereavement support to individuals, their families and communities.
WALKING YOU HOME is a Community Interest Company (registered with Companies House #17262804) providing palliative & end-of-life soul nursing, education, and funeral & bereavement support to individuals, their families and communities.
Spiritual care & specialist wellbeing support for individuals, their families and communities during palliative and end-of-life care.
“Soul Nursing” is the term that I have chosen to adopt to define the supportive presence, advocacy, and activities that I provide for the individual and their family, drawing on my professional and personal experience, my skills and qualifications, and developed in conjunction with the individual and their family during the service.
I bring many years of professional work:
as an exercise therapist with specialist training in health conditions, cancer rehabilitation, and back care,
using counselling skills to support individuals with health concerns, particularly disordered eating, chronic fatigue, and pain
as an ordained interfaith minister, holding space, providing sacred listening, creating meaningful rituals
as a trauma-informed yoga teacher bringing breathwork, mindfulness, grounding techniques, physical movement, and heart-opening mantras to appropriate situations as well as offering physiospiritual yoga circles
as an end-of-life therapist and accredited healthcare chaplain working in palliative and end-of-life care
And I also bring my personal experience, including:
Supporting and caring for my best friend during pregnancies, cancer, dying and death; continuing to support her three children
Caring for my mother during her final months, walking her home.
Specifically soul-nursing includes:
a. Holding space - providing an active presence, prioritising the needs of the person whether that includes sitting quietly, reading, discussing concerns, encouraging exploration of personal history and thoughts about dying, or other topics.
b. Bringing in family members to involve them in storytelling, sharing beliefs, life philosophy, etc.
c. Arranging visits, experiences, and meaningful activities:
i. Maintaining or restoring quality of life - as our world diminishes due to advancing disease, loss of mobility, sight or hearing, it is important to explore new ways of tapping into passions, interests, and dreams. Perhaps a trip to the seaside, time with an old friend, meeting an owl, wolf, or other creature, trying something new like playing the piano or eating ice-cream for breakfast!
ii. Activities might include inviting in a faith leader for a religion-specific rite, or creating a meaningful ceremony or ritual drawing on the individual’s own life philosophy;
an individual might request a blessing, prayers for the dying, vow renewal, or other rite but with no religious context. Walking You Home can offer to create what is wanted and deliver it appropriately at a time agreed with the individual and their family
An individual might like to have a faith leader come to visit. Walking You Home can facilitate this and support both the individual and family as well as the faith leader to ensure that needs are met.
d. Advocacy is vital. As the person who often hears an individual’s deepest fears, concerns, and also their wishes, Walking You Home can help the individual express these clearly, can speak on their behalf when requested and can be the bridge between the individual and other service providers, such as GP, District Nurses, Hospice, and family.
As an experienced and qualified tutor and facilitator Leti offers workshops and seminars, giving talks, making presentations, and writing articles about palliative care, spirituality, end-of-life, death and funerals:
a. Independent workshops set up by Walking You Home in the community
b. Giving talks to groups, such as WI, Probus, Rotary Clubs, and other community groups
c. Making presentations to care homes, nursing homes, hospices, and other institutions, including hospital and academic conferences
d. Creating bespoke training modules for chaplaincy students, trainee celebrants, and others interested in developing their skills in this area
e. Writing articles for chaplaincy journals, newsletters, Substack, etc
I am passionate about encouraging everyone to make their own plans ahead of time, to consider what is important to them and to their families and friends.
This might include gathering stories, memories, photos with family and friends, helping them create tributes, photo collages, memory boxes, etc
Sometimes a living wake is appropriate, allowing the dying person to be present at the celebration of their life.
Funeral planning and officiating – I write each script, working with the family to encourage their input, creating visual tributes, and exploring the best venue for the service, helping with all details, collaborating with funeral directors, and with crematorium, church, or other venue.
Support to the family beyond the funeral might be as simple as keeping communication open, remembering them on the anniversary of death, funeral, or birthday. Also:
Grief education
Bereavement support
Grief circles
