Hi, Jess here.
I am an educator, servant leader, grief/bereavement specialist, and doula with over 20 years of professional experience facilitating individuals and groups in the experience of deep learning, grief, change, and death. I live in Essex with my family (a spouse, two children, and two cats). I stayed in Vermont after attending Saint Michael’s College for my B.A. in English and, years later, my M.Ed. in Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment. Many grateful years of teaching adolescents and then group facilitators, educators, and leaders inform all of my work. Grief is one of the hardest and most relentless teachers from which I’ve learned; and it is one of the greatest privileges of my life to companion you through what shapes us all.
With love and gratitude,
Jess Barewicz, M.Ed.
Director and Lead Doula
End-of-Life Doula, University of Vermont
Pediatric End-of Life Doula, University of Vermont
Grief and Bereavement Specialist, University of Vermont
M.Ed. in Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, Saint Michael’s College
B.A. in English, Saint Michael’s College
Critical Friends Group (CFG) facilitator (“coach”) and trainer
Professional Learning Communities (PLC) facilitator and trainer
Specific areas of training, experience, and/or affinity:
trauma-informed and trauma-responsive care
LGBTQIA+ end-of-life care
ends of pregnancy
pediatric death
school crisis intervention and grief support
group facilitation and professional development
facilitation for community engagement and communal mourning
organizational support and systems work
retreats, ceremonies, and rituals designed to the needs of a specific community/place/group of people
Education and Training
The Longer
Version
People often ask me how I got into this vocation. As is usually the case, the call was within me long before I knew how to answer. I became a death doula after decades in the field of education as an English teacher and school principal. I became a death doula after a lifetime of experiencing people die, after being born two months early and expected to die myself. I became a death doula almost 20 years after hearing Alua Arthur use the term and thinking, “wow, that’s a job?! I’d love to do that someday.” I do not take for granted that someday is now. When I’m not sitting vigil or facilitating a group, my favorite things to do are block printing, reading, writing, walking, playing, baking, soaking in hot water, and laying in grass.
Your first days are not more important than your last. In education my work required attuning to others to facilitate ever-growing learning and development. My job was to ensure that among endless possibilities and pathways that at least some results were guaranteed; doula work feels similar. I guarantee unconditional care, non-judgemental listening, advocacy, agency, and compassion. I used to talk a lot about an intentional life of one’s own design. I have shifted to also consider intentional death and grief. Now I am a student of those I serve to better understand how to support last experiences in alignment with deepest wishes or how to walk with them through harsh terrain. As a death doula and as a grief doula, I am here to be a compassionate companion as you move toward only what an ending can answer.
Doula work is deeply personal and 1:1, yet we also need more communal spaces to process grief, death, loss, and change designed for just that purpose. The Grief Center of Vermont was born out this deep need. No matter how we work together, I am grateful to sit beside you. You do not have to carry the experience of life, loss, and death alone.
I have strong and complicated feelings about using pain and loss (yours or mine) as credentials as this industry seems to demand. Probably because I’ve experienced a lot of both pain and loss. There comes a point at which my experiences are not badges of honor or proof of anything other than being another human embodiment of the cycles of life, grief, and death. I have personal and professional experiences with a range of deaths and losses that have well prepared me to walk with you through your forest, but there is no map. I have much education and training, but I don’t know your particular experiences. If there is a time it is helpful for you to know about my experiences, please feel welcome to ask me directly.