In this episode, host Ellen Wong and Death Doula and educator Alua Arthur discuss her NY Times bestselling book, “Briefly Perfectly Human”, racism in death work, what self-care in service looks like, and how her life experiences have informed her work. Learn about the inherent activism in death work, the significance of witnessing others' pain, and the necessity of honoring death to be in right relationship with humanity and the earth.

About Guest: Alua Arthur is the most visible death doula in America today. She is a recovering attorney and the founder of Going with Grace, a death doula training and end-of-life planning organization. Her TEDTalk titled, “Why Thinking About Death Helps You Live a Better Life,” went online in July 2023 and has already received over 1.5 million views. A frequent guest on TV and radio, Arthur has been featured on CBS’s The Doctors and in Disney's Limitless docu-series with Chris Hemsworth, as well as other national media outlets, such as Vogue, InStyle, the Los Angeles Times, The Cut, The New Yorker, New York Times, Marie Claire, and CNN. She has appeared on dozens of podcasts, and a Refinery29 video feature on Arthur and her work received ten million views across social platforms. She travels the country and world as a keynote speaker, addressing audiences at medical and end-of-life conferences, universities, seminaries, senior citizens’ communities, and more, and is perpetually in the quest for donuts.

Alua’s Links

* Order her book Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real about the End

* Going with Grace

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Briefly Perfectly Human with Death Doula Alua Arthur