Volunteer Hospice offers Soul Care series, training for new volunteers

Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County is hosting the third Speaker Series as part of its Soul Care program. This program, made possible thanks to a grant from the Albert and Helen Mangan Fund, is free of charge, and is offered via Zoom every other month.

Registration is required in advance at 360-452-1511 or vsm@vhocc.org.

The series continues from noon-1:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 8, with a presentation by Dr. Sarah Kerr on “Ritual Healing for Death and Loss.”

In the midst of grief and loss, rituals help people connect with themselves, with each other and with the healing powers of nature, love and lineage, series organizers say. Meaningful rituals can help dying people and their families ease the difficult relationship changes that happen at death.

This presentation will introduce the key principles of ritual healing and explore rituals for different stages in the dying process. It will consider death as a village-making event, and ritual as a tool to facilitate that.

Kerr has been in practice as a death doula and ritual healing practitioner since 2012 and has helped hundreds of people meet death and loss in soul-centric way. She has a PhD in Transformative Learning, with a focus on contemporary ritual healing and has been a student of cross-cultural energy healing.

Orientations set

Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County offers monthly orientations for those interested in learning more about or volunteering with the organization.

April sessions are scheduled from 11 a.m.-noon on Thursday, June 2, on Zoom, and Friday, June 3, at 829 E. Eighth St., Port Angeles. Register by calling 360-452-1511 or emailing to vsm@vhocc.org.

Volunteers can be at bedside, but there are other open positions, including the reception desk, the Lending Closet, and delivering medical equipment in the Port Angeles area using VHOCC vehicles.

Since 1978, VHOCC has been providing free hospice services to patients and their families in Clallam County from Diamond Point to Joyce. Part of VHOCC’s mission is to offer grief support groups, not only to families of hospice patients, but to anyone in the community who has experienced the death of a loved one.

For more information, visit VHOCC.org or facebook.com/Volunteerhospiceofclallamcounty or call 360-452-1511.