Hi! I am Kirby.
My path into accompanying people at the end of life began in Central Mexico, where I spent two years working with a team of life, death, and transition doulas with the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation. Through this experience, I learned and experienced the sacred nature and honor of accompanying someone through the end of their life, simply by being present to another’s lived experience. I witnessed the transformative and reciprocal nature for both the dying person and the one accompanying them. I witnessed what is possible beyond institutionalized care. I witnessed what it is to have the rights of caring for the bodies of our dead in the home through after-death care with medicinal plants and herbs and orchestrating ritual and ceremony through home funeral. I witnessed the possibility of returning to the Earth through lying the body in the ground with only a handmade shroud through green burial.
I experienced a deepening in my relationship with my own ancestors, which opened a door to fostering connection with those I care for when they are gone and supporting loved ones in doing the same. I witnessed the importance of grieving in community and how healing and transformational that is. I also discovered the profound meaning of living and dying consciously, which has shaped who I am today and brought me to this part of the world, among the trees in the Catskill Mountains, after having lived in urban environments for over 15 years.
What I carry from my time in Mexico is not taken but woven into me, held with reverence and responsibility. The traditions, knowledge, and ways of being I encountered are not mine to claim, but they live in me as lessons, shaping how I walk this path with integrity. I do not replicate or appropriate what was shared with me, but rather, I distill the essence of what I learned into my own lineage, honoring the universal truths of presence, care, and connection to the natural cycles of life and death.
I am forever grateful to my many teachers and friends in Mexico, and what I witnessed there is a part of me. My greatest teachers will always be those I cared for while they were dying, my dreams, and Mother Nature herself.
Since leaving Mexico in 2023, I have been working with Hudson Valley Hospice as a vigil doula and a certified Home Health Aide. Providing hands-on, non-medical care in a person's final days has felt deeply aligned with my values. I believe that dignity is essential, and even in a time of profound vulnerability, healing and pleasure remain possible at the end of life.
In 2023, I volunteered at Circle Home for the Dying and helped lay the foundation for The Seventh Sense Care Collective in 2023–24. In addition to my work through Devotee to the Trees, I now offer private caregiving through Heart to Hearth Care, providing hands-on support for Elders and those at the end of life in the Woodstock, NY area.
This work is my heartfelt devotion—a service to humanity that I offer with deep reverence. While I am comfortable accompanying the dying, I am equally devoted to life and to the well-being of future generations on this planet. I am passionate about supporting others in exploring how their dying process can be a reflection of their life, or even a part of their healing—where, for the first time, they choose to live consciously through their dying.
My work is grounded in my connection to the Beloved, the Divine, the Universe—however one may understand it—which sustains and guides me. I welcome individuals of all backgrounds and beliefs, meeting each person where they are.
The mission of Devotee to the Trees is to support conscious dying in community. At the same time, I honor and serve those who may not wish to engage with their dying process in this way, offering each person equal care, presence, and respect.