Originally from Donegal, Laura works as a psychologist and psychotherapist for the Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation and in private practice as a Play Therapist and Lecturer.
Laura describes her work as “helping people to live until they die”.
She knows how to have some of the most difficult conversations anyone will ever have with another individual around trauma, death and illness.
In this conversation she asks Sean about his own plans for dying, something he admits to thinking about often.
“I think about it often enough but I don’t have any preparations. I know there’s one particular song I want my kids to sing. They recorded for my wife’s 60th birthday, it’s ‘May the road rise to meet you’.
And there’s a beautiful recording of it, I had it played… it was the last thing I did with “Today with Sean O’Rourke” about five years ago. Beyond that, look I don’t want any of them to talk about me for more than two minutes”.
Laura may not have your normal 9-5 but her work as a Death Doula is more of a vocation than a job.
She wholeheartedly believes we shouldn’t fear those hard conversations around death because they allow us to live every moment we have.
In her sit down with Sean O’Rourke she queries why Sean hasn’t planned for the inevitable.
“Just while we’re sitting here and it’s just me and you, isn’t it a bit unusual that you haven’t prepared, you’ve prepared for your retirement I’m sure. But you haven’t prepared for the absolute inevitable, the absolute guaranteed inevitable.”
Laura discusses her views on funerals with Sean and suggests it is something that children can attend.
“When we don’t bring kids to funerals, what we’re saying is, there is something here that might hurt you or there’s something there is isn’t good for you.
Instead of, this is the inevitable. I think if we talked to kids in national schools about death and dying people would live their life more fully”.
As a qualified play therapist, Laura works with adolescents and their parents to deal with the world they encounter and the challenges they face.
“Part of my other work is that I do parenting classes for parents of adolescents, specifically adolescents. Because it’s very different… you had this lovely baby, the baby was replaced by this lovely little toddler, you had this lovely toddler who was replaced by a child and then this child was replaced by this entity that is an adolescent that can be really hard to figure out”
But one thing that Laura Coleman demonstrates in this open and engaging conversation with Sean O’Rourke is that for her, death is not something to fear.
“To be fair I think I’m lucky that I’m one of the people that I have no fear of death. Absolutely no fear of death. If my time is up in the morning, I’m ready”
With no question off limits, we have no doubt you will find this conversation informative, educational and insightful.
The conversation involves references to illness, suicide, trauma and death and a link to a webpage with relevant helplines is available in the show notes.
If using quotes or audio, please credit: Insights with Sean O’Rourke
ENDS
Notes to Editor:
Insights is a sit-down conversation between Sean O’Rourke and well-known individuals, offering listeners an insight into featured guests’ life, career and passions.
All episodes are available here: Insights with Sean O’Rourke – RTÉ Podcasts
Further Information – Fergus McCormack, RTÉ Communications, 086 8674751 Fergus.mccormack@rte.ie