We were lucky to catch up with Mikayla Ricks recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mikayla, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

I posted a TikTok! I was frustrated about being unable to market myself that was algorithm friendly and posted the video thinking no one would really see it. That it would get lost in the void. When I checked on it a few hours later it had a couple thousand views and one of the people that saw it contacted me about working with their relative to ease their death anxiety. I guess speaking it out into the universe works!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

When I realized being an author wasn’t sustainable for me, I felt defeated. I’d accomplished something I’d been dreaming about since I was a little girl, and it wasn’t what I thought it would be at all. In early 2021, I caught COVID-19 and was unable to work for months., so I had plenty of time to be online scrolling through social media. While spending my days doing that, I put some serious thought into what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I’d just turned 25 and there was nothing I could see myself doing that fit a regular 9 to 5.

A few months later, I came across this video about death doulas and felt it calling to me. I learned that death doulas were nonmedical doulas that provided physical, emotional, and spiritual needs during the death process. I knew there were birth doulas, I just didn’t know there were other types until then. After tons of research, I enrolled in a training course and was able to start my own practice shortly after.

In less than a year, I’ve been able to make an income with my work. My services include grief companionship and holding space while someone is working through death anxiety, grief, or loss; pandemic trauma support; website building for new death doulas; and cultural bias consulting. I’m also an instructor at International Doula Life Movement where I teach other death workers about implicit bias and discrimination in the healthcare system every season.

Because no death doula’s practice looks the same, I’m basically able to create my own services, make my own money, and work from the safety of my home; my work is all virtual.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn the relationship I’d had with money. I don’t come from a family that manages it well and my desire to move into the woods with farm animals and cats and be away from civilization amplified my hatred for it. I hated the way the world depended on it. I hated the evil it made people commit in the name of greed.

I had to learn that money is a neutral energy. It does whatever the owner wants, so there was no reason I couldn’t use it to shelter myself, feed myself, and take care of myself. As soon as I figured that out, I was able to navigate my business a lot smoother.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

True compassion and the willingness to make the world less horrible than it already seems. There are way too many people walking about with hidden mental illnesses because the world around us has been shattering. With so much death and so little people to guide others through that type of grief, it’s essential to enter this line of work with empathy and love.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mikaylaricks.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/feralblacksheep
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaylaricks/
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/fieldbones

Image Credits
Mikayla Ricks