Profiles in presence: LINDSAY COMPTON
Interview with Lindsay Compton in her own words:
This month, it is exciting to begin sharing interviews with The Peaceful Presence Project’s very own staff! Lindsay Compton, TPPP’s Program Coordinator recently connected with this writer and it is a pleasure to share her story in a bit more depth, so please read on!
Lindsay left her home state of Missouri to attend the University of Oregon and embarked on her “first” career, that of teaching middle school students for fifteen years in Bend. After Covid, she and her husband were ready to make a change and moved to Oakridge, a small rural community between Bend and Eugene. During this time, Lindsay started to volunteer for a hospice (the closest being 45 miles away in Eugene), “and I really saw the disparity for folks living in these rural areas who didn’t have access to services and resources. While I was doing that, I was watching what The Peaceful Presence Project was launching in Bend, and I thought, what they are doing is so needed and valuable, and they are filling in all these gaps that I was seeing as a hospice volunteer. At the same time, my Dad was declining with Lewy-Body dementia, and I was completely unprepared for what that was going to look like for us as a family. We had never talked about death and dying, and he and his wife were kind of ignoring what was about to come.”
When Lindsay learned of an upcoming TPPP rural End-of-Life Doula training, she felt it was a perfect fit both for her in aiding her community and her family. “When you’ve been on the other side, you can really see what is needed, what you wished someone could show up with to help at that time.” As her role with TPPP has evolved to include teaching the Professional EOL Doula Training, Lindsay has appreciated having this perspective.
Lindsay has found that people’s willingness to talk about death and dying, to express their own fears and concerns when in a setting that feels safe, has been a welcome surprise given our cultural norms around this topic. “We all are just looking for those connections, right?” In a recent Connection Cafe, as Lindsay sat with a widowed man in his 80’s, she thought, “what do I have to offer this octogenarian, married for over 50 years, who has had so much life experience and just endured the greatest grief of this life? And what I found, what we know as doulas, was that active listening, that presence was really all he needed and wanted.”
Lindsay sees her role in TPPP as continuing to fulfill the mission that our founders have ambitiously articulated. She is delighted to be utilizing her teaching skills in combination with the passion she feels for supporting TPPP programs and changing the culture around death and dying.
A fun fact about Lindsay is that she is the granddaughter of a funeral home director! Her mom’s father, who she never had the opportunity to meet, ran a funeral home in a small Missouri town.
A favorite self-care for Lindsay is exercise. “All kinds of body movement . Trying to get out of my head and into my body. . . anything that can get me outdoors and in nature.”
Lindsay loves coordinating TPPP’s book club. She truly enjoys the opportunity to read books that are related to our field, skill-set and mission, and meeting so many interesting participants through this on-line forum. The club meets quarterly; next on July 7th. More info is available here: https://thepeacefulpresenceproject.org/bookclub.
Lindsay is a joy to know, and such a valuable member of the Peaceful Presence team! We are so very grateful for the skills she brings to our table and the love of doula service she provides in numerous ways as a member of our staff.