Death is often avoided in conversation. Something we save for “later,” until it’s suddenly too late. But what if death was meant to be more than chaos, more than fear? What if it could be sacred?
In this powerful and tender opening to Season 4 of the Freely Feminine Podcast, I sit down with Joslyn Roadstrom, a holistic death and grief doula whose own journey through devastating loss became the soil for her life’s most meaningful work. Together, we explore what it means to live, and die, well. How grief is truly just love with nowhere to go, and why planning for death might be one of the most loving things you can do for yourself and your family.
We speak about collective care, dignity at the end of life, reclaiming the sacredness of death, and how women in particular are designed to hold the unknown. Joslyn’s story is both heart-wrenching and profoundly hopeful, and her wisdom will leave you reconsidering what it means to live a full life.
Topics we explore:
What a death doula is (and isn’t)
Why grief needs to be tended like a garden
What a “good death” really means
The connection between birth and death
Why honoring the elderly is essential to a thriving culture
How women are biologically wired to hold space for the unknown
Tangible steps to begin planning for a peaceful end-of-life experience
This conversation is not about death - it’s about life, legacy, and the sacred responsibility of holding it all with love.
Introduction to Joslyn:
Joslyn Roadstrom is a certified death doula, grief educator, and holistic grief coach based in the Flint Hills of Kansas. Her path to this work began in 2020 after the sudden and tragic death of her only child, Israel. Out of the ashes of that loss, Joslyn began to rebuild her life slowly, tenderly, and with deep reverence for the sacred transition that is death.
As a former health coach with a passion for functional wellness and nervous system healing, Joslyn brings a deeply holistic lens to her work, tending not just to the logistics of end-of-life planning, but to the spiritual, emotional, and physical aspects of death and grief. Her mission is simple but profound: to help others reclaim death as sacred, find peace in transition, and honor grief as a reflection of love.
Through her offerings—ranging from grief support and vigil planning to community death education and sacred end-of-life care—Joslyn is restoring something our culture has long forgotten: the dignity, beauty, and healing that can come when we are willing to walk with each other through life’s final threshold.
You can find her on Instagram @sacredroaddoula or at sacredroaddoula.com.