“What people need most on this journey is not the next new technology but rather a guide to help navigate this forest.”
- Angelo Volandes, M.D.
Cheryl D. Danley
Cheryl specializes in standing alongside clients, family members and care partners through three end-of-life phases: (a) planning and life review, (b) conducting vigil and (c) grief and celebration of life. Certified as an Advance Care Planning Facilitator, Cheryl draws on both professional training and personal experience with her own family and friends. After her mother Laytha suffered a stroke, Cheryl was blessed to be referred to Asantewaa Gail Harris, an end-of-life doula who became a source of inspiration as Cheryl accompanied her mother Laytha through the complete cycle. When the end came, Laytha’s wishes were known and honored.
Cheryl has deep appreciation for family histories and legacies, and she is grateful to the Floral City Florida Heritage Council for capturing her mother’s story on video. Laytha’s final wishes were carried out at a Thanksgiving Celebration of Life by scattering her ashes over the Florida farmland where she was born.
Cheryl’s practice is also informed by living in a transnational intercultural blended family, and by her prior career in international development. During her tenure with Africare, a humanitarian organization that operated projects to improve the quality of life in Africa, Cheryl oversaw HIV/AIDS programs in Tanzania and South Africa. Through this work, she came to appreciate the role of palliative care, grief and celebration in processing death. Such a background uniquely positioned Cheryl to serve expatriates abroad in navigating services for loved ones in the States -- a virtual Doula to the Diaspora. At home in Florida, Cheryl works with Papa Pals, a service that assists seniors with companionship and household chores; volunteers with Deliver the Dream, an organization that provides therapeutic programs to families facing a serious illness, crisis, or disability, and participates in the multi-university PACT Study -- Preventing Alzheimer’s with Cognitive Training. In 2022, with Willow Baum, Cheryl co-hosted Tender Care Conversations, a support group for care partners. Cheryl is a member of the Empath Health/Suncoast Hospice volunteer team in Pinellas County.
