A Guide to Learning With INELDA
by Douglas Simpson
As the field of end-of-life doula work is expanding, so are INELDA’s offerings. In order to meet the demand and interest of those choosing to learn with INELDA, we have grown our education options over the past six months. We hope to highlight the current programming and give you a sense of how we designed the learning areas to best meet your needs.
End-of-Life Trainings
End-of-Life Training encompasses the following three courses: End-of-Life Doula Training, Caregiver Support Training, and an End-of-life Doula Training Refresher. These three courses are our core foundational training and are designed to provide expertise in each of these areas.
End-of-Life Doula Training is for both those learners new to this field, never having delved into this work, and also for those seeking additional knowledge to amplify work they may already do in the healing arts. Many people who take this training are interested in answering a personal calling or desire to support others for the first time. Some learners may be nurses, doctors, community activists, therapists, healers, religious leaders, and others who serve their communities already. This training is offered in various formats, including in person, online, and intensive three-day training.
Caregiver Support Training is designed for those individuals who may be supporting a close loved one through their death currently or in the future, but is also for those who are not yet sure they want to become a doula and are interested in exploring more about this work. Our educators create an environment for learning that will help you curate end-of-life experiences in which family and friends feel safe, valued, and in control. In some cases loved ones have taken the class together in order to design how they can best serve each other.
End-of-Life Doula Training Refresher is for those individuals who may have studied with INELDA before September 2021, when we changed some fundamentals in our curriculum. This training also welcomes those who may have trained with another doula organization and are interested in learning the INELDA approach. Lastly, this training is also for those who may have wanted to be doing more work in the field since they last took their training and are interested in getting more support and information before applying their knowledge.
Classes
Our class offerings are designed as a multisession learning experience. Learners have used our classes as an opportunity to explore topics around deathcare that they may have either touched on in INELDA trainings, to discover a great compendium for another training they took, or even as a way to dive into this work.
Our new Going Deeper class series will expand the fundamental core training and will allow learners to explore these topics with a more robust approach. We launched with Going Deeper | Grief and will be adding more Going Deeper classes in 2023.
INELDA’s Navigating series prepares doulas to approach deathcare with a specific understanding of a type of illness, a religious approach, or the many different types of death that can occur. Currently we are offering Navigating Dementia and will be adding more from the Navigating series in the upcoming year.
Lastly, we offer our Decolonizing Deathcare class, as well as our on-demand Business Development Class.
Workshops
INELDA educators bring to our workshops years of experience in the fields of psychotherapy, writing, grief work, nursing, chaplaincy, and many more areas of expertise. Their passion to teach from their lived experiences has resulted in our workshop offerings.
Each workshop is 90 minutes and is designed for learners to glean a basic understanding of the topics presented, often coupled with hands-on exercises. Some workshops are designed as a series, but all can be taken individually.
These low-cost offerings are a great way to get to know INELDA, meet our many educators, focus on a topic you want to learn about, or just become further involved in the community.
How to Develop Your Own Path
We have created these different types of shared learning opportunities so you can pick and choose to create your own paths for the people you seek to serve.
Situational example:
My parent is diagnosed with dementia, and I am seeking how I can support this person.
Potential path:
- Caregiver Support Training for Loved Ones (Training)
- Navigating Dementia (Class)
- LifeWriting (Workshop)
Situational example:
I am an end-of-life doula who trained in 2019, and would like to support homeless veterans.
Potential path:
- End-of-Life Doula Training Refresher (Training)
- Going Deeper | Grief (Class)
- Trauma-Informed Caregiving Series (Workshops)