END-OF-LIFE DOULA TRAINING
AN INVITATION…
Death plays a role in all of our lives. At INELDA we believe that having education around death and dying is important. As non-medical companions, doulas have the opportunity to provide holistic support encompassing emotional, physical, educational, and practical care to anyone, in any environment.
The INELDA Doula Approach offers a process-based model with
principles that simultaneously inform doulas as they provide support
for a dying person and their circle of care. This global approach includes
three main principles of self-awareness, autonomy of the dying, and the
dying process. This reiterative process can be used to address the needs of any person planning for death, diagnosed with a terminal illness, or facing imminent death, and for those who have experienced a sudden death.
We prepare doulas to move receptively into their communities to provide person-specific end-of-life care and act as an advocate for death awareness. We welcome all, as we explore approaching death, together.
COST: ONLINE $995 | IN-PERSON $1195*
DISCOUNTS: 5% for Tier 2 and 3 Members, 15% for Student or Military
Payment plans available.
- SCHOLARSHIPS: Available
- ONLINE WORK: estimated 13-16 hours
- EDUCATOR-LED SESSIONS : 24 hours live
- PREREQUISITE: Open to all
- REQUIREMENTS: Internet access to Zoom
- NURSING CONTACT HOURS: 40 hours – $90
*Pricing may vary based at in-person locations.
But there is a deep historical and spiritual tradition of doing death differently—of supporting and guiding the dying and their caregivers in a way that allows for inner engagement with the richness of their lives, and often, a more peaceful death. This path of service goes back thousands of years and has been revitalized in the modern end-of-life doula movement.
WE WELCOME YOU TO:
- Investigate your feelings around mortality and end-of-life
- Learn the INELDA Doula Approach
- Discover current options of end of life in your communities
- Practice listening as the backdrop of doula care
- Practice sharing cultural perspectives around death and dying
- Learn about the individuality of death
- Support the self-determination of each individual, circle of care, and community
- Understand the possible trajectories dying and physical signs and symptoms
- Learn that doula care is vast spectrum of offerings
- Learn basic grief literacy
- Educate your communities around end-of-life at an individual and system level
- Prepare to enter INELDA’s certification program and to take NEDA’s proficiency badge exam.
TRAINING APPROACH
- Educator-led group sessions
- Situational learning practice, demonstrations, and role plays
- Access to a peer-to-peer learning space
- Discussion, contemplative content, and journaling
- Slide and video content to enhance learning
- Supportive printed materials
- Mindfulness exercises
- Small group and pairs exercises
- Self-paced prework and postwork
- Ongoing monthly community of practice sessions to practice your doula methods.
EDUCATOR-LED FORMATS
- IN PERSON: 3 to 5 consecutive daily sessions
- ONLINE: 3 to 6 sessions designed to fit your schedule
- Each format is 24 hours in a synchronous environment
end-of-life doula training calendar
june
july
august
september
october
november
EDUCATORS
EDUCATORS
Our growing team of educators draws from decades of work as end-of-life doulas. Their insights and stories from the bedside capture the essence of doula work and inspire attendees to walk with them on the same path. They also have extensive backgrounds in trauma-informed care, nursing, social work, spiritual care, grief, the healing arts, adult education, and hospice administration. Every one of them has also completed or is engaged in, our doula certification process.
END-OF-LIFE DOULA TRAINING FAQs
There are no prerequisites to taking the course. However, the first part of the course involves watching four hours of video instruction and doing a series of activities. It will take you ten to twelve hours to complete all of the prework.
Access to the prework videos and activities, a mailed physical workbook, as well as a PDF version of the workbook.
We currently offer several different formats for the course. Some concentrate the learning into fewer fuller days, while others have more but shorter sessions. Each format lasts for 24 hours of PowerPoint presentations, stories from the bedside, and experiential exercises. In addition, there will be varying hours of optional, but highly recommended Review and Reprocessing sessions for the offerings with shorter sessions. Check out our training calendar here for specific dates and times.
INELDA’s end-of-life doula training provides 40 Nursing Contact Hours for a charge of $90; you can purchase them at the time you register for the course. If you have already registered for the training course and now would like to pay for the Nursing Contact Hours you can do that by clicking here.
The training course is intended to give you a thorough grounding in the knowledge and skills you will need to effectively support and guide a dying person and their loved ones through the dying process. You will learn the INELDA foundational model, how to be a deep active listener, use guided imagery and ritual, and much more. You will participate in intensive exercises to practice the techniques that will prepare you to provide person-centered care. For more details, see the description of the training course here.
No, prior clinical training is not necessary to become an EOL doula. If you are a compassionate person who can truly listen to another human being without judgment, and you feel a calling to this work, then you can learn to be an end-of-life doula.
That depends as this is a relatively new field. So, earning enough of an income to support a family if there is no other source of income may be challenging. We recommend that you gain experience working at the bedside before starting your own private practice. We also recommend that you have another form of income to support you during the early days of your practice. You will need to think out of the box about your work to build community awareness about your services and to increase your earnings. Nonetheless, many of our trainees have started their own doula business or joined an existing collaborative or collective.
This course touches on some intense experiences and requires an emotional openness and vulnerability when you engage in the exercises. If you feel emotionally fragile now, this probably isn’t the best time to take the course. But only you can judge whether or not you can regulate your emotions enough to explore what it means to die and how we move through the process of dying. If you have any doubts you can do this, then wait until your inner life is more settled to take the course, or reach out to us at [email protected] to discuss your situation.
We offer a 15% discount for military and veterans. To receive this discount, please send a copy of your military, veteran status government issued ID to [email protected]
This discount will apply to the full cost of the course, and cannot be combined with any membership discount.
We offer a 15% discount for students. To receive this discount, please provide a copy of your current enrollment and student ID. Documents can be sent to [email protected]
This discount will apply to the full cost of the course, and cannot be combined with any membership discount.
