Guiding Families Through Life's Final Chapter

An end-of-life doula offers support to people who are dying as well as their loved ones.

- INTERVIEW BY EMMA PATCH

What is an end-of-life doula? I'm an educator with INELDA, the International End-of-Life Doula Association, and we define an end-of-life doula as a nonmedical person who accompanies, educates and advocates for people (as well as those in their circle of care) who are planning for death, diagnosed with a terminal illness or facing imminent death. I've worked both with people who are healthy but want to plan for their own future—sometimes because they have witnessed a difficult illness or death with a relative—and with those who have just received a fatal prognosis. I always say that there's no wrong time to reach out to a doula.