Advanced End of Life Doula Program
Take your death doula practice to the next level with the International Doula Life Movement’s Advanced End-of-Life Doula Program. Designed for those looking to deepen their expertise and enhance their skills, this comprehensive course will equip you with advanced tools, knowledge, and techniques to better serve clients and their families during the end-of-life journey. IDLM partners with Opus Peace to bring this transformative learning experience.
Class will be every other Sunday starting November 22 through June 6.
Keep reading to learn more about the topics covered in the program.
$800
$140 / 6 monthly
The format of the program is hybrid, combining self-paced modules with live interactive sessions. All online class meetings will be recorded and uploaded to your student dashboard within 48 hours for easy access. Each week, you’ll complete modules that offer specialized content, followed by live sessions where we explore case studies, hold discussions, and answer your questions. This program is designed to refine your skills and help you better support those navigating end-of-life care.
Join us to gain practical, real-world experience and deepen your understanding of advanced death doula practices, preparing you to make an even greater impact in your community.
Overview
Opus Peace and the International Doula Life Movement (IDLM) have partnered to deliver The Advanced End-of-Life Doula Program. Opus Peace is a unique 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to identifying and addressing “Soul Injury™” — a wound that disconnects individuals from their authentic selves. This concept has grown into a national movement, raising awareness about Soul Injury™ and how to heal its underlying causes.
The name “Opus” derives from Latin, meaning “complex work” or “masterpiece.” Achieving personal peace requires courageous introspection to navigate inner defenses that obstruct self-compassion and grace. By overcoming these barriers, individuals can attain the “masterpeace” of transitioning from living solely to living soulfully.
Our program in partnership with OpusPeace offers a wide range of specialized learning modules tailored for end of life doulas, veterans, caregivers, and individuals navigating aging, chronic illness, and trauma. Each module is designed to provide actionable insights, compassionate tools, and a deep understanding of critical topics.
Medical Terminology for End-of-Life Doulas included in this training program.
While end-of-life doulas are non-medical professionals, understanding medical terminology can be incredibly beneficial. Over last 12 weeks of program, doulas will gain the knowledge needed to comprehend medical terms often encountered during doctor visits or interactions with healthcare teams. This skill empowers doulas to interpret medical conversations, understand clinical notes, and help clients better navigate their medical circumstances.
Students will need to purchase Medical Terminology Made Easy: The Essential Learning Tool for Healthcare Students to Decode and Dominate Medical Jargon | 1500+ Key Terms | 3 Extra contents
Topics Covered:
Veteran Basics: What You Need to Know
- Welcome, Workbook, and Instructions
- Introduction to Veteran Basics: Foundational knowledge tailored for understanding veterans’ unique needs.
- Anchor Your Heart: Grounding techniques for emotional resilience.
- Self-Compassion: Finding peace within.
- Key Topics Covered:
- The 3 Trajectories
- Military Culture
- PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)
- Guilt and Forgiveness
- Bonus Content: Vietnam Veterans, Present Moment Living, Russell Ford – Prisoner of War, Real Men Cry (Slideshow)
Veterans Beyond the Basics: What You May Not Know
- Welcome, Workbook, and Instructions
- In-Depth Exploration:
- Wounds of Suffering
- The Traumatized Brain
- PTSD Treatment Options
- Acknowledging Service to Our Country
- Veteran Helplessness
- Bonus Content: Move! Soulfully Move Your Body, Vietnam Veterans
- Hope and Healing: Practical steps for recovery and support.
Veteran Caregivers: Unsung Heroes
- Celebrate the pivotal role of caregivers.
- Topics Include:
- Understanding Wounds of Suffering
- Managing PTSD
- Navigating Assumptions
- Bonus Content: Move! Soulfully Move Your Body, Vietnam Veterans
- Hope and Healing: Resources for caregiver well-being.
Aging and Chronic Illness Modules
- Redeeming the Destiny We Were Born to Fulfill
- Addressing ageism, self-perception, and resistance to aging.
- Tools: Loss Inventory, Forgiveness Practices, Bonus Slideshow (“I Am a Gift”)
- Meaningful and Purposeful Aging
- Finding purpose through reflection, creativity, and community.
- Features: “Freddy the Leaf,” 7 Steps of Living and Dying Healed
- Age and Agelessness: A Deeper Dive
- Topics: Role Models, Exit Strategies, Connecting to Agelessness through the arts and nature.
Sexual Trauma Modules
- Addressing Sexual Trauma
- Exploring topics like male sexual trauma and PTSD.
- Tools for hope and healing, including Self-Compassioning practices.
- Childhood Sexual Trauma
- Navigating loss of childhood, grooming, and silence.
- Practical self-help tools for integration and healing.
Advanced Communication Skills:
- Core Communication Skills
- Active listening techniques
- Strategies for building trust and rapport
- Navigating Difficult Conversations
- Approaches for discussing death, dying, and grief
- Techniques for handling sensitive topics with empathy
- Family Dynamics
- Understanding the role of family in end-of-life discussions
- Tools for managing conflict and fostering collaboration
- Compassionate Presence
- Staying grounded and supportive during emotional conversations
Medical Terminology for Doulas:
- Enhance understanding of medical jargon to aid in note-taking and communication.
While end-of-life doulas are non-medical professionals, understanding medical terminology can be incredibly beneficial. Over 12 weeks of dedicated training, doulas will gain the knowledge needed to comprehend medical terms often encountered during doctor visits or interactions with healthcare teams. This skill empowers doulas to interpret medical conversations, understand clinical notes, and help clients better navigate their medical circumstances.
Students will need to purchase Medical Terminology Made Easy: The Essential Learning Tool for Healthcare Students to Decode and Dominate Medical Jargon | 1500+ Key Terms | 3 Extra contents
Empower yourself with these transformative learning experiences. Each module is designed to provide the tools and understanding needed to make a lasting impact in your personal and professional life. Explore the courses and join a community committed to healing, growth, and compassionate care.
Dr. Qwynn Galloway-Salazar
At the intersection of story, service, and systems transformation, Dr. Qwynn Galloway-Salazar is an Army Veteran, spouse to a Combat Veteran, end-of-life doula educator, and George W. Bush Institute Veteran Leadership Scholar (Class of 2025) who has spent more than two decades redefining how communities care for Veterans and their loved ones. As a Designer of Compassionate Communities, she advances community-rooted models of care that shift support from a system-delivered service to a shared responsibility grounded in dignity, belonging, and connection across aging, serious illness, end-of-life, bereavement, and survivorship.
As Founder & CEO of In Their Honor, she leads a creative consulting practice focused on designing compassionate community ecosystems that ensure no one faces aging, caregiving, grief, or the end of life alone. Her work equips communities, institutions, universities, and cross-sector partners with the frameworks, experiences, and strategies needed to build culturally responsive ecosystems of care that are both deeply human and scalable. Through this work, she is helping shape replicable models that strengthen care beyond traditional healthcare boundaries.
Through her national leadership with PsychArmor, Dr. Galloway-Salazar has shaped strategies and large-scale learning initiatives that deepen military cultural competency across healthcare, education, and community systems. She is the creative architect behind Caring for Veterans Through the End of Life, a landmark educational collection designed for healthcare providers, caregivers, and communities to better understand their role in supporting Veterans across the continuum of care. The collection has helped advance more connected, culturally responsive approaches to end-of-life care while expanding how communities understand their responsibility in care. She also co-leads the first global Veteran-focused doula education initiative with the International Doula Life Movement Institute, advancing interdisciplinary models that integrate clinical practice with community-based support.
Her creative scholarship extends through her work as an Artist in Residence with Grief Dialogues, where she produces theatre and dialogue-driven experiences that help communities process, witness, and respond to grief, end-of-life, and the invisible wounds carried by military-connected communities. Her works include In Honor (2026), Grief Dialogues: Memorial Day (2025), and Can I Trust You: Support for Veterans at the End of Life (2024), performed at End Well.
Dr. Galloway-Salazar serves on the Board of Directors for the Caregiver Action Network, contributing to national efforts that elevate caregivers as essential partners in care. Recognized as USA Today’s 2024 Woman of the Year for Georgia and the Inaugural Georgia Woman Veteran of the Year (2022), she continues to advance a growing movement rooted in one belief: no one should age, grieve, or face the end of life alone.
Deborah L. Grassman
website: www.OpusPeace.org or www.soulinjury.org
Few people have been with 10,000 dying veterans; one VA hospice nurse has. What Deborah Grassman has witnessed is providing lessons for the rest of the world. The lessons are about a process for attaining personal peace, and ironically, these lessons have come from people who were trained for war. She discovered a phenomenon that has become identified as “Soul Injury.” As a result, she founded a non-profit organization called Opus Peace to bring the Soul Injury message to others. A Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, Deborah is the author of two books, Peace at Last and The Hero Within. She is a contributing author for four textbooks, has 25 published articles, and there are five documentary films featuring her work, as well as providing a TED talk on Soul Injury. Deborah is the Director of the Opus Peace Institute where leaders are trained to provide programs that respond to Soul Injuries.”
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