When it comes to helping people on their journeys through end of life and/or grief, no matter how
much you already know there will always be more to learn. Every person you work with will have
something to teach you. But it is also your responsibility to show up prepared, with as much knowledge
as possible—your clients will teach you but they also expect you to know more than they do. After all,
that’s what they hired a doula for!
As a school and a community, one of the aspects of IDLM that we are most proud of is our commitment
to maintaining relationships with our graduates and making sure they have access to continuing
education. We want to make it easy for all our IDLM students and graduates to keep up with constantly
evolving laws around end of life care and to be aware of emerging new resources for end of life
professionals. The Movement is a great resource for sharing information informally, and regular
continuing education nights give the opportunity to gather for a conversation, to hear from visiting
experts and IDLM partners about particular tools or topics and connect more personally. These are all
great ways to build on the foundational knowledge you get from the End of Life 101 Course.
And coming up for the first time in just a few weeks, IDLM is excited to begin offering an entire new
course designed to help doulas who already know the basics to delve into more topics that are not so
basic. Our Advanced Doula Course, beginning in February, will include modules focusing on how to talk
to and care for veterans and their families, and how to be of service to surviors of sexual trauma and
abuse. Perhaps most importantly, this course also includes a module on medical terminology, which will
be invaluable for those who have come to doula work from a non-medical background in helping them
communicate with their clients’ doctors and hospice teams.
This course has been designed in collaboration with our partners at Opus Peace. Their work strongly
focuses on veterans, SA survivors, and others who suffer from PTSD, and the experience and knowledge
they have to share will bring a great deal of insight to how best to work with these types of clients when
it is time to help them through their end of life journey.
You can learn more about the work of Opus Peace here, and sign up for our Advanced Doula Course
here. And don’t forget to check in with the Movement, at least every once in a while! Whatever you
want your journey through 2025 to look like, and whatever it ends up actually looking like, IDLM is here
to support you, and to connect you to the resources that will help you succeed!
