Life Event Rituals

Every human life is filled with rituals, even if we don’t always think of them that way. Small daily rituals like brushing our teeth, weekly rituals of going to church or getting together with friends, annual rituals of celebrating birthdays and holidays. All these rituals, big and small, give shape and order to our lives. […]

Summer Summit 2024

At International Doula Life Movement, our top priority is making sure all of our students have access to in depth, comprehensive training for working with end of life patients. We are proud to say that even our basic course is constantly being enhanced with new information, staying as current as possible with new advances in […]

Dealing With Sudden Death

As doulas, when most of us imagine a case we might work on, I think we generally envision a situation where someone is nearing death but still communicative. We plan on being able to ask them about their wishes and talk with the family about what is going to happen, we prepare ourselves to guide […]

Extensive Advance Directive Training is a Win-Win-Win

As an end of life/death educator, I have learned first hand that our role starts “in the now” when it comes to advance care planning. Through my 25 years of death doulaship, I have seen that the doula skill set provides a perfect match to help others with end of life conversations and the questions […]

Doulas and Grief Work

Those of us who work in end of life care need to be considerate of the fact that while death is certainly the end for the person who dies, for the people who grieve it is only the beginning. But working in death care does not always mean being an expert in grief, and that’s totally okay.

Pediatrics and End of Life

For this week’s blog, we are excited to spotlight two more of the experts scheduled to speak at IDLM’s upcoming Tree of Life Conference.  Toula Saratsis is an end of life doula who specializes in pediatric care. From her bio: Toula is a Certified End-of-Life Doula who specializes in perinatal and pediatric palliative care, end-of-life, […]

Not Dead Yet

Don’t let yourself start making the mistake of thinking of terminal patients only in terms of their illness. Instead, keep looking at the mother/father/grandparent/brother/sister/beloved friend who is still there with you, living and breathing, ready to talk about the things they care about, everything they have done in their life, and even the things they still want to do. Maybe you can help them do those things! There is still time.

IDLM Dementia Team

As the upcoming Treeof Life Conference gets closer, we would like to spotlight the wonderful experts who will be in attendance. This week, to begin, we will focus on two women who will both be sharing their extensive knowledge regarding dementia care.

IDLM partners with Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice to train EOL Doulas

Hospice and doulas can benefit one another in so many ways. It is important to remember we are all in this together, to adopt a mindset of teamwork, with an awareness of our clients’ needs and the different strengths we all bring toward filling those needs, as doulas, hospice workers, or whatever other role may be required to bring peace and comfort during the dying process.

The Jaws Effect

Within the doula and death positive community we spend a lot of time talking about how to open conversations about death, and how important it is to do that. In this week’s blog we’re going to discuss why it is so important to make the effort and have these conversations in the first place.