Who is a Volunteer Companion (Death) Doula? 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

Anyone can be a doula. No special skills are required, just an open mind, a compassionate heart, and a willingness to listen and talk about life and death. This course gives you the capacity and the courage to do this.

A doula is someone without an agenda, whose sole purpose is to hear and respond. They understand that "living until you die" is a possibility and model it in their own lives.

Age and capacity do not define our lives until our last breath, but the support of others makes our lives meaningful and more doable

 

If you are an aged care worker, doctor, nurse, allied health worker, volunteer or just interested, I would love you to join me in this important work.  I have been a Registered nurse for many years,  worked in Aged Care homes, a Palliative Care Nurse who felt and experienced limitations and gaps around the end-of -life.

 

The community is waking up and asking for more.  We can enhance the Palliative care team’s effectiveness and enhance the experience for families caring at home, hospital, hospice or care facilities.

 

Develop the skills to do Advance Directives with people, help them plan their funeral and just be so open to all possibilities around that.  This course will offer all that learning.

 

The course will also open you to living more fully ‘til you die. I have been training Doulas of all sorts for many years; www.deniselove.net for more about me and the courses.  Join me on a life-changing adventure!

 

This is a newish initiative to establish Doulas to open the door to a better End-of-Life experience for everybody or for those in a Hospital, home or Care Facility.  We had begun this work when COVID hit and that changed everything in a million ways, so here we go again. 

 

As the course creator and the facilitators, we will support you in many ways to gain confidence to be in this role and better understand how this differs from other care people may be receiving. 

 

You will gather skills to be able to establish contact and present the possibilities of Doulas in all facilities and in the end-of-life space, such as hospice and palliative care.  The course I designed for you to be able to work within an institution, as opposed to private practice.  You will bring death literacy to a person dying, their family and friends and anybody we come into contact with. 

 

Many health professionals find the concept of dying and death very confronting and are not necessarily geared to handle it “well”.  We know that, when we address fear around dying, the process and the grief for the person dying, their carers and their family and friends, life unfolds much more comfortably for everybody. We open the door to honest conversation if people choose.  We will need to be gentle and patient as this is new for everybody.

 

You may already be working in in a hospital or aged care and just want to top up your skills, you may be new to all this and just wish to volunteer in your local facilities or run information sessions in the community.  This course offers you those tools. Your life will change as you develop these skills!

 

I do wish as career Nurse I had this type of training to ease the end-of-life challenges. 

 

How it unfolds for the course designed for institute workers

 

This is a 4-week Course

Join the Facebook study group where you have the opportunity to meet each other, share info., ask questions and support each other in this important newish initiative.

1. Your commitment is to put aside 5 hours a week to do the desired work in the module.

2. Attend if possible or watch at your own leisure the Zoom sessions.  This more a sharing session where I will also present some information relative to the Module for the week.  You will be guided how to get into the Zoom and do this.  I am on the Facebook page and guided may people with few computer skills through this.  You can do it!!

3. A Module will be posted  weekly for 4 weeks.  You have 4 months to complete to receive your certificate

4. Reflections at the end of each module to send back to deniselovelifoptions@gmail to confirm the completion of the module to gain Certification.

 

Let’s do this and care for our elders or people in care homes In a more informed, compassionate and effective way in relation to their last chapter and be a Compassionate Companion!

 

Denise