Doula Educational Topics &
Industry News
The Importance of Hospice
We are halfway through November, and that means we are halfway through Hospice and Palliative Care Awareness Month! End of life doulas are often called upon to educate our clients about hospice and palliative care options. This can be a tricky topic, because many people believe they understand what hospice…
Graduate Spotlight - Lee Malecki
For this week’s blog entry, we turn the spotlight over to IDLM graduate Lee Malecki. She shares in her own words about the journey that led her to end of life work and to IDLM. We are so proud to have Lee as a member of our community and feel…
Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice Partners With IDLM
On the night of April 15, 1975, 21-year-old Karen Ann Quinlan told her roommates she wasn’t feeling well and went to lie down. A few minutes later, someone who went to check on her found her passed out, not breathing. They performed CPR and rushed her to the hospital, but…
Tree of Life Conference - It's Here!
When we ask our students and graduates what they value most about being a part of International Doula Life Movement, one of the answers we get most often is, “the community.” We love to hear it! Our primary mission at IDLM is to provide end of life doulas and anyone…
Graduate Spotlight - Denise Johnson
This week we would like to spotlight one of our lovely International Doula Life Movement graduates, Denise Johnson. If you would like to participate in our Student Spotlight, please reach out to Aurora Nibley through direct message on the Movement. What first brought you to end of life work? On…
Finding Purpose in Life's Final Moments: The Journey of an End-of-Life Doulaof an End-of-Life Doula
At the age of 15, I began volunteering at a local hospital. A simple act of service helped me find my true calling in hospice. This early experience laid the foundation for what would become my life’s work, caring for individuals in their final stages of life, a journey that…
Heather Harman
International Doula Life Movement’s Tree of Life Conference is getting closer and closer! We have spent a great deal of time these past few weeks introducing the many experts and speakers who will be joining us for our Tree of Life Conference, but we still have one person left. She…
Stages of Grief - Denial
Clients who reach out to engage the services of an end of life doula all have one thing in common—for one reason or another, death is on their mind. More often than not, their death or the death of someone close to them will be happening fairly soon and they…
Tree of Life Spotlight
Fall is in the air, and the International Doula Life Movement Tree of Life Conference is getting closer and closer! Over the past several weeks we have taken time to spotlight many of the speakers we are looking forward to having with us at the conference, all with their own…
Five Stages of Grief
In the 1960s, psychologist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross began a controversial project that would become her life’s work: she conducted a series of interviews with people who had been diagnosed with terminal illnesses, to ask them about their thoughts and feelings regarding their impending death. Many people—including doctors—were unsupportive, and even resistant…
Meet: The Hospice Care Plan & Linda McDowell
When people learn you work in end of life care, they say things like, “That’s so interesting,” or “I could never do that.” Sometimes the reaction is positive and sometimes it’s negative, but in both cases there is often an unspoken question—why on earth would you want to do THAT?…
Death in Pop Culture
This past week I was speaking to an acquaintance, someone I have known for a while but don’t know well. Somehow it came up that I work in end of life care and death planning. The woman’s eyes lit up. “Like Swedish Death Cleaning?” she asked. To be honest, I…
