Why come to End of Life Doula UK
“Our ultimate goal, after all, is not a good death but a good life to the very end. You may not control life’s circumstances, but getting to be the author of your life means getting to control what you do with them. And in stories endings matter.”
Atul Gawande, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
It is important to us that our Doulas, who are supporting people in their communities, are exemplars. Any Doula referred by us will be self-employed, working to our Code of Practice with a DBS/Disclosure Scotland checks and insurance. They will be allocated an approved mentor to supervise their work, this is important in providing guidance and as an additional layer of support.
The aims and objectives of End of Life Doula UK can be found in our constitution.
We work with individuals and those important to them. Our ethos is that of building Compassionate Communities who can support a dying person and their family, friends and neighbours to get the support and care they need; guiding them through, and being alongside, with dying, death and subsequent bereavement for those left behind.
We work alongside Doctors, Nurses, Health Care Assistants and Carers always in an entirely collaborative way. Our non-medical roll can fill gaps, where services and resources are stretched or not available.
If you would like to have an initial discussion with us, please fill in our contact form
We are always very happy to talk about our work and our approach. We normally ask for travel expenses to be covered and a small voluntary donation to be made to End of Life Doula UK. Please complete the Speakers Request Form
As a membership association, our trained Doulas have a network to ‘hold’ them by way of operational standards. Additionally there are: policies and guidelines, regional networks, professional development and updating, access to resources to build on their knowledge and experience.
Currently members of End of life Doula UK are those who are undergoing or who have completed the Living Well Dying Training. The training is rigorous and is externally quality assured – we want to ensure this high standard is maintained. Our intention though is to open membership out to others, once we have established the process by which we can ensure that those who wish to be affiliated meet our criteria and standards.
“Let’s behave as though death is part of life. As though it is going to happen to all of us. As though like the sunset, we expect it will happen. And then let’s move on to something else. We don’t spend all day waiting for the sunset; we just need to know where the light switches are.”