FAQ

An end of life doula offers non-medical practical, emotional, and spiritual care. Every doula has different specialties and experiences. Choose who you feel fits your needs best and makes you feel most supported and comfortable.

Most doulas can help you with planning for a death with dignity and choice, walking you through your Advance Care Directive, coordinate family communication, facilitate legacy projects, and sit vigil during your final hours.

Medical teams focus on clinical symptoms and pain management. Whereas doulas generally provide continuous emotional presence, comfort, companionship, and family advocacy that many resource-constrained medical teams cannot offer 24/7.

Doulas do not replace hospice; we complement hospice care and care at home. The clinical care for a dying person is only 5% and 95% is actually non-clinical community support. (Source: Compassionate Communities, Prof. A. Kellehear.)

No. Doulas cannot administer medication, provide wound care, give clinical advice, handle legal disputes, or perform standard mortuary care.

Many of us are experienced in those areas in different ways but it would be a conflict of responsibility to your clinical, legal and death care team. We can provide you with options and support you with advocacy and knowing what your rights are by using our expertise so you can make the informed decisions that you need to.

Any stage of your life where you need to plan or coordinate end of life matters! Most people contact a doula upon receiving a terminal diagnosis but engaging a doula early on in life allows more time for appropriate planning, paperwork, relationship building, and legacy work.

Engaging a doula earlier may also help your loved ones with learning how to best support you and themselves at the end or ending of your life

Typically and currently, no. This may change in the future as our culture becomes more aware of the need for doulas to take the pressure off nurses, aged care, palliative care and hospice spaces.