Our Blog & Newsletter Archives From birth to end-of-life care

Medical Aid in Dying, End-of-Life Doulas, and the Doula Scope of Practice

By Patty Brennan | May 16, 2024

By Patty Brennan Recently, I was conducting a webinar for end-of-life doulas (EOLDs) when someone in the audience shared that Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) clients were her specialty and that she travels to other states to “do it.” As MAiD was not the theme of our webinar, I did not pursue questioning her as to whether she…

Setting Fees as an End-of-Life Doula (webinar)

By Patty Brennan | May 16, 2024

With Patty Brennan Join a discussion on how to value our doula work. Fee setting considerations include your cost of doing business, your need for income, your geographic location and population served, whether to charge by the hour or set a package rate for services, how to do market research, and more. For more information…

Top Networking Tips for End-of-Life Doulas (webinar)

By Patty Brennan | March 22, 2024

Networking often gets a bad rap for three main reasons: This webinar addresses these concerns and reframes networking by bringing it back to its roots and true, authentic purpose: connecting with people. Attendees will walk away with a fresh perspective on networking, understand the importance and critical need to do it, and the skills to…

Doulas in Hospice: A Successful Business Model (Webinar)

By Patty Brennan | January 18, 2024

This presentation covers how Present for You doulas support hospice and how doulas can help solve several ongoing gaps in care within the health system. Our speaker, Jane Euler, shares how she formed collaborative relationships with hospice care providers to better serve families. After completing doula training with two different organizations and pursuing “private pay” clients, Jane…

SEO 101 for Doulas Webinar

By Patty Brennan | November 17, 2023

Search Engine Optimization with Sarah Juliasson When you understand the basics of SEO, your website has so much more potential to reach your ideal clients. Learn the basics of how to properly format a blog post to show up on google. We’ll explore choosing keywords, keyword placement and density, post length, alt text, images, formatting and…

Introduction to Death Journaling (webinar)

By Patty Brennan | September 22, 2023

Join community doula and educator, Francesca Lynn Arnoldy, for an introduction to “Death Journaling,” based on her new book, The Death Doula’s Guide to Living Fully and Dying Prepared. During this workshop, participants are invited to reflect back, turn inward, and plan ahead with intention and insight, focusing first on introspection and then extending care to others.…

Comfort Massage at End of Life ~ Webinar

By Patty Brennan | July 20, 2023

Comfort massage at end of life is slow, small, and soft. Cindy teaches that “we can give deep presence without deep pressure.” Comfort massage or palliative touch provide an opportunity for doulas to comfort and connect with their dying clients. This session is designed to build confidence to incorporate gentle techniques used by massage therapists…

Fostering Agency in Times of Transition (Webinar)

By Patty Brennan | May 20, 2023

A-gen-cy/: defined as the human capacity to determine and make meaning from the environment through purposeful, conscious, reflective, and creative action. This webinar discusses the role of the doula in fostering personal agency for our clients and families. There is no time where agency as an individual is more important than during illness and end…

Medicalized Death: Shifting the Cultural Paradigm (Webinar)

By Patty Brennan | March 17, 2023

With Jacki Mann, End-of-Life Doula The paradigm of medicalized death in our culture today is pervasive. As end-of-life doulas, we are the leaders needed to help shift this paradigm back to one of death as natural and sacred. In this webinar, we will brainstorm ways we can move forward purposefully and strategically to effect the…

Should Doulas Volunteer Their Services?

By Patty Brennan | March 1, 2023

Part 1 Volunteer doulas and volunteer doula programs have fallen out of favor with an outspoken segment of the doula community who view them as devaluing the role of the doula. The word “demonization” comes to mind as the tone of the criticisms and pushback on social media has become increasingly polarizing. One doula Facebook…

Buddhist Beliefs & Practices at End of Life Webinar

By Patty Brennan | November 21, 2022

Join us for a look at Buddhism and how the doula can support the religious beliefs and practices of families at the end of life. We will discuss what it means to practice “spiritual humility” and explore how doulas can integrate this practice into their work with families. We will also touch briefly on other…

Navigating the Healthcare System: Coaching Clients through the Maze ~ July Member Webinar

By Patty Brennan | July 20, 2022

With Bonnie Blachly Helping clients navigate the healthcare system to ensure they receive the best health care possible is of utmost importance, especially when facing a life-limiting or life-ending condition. Multiple doctors and other disciplines may be involved. Helping your client develop trust in their doctors is an important aspect of support provided by an…