Education Rooted in
Compassionate, Real-World Care.
IEOLCA offers warm, practical end-of-life education for doulas, caregivers, and helping professionals around the world. Our training is grounded in lived experience, guided by the Platinum Rule, and designed to help people support others with presence, confidence, and care.
The Platinum Rule guides everything we do: treat others as they wish to be treated. This principle shapes how we teach, how we design our programs, and how we hope our graduates show up for the people they serve.
What IEOLCA
Stands For
We believe meaningful end-of-life education is grounded in compassion, guided by the Platinum Rule, and shaped by real-world understanding. Our programs are designed to support both personal growth and practical skill development, so students feel prepared to show up with presence, care, and respect for the people they serve.
"At the heart of this work is presence -- meeting each person where they are, and supporting them in the way they wish to be supported."-- IEOLCA Approach to Care
Person-Directed Care
We centre the individual in every interaction, encouraging students to listen deeply, honour autonomy, and respect each person's values, beliefs, culture, and preferences.
Thoughtful, Structured Learning
Our programs are carefully designed to offer both depth and clarity, helping students build confidence through practical understanding, reflection, and application.
Accessible, Flexible Education
We offer self-paced, fully online learning so students can engage with the material in a way that fits their lives, wherever they are in the world.
Whole-Person Awareness
End-of-life care touches many layers of the human experience. We encourage awareness of emotional, spiritual, relational, practical, and legacy-centred needs.
Evolving With Care
Our programs continue to grow and shift over time, reflecting new insights, student experiences, and the changing landscape of end-of-life care.
Interdisciplinary Perspective
We draw from hospice care, grief support, spiritual care, and community-based practices to offer a well-rounded learning experience.
Guided by Experience,
Grounded in Care
IEOLCA was founded through a deep commitment to compassionate end-of-life education. Our programs are shaped by hands-on experience, thoughtful leadership, and a sincere desire to prepare others for this work with presence, skill, and respect for the people they serve.
Amy-Lynne Mahon
Co-Founder & Director
Amy-Lynne has supported hundreds of residents and families through her work as a senior hospice volunteer. Her experience includes sitting with individuals in the final weeks and days of life, assisting with remembrance services, welcoming new volunteers, and offering compassionate presence to families during tender moments.
Alongside this work, she brings 18 years of postgraduate medical education experience at the University of Calgary, with a background in curriculum mapping, credentialing frameworks, and program assessment. This has shaped her understanding of what helps education feel both meaningful and well-structured.
At IEOLCA, Amy-Lynne leads curriculum development and educational direction, helping ensure each program is created with care, clarity, and respect for both students and the people they will one day serve.
Perry Metheral
Co-Founder & Co-Director
Perry is a Spiritual Health Practitioner with 20 years of clinical experience in acute care, mental health, and palliative care settings. Throughout his work, he has supported patients and families facing serious illness, spiritual distress, grief, and the deeply human realities that can arise near the end of life.
His approach brings thoughtful attention to how to stay present with suffering, how to honour what matters to each person, and how to make space for meaning without imposing it. These perspectives help shape the tone and depth of IEOLCA's programs.
His experience in reflective practice, ritual awareness, and the spiritual dimensions of care adds an important layer to IEOLCA's educational approach, offering students a broader understanding of what compassionate end-of-life support can look like.
Shaped by a Wider Circle of Care
IEOLCA's programs are enriched by the wisdom and perspectives of a wider circle of practitioners, hospice professionals, spiritual care providers, grief educators, and other helping professionals. Our students also bring meaningful professional and lived experience of their own, and that shared exchange adds depth to the learning.
Committed to Thoughtful,
Ongoing Growth
IEOLCA is not a static organization. Our programs continue to grow and evolve over time, shaped by student feedback, changes in the field, emerging research, and our own ongoing reflection about what meaningful end-of-life education should offer.
For us, quality is about more than completing a curriculum. It means creating learning experiences that are clear, relevant, compassionate, and responsive to the needs of students and the people they will one day serve.
Ongoing Curriculum Review
Our programs are revisited and refined to reflect current learning, practice, and the changing landscape of end-of-life care.
Standards-Informed Development
We pay close attention to evolving standards and expectations within deathcare education as our programs continue to develop.
Student-Informed Growth
Student and graduate feedback helps shape how our programs are reviewed, strengthened, and supported over time.
Careful Credentialing
Our certification process is supported by a strong foundation in curriculum development, assessment, and credentialing practice.
A Global Learning Community
Students from around the world choose IEOLCA for end-of-life education that is compassionate, practical, and accessible. Our programs are designed to support diverse learners across settings, cultures, and life experiences, wherever care, grief, and dying are part of the human journey.
Six Programs.
Designed for Where You Are.
From foundational certification to advanced areas of focus, each IEOLCA program is created to support meaningful learning, practical understanding, and compassionate care -- wherever you are in your journey.
Find Your Place
in This Work
Whether you are just beginning to explore end-of-life doula work or looking to deepen a practice already underway, there is an IEOLCA program built for exactly where you are.