Build the confidence, practical skills, and clear scope to support individuals and families at end of life.
“I was deeply surprised at the depth and breadth of the information shared, presented as an interactive experience requiring thought and introspection. I have always felt a calling, but now I have the tools and base of information to actually make a difference.”
No previous experience required. Begin anytime and move through a complete certification pathway at your own pace.
Many students describe this path as an inner knowing - often shaped by personal loss, caregiving, hospice experiences, bedside moments, grief work, or a lifelong desire to bring comfort to tender places.
This training gives that knowing a grounded place to land.
Tuition begins at $262.50 USD · Lifetime access · 60-day satisfaction guarantee
Many IEOLCA students arrive with a quiet nudge toward end-of-life work, shaped by caregiving, personal loss, hospice experiences, grief work, or a lifelong desire to offer comfort in tender moments.
IEOLCA's Certified End-of-Life Doula training is by far the most empowering and practical of the doula courses I have taken. I feel much more equipped for this work with the instruction, examples, and tools Amy-Lynne has provided. I'm very happy that I took a chance on this worthwhile endeavor.
IEOLCA Certified
The comprehensive method by which this course has been constructed, as well as the attention to detail in Amy-Lynne's feedback, are awesome. There is no stone left unturned, no area of this work that is left uncovered by the course, and to make such an incredible course accessible for such a reasonable price makes it even better.
IEOLCA Certified
I entered the training a bit cynically and expected a lot of fluff. I was deeply surprised at the depth and breadth of the information shared — presented as an interactive experience requiring thought and introspection. I have always felt a calling, but now I have the tools and base of information to actually make a difference.
IEOLCA Certified
I completed a death doula certification course through another organization, but felt like something essential was missing. This course is exactly what I was looking for.
IEOLCA Certified
I was so impressed by the comprehensive information presented and how closely the material reflects real support for those transitioning. Thank you for making this training accessible, flexible, and affordable. I feel supported and confident as I move forward in this service.
IEOLCA brings expert-led learning, meaningful reflection, practical skill-building, and warm personal support together in one thoughtfully structured program.
Connect the quiet nudge toward this work with language, learning, and a grounded path forward.
Understand your role, boundaries, referral pathways, and how doula support complements care teams.
Learn to support each person according to their wishes, values, culture, relationships, and pace.
Bring inner learning into practice with scripts, plans, prompts, templates, and resources for real-world care.
Study on your schedule with personal assignment review, lifetime access, and questions welcomed throughout.
Build the presence, language, judgment, and practical skills to support people and families with steadiness.
Created from experience in end-of-life care, spiritual care, and medical education administration, the program is designed to feel clear, supportive, and genuinely useful from your first module through certification.
Amy-Lynne and Perry Metheral co-created IEOLCA’s training, bringing together experience in end-of-life doula care, hospice, spiritual care, and medical education.
Their complementary backgrounds have shaped a program grounded in whole-person care, clear scope, meaningful reflection, and practical preparation.
Lessons connect learning with the real conversations and practical needs of end-of-life care.
Amy-Lynne reads your required assignments with care and welcomes questions throughout.
The Platinum Rule, ethical awareness, and respect for each person guide every stage.
About IEOLCA We make compassionate, practical end-of-life education accessible to people who feel called toward this work.
Build your foundation, develop practical doula skills, and integrate your learning across three connected phases.
This phase begins not with what a doula does, but with who you are and why you are called to this work. Before you can hold space for others, it helps to understand the ground you are standing on - your values, your relationship with mortality, and the lived experience you already carry into this calling.
Through reflective activities and guided exercises, you will clarify your scope, explore your own readiness, and develop the kind of steady, grounded presence that families most need from a doula.
By the time you complete Phase One, you will understand not just what a doula does - but how to show up with calm clarity when emotions are high, and how to honour each person's unique wishes with confidence.
Below are the eight modules you will move through in the Foundations phase.
01
Welcome & Orientation
Begin with a clear map of the learning journey ahead.
02
Self-Directed Learning
Create a learning rhythm that fits your life and responsibilities.
03
Exploring the Call
Connect your values, strengths, and lived experience to this work.
04
History of Deathcare
Explore how caring for the dying has evolved across time and community.
05
The Doula Role
Understand where doula support fits alongside families and care teams.
06
Self-Awareness
Strengthen the steadiness and self-knowledge this work asks of you.
07
Cultural Humility
Offer care shaped by each person's culture, identity, beliefs, and preferences.
08
Exploring Mortality
Deepen your comfort with mortality, meaning, and legacy.
📎 Included resources - Foundations
This is the heart of the training. Fifteen modules covering the full range of what end-of-life doulas do alongside families - life review, dying plans, vigil preparation, guided imagery, legacy work, compassionate communication, and navigating the emotional and physical realities of the dying process.
Every module is built around real-world application, not just concepts. You will learn how to use each skill through practical tools, scenario-based reflection, and ready-to-use scripts and templates you can adapt for your first clients. Students frequently describe this as the point where the training shifted from learning about doula work to feeling ready to do it.
By the time you complete Phase Two, you will have the skills, the tools, and the relational confidence to walk alongside families through one of the most profound experiences of their lives.
Below are the fifteen modules you will move through in the Core Skills phase.
01
Life Review
Help people gather the stories and relationships that shaped their lives.
02
The Dying Plan
Turn values and wishes into a clear, usable plan.
03
The Dying Process I
Recognize common physical changes and offer grounded non-medical comfort.
04
The Dying Process II
Support emotional, spiritual, and relational experiences with steady presence.
05
Grounded Presence
Stay centered and available when moments feel intense or uncertain.
06
The Vigil Plan
Shape the rhythm, environment, and support surrounding the final days.
07
Rituals & Ceremonies
Create meaningful rituals around what matters to each person.
08
Guided Imagery
Use calming language and visualization to support comfort and ease.
09
Legacy & Meaning
Help people preserve stories, messages, memories, and meaning.
10
Compassionate Communication
Meet sensitive conversations and family dynamics with clarity and care.
11
Understanding Grief
Understand varied grief responses and offer steady companionship.
12
Circles of Care
Help families see, organize, and strengthen the support around them.
13
Doula Challenges
Practice thoughtful responses to situations requiring clarity and judgment.
14
Professional Ethics
Build boundaries and practices that protect trust and well-being.
15
Best Practices
Bring the program together into reliable, person-centered support.
📎 Included resources - Core Skills
This is where everything becomes cohesive. Phase Three invites you to step back, reflect on the journey, and synthesize what you have learned into a clear, grounded sense of who you are as a doula - and how you want to show up in the world.
This phase also bridges the training with real-world practice. Through guided reflective and integrative tools, you will clarify the community you feel called to serve, explore readiness, boundaries, strengths, and realistic next steps, and bring the learning together in a way that feels grounded and genuinely your own. After certification, the Graduate Hub provides the practical forms, templates, and practice-building tools that support your next steps.
Students describe Phase Three as the part of the training that brought a quiet confidence: a felt sense of readiness, direction, and purpose that is genuinely their own.
Below are the five modules you will move through in the Reflective Practice and Integration phase.
01
Applying Skills
Move from knowing the skills to using them with intention.
02
Integrating Learning
Bring learning and lived experience into a grounded doula identity.
03
Aligning with Community
Connect your strengths with meaningful needs in your community.
04
From Learning to Practice
Shape a realistic, sustainable path for beginning your work.
05
Final Reflections
Complete certification with clarity about your role and next steps.
📎 Reflective & Integrative Resources
Phase Three includes guided tools for reflection, integration, readiness, boundaries, community needs, and first steps. After certification, your Graduate Hub gives you a growing collection of practical forms, templates, and professional tools to support the work that follows.
Complete the required modules and assignments to receive your official IEOLCA End-of-Life Doula Certificate and professional digital badge.
After certification, you receive ongoing access to the IEOLCA Graduate Hub: a growing collection of professionally designed, fillable tools you can adapt and use in your own practice.
Download them as fillable Word documents, personalize them for your work, and return to the library whenever you need a clear next step.
Most end-of-life doulas do not step straight into a full practice. Many begin part-time, bring these skills into caregiving, hospice, grief, spiritual care, or community roles they already hold, or grow a practice gradually as trust and relationships develop.
Our training is built with that real path in mind. In the Reflective and Integrative phase, students bring their learning together, explore how their personal “why” meets the needs of their community, and map out small, realistic next steps for beginning in a grounded, sustainable way.
After certification, the Graduate Hub supports that path with fillable forms, service and pricing tools, outreach templates, consultation guidance, agreements, invoicing resources, and continuing-learning tools you can draw on as your work develops.
Our training is designed to help students step forward thoughtfully, with compassion, confidence, ethical awareness, and a clear understanding of how their skills, values, and community needs can come together in meaningful and sustainable ways.
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Yes. Start anytime and move through the 27 modules at your own pace. You have lifetime access to all videos and downloads.
Most learners complete the approximately 35 hours of training over a few weeks, though many choose a slower pace alongside work or caregiving. There is no deadline.
No. This training is designed for a non-medical role and welcomes caregivers, volunteers, helping professionals, and those new to end-of-life support.
This is a non-medical support role. In many jurisdictions there is no statutory licence or government registration for end-of-life doulas. IEOLCA awards certification when learners meet established standards through module completion and final assignments.
You receive 27 on-demand modules, the 164-page Guidebook, the 143-page Resource Companion, downloadable learning and reflection tools, and lifetime course access. After certification, you also receive ongoing access to the IEOLCA Graduate Hub: an expanding library of fillable forms, templates, consultation and service-planning tools, pricing guidance, agreements, invoicing resources, outreach support, and continuing-learning tools.
The Graduate Hub is IEOLCA's practical post-certification resource library. It gives graduates ongoing access to professionally designed, fillable resources for introducing their work, shaping services, setting prices, building referral relationships, responding to inquiries, working with clients, keeping records, and continuing to learn. Your certificate, digital badge, and Directory invitation are also available after graduation.
For many learners, certification gives structure, ethical grounding, language, confidence, and practical tools for supporting people and families at end of life. It can also help you explain your preparation when speaking with clients, hospices, care teams, or community organizations.
Full tuition is $875 USD. We also offer self-selected, honour-based tuition support at $437.50 and $262.50 USD. No application is required. Every tier includes the complete program, lifetime access, and our 60-day guarantee.
We trust you to choose the tuition tier that is honest and right for your circumstances. There are no income thresholds, forms, committees, or explanations required. If a reduced rate is what makes beginning possible, that option is there.
Yes. Every enrollment is backed by a 60-day satisfaction guarantee. If the training is not the right fit for any reason, a full refund is available within 60 days of purchase.
Secure online checkout is available by major credit or debit card through Stripe.
Yes. Many doulas begin part-time, integrate the skills into an existing caregiving, grief, hospice, spiritual care, or helping role, or slowly build a community-based practice over time.
Hospice workers are part of a formal healthcare or hospice team. Death doulas offer non-medical emotional, practical, planning, legacy, vigil, and family support. Doulas do not replace hospice care or provide clinical services.
Yes. IEOLCA welcomes students from around the world. End-of-life doula roles and expectations vary by region, so graduates should understand the local scope, requirements, and referral landscape where they live and work.
Many doulas begin through community education, referrals, hospice and grief networks, local partnerships, and clear service offerings. IEOLCA includes business foundations and practical tools to help you begin shaping a grounded practice.
Many organizations value end-of-life doula training, but requirements vary by location and agency. Your IEOLCA certificate verifies education for a non-medical role.
No prior experience required. No prerequisites. If you feel called to walk alongside others at end of life, this training gives you a grounded place to begin.
Choose your tuition
We want this training to be accessible to anyone who feels the call. Every tier includes the full program, lifetime access, and our 60-day guarantee.
For those who are able to enroll at the full program rate and help keep the training accessible for others in our community.
Enroll at $875A good fit if you are balancing this investment alongside other financial commitments right now.
Enroll at $437.50If this is the option that makes beginning possible for you, it is here and it is enough. No explanation needed.
Enroll at $262.50If the training is not the right fit, a full refund is available within 60 days. You do not have to prove that this work matters to you - you simply deserve time to decide whether this is the right learning home.
🔒 Secure checkout • Stripe • Lifetime access
Questions before enrolling? Reach us at office@ieolca.org - we are glad to help you find the right path forward.