The Death Doula School, a Parma-based online program to train people to provide end-of-life care, will expand its offerings to provide live, virtual training in April.
Former nurse Kacie Gikonyo, who founded the school in March 2023 with pre-recorded training videos, says the current U.S. health system does not focus enough on the needs of patients who are near death.
“Doctors and nurses, they're not trained on death," Gikonyo told Ideastream Public Media. "They don't get training about dying and how to help somebody die because the goal of a nurse and the goal of a doctor is to help somebody not die. But everybody dies.”
Death doulas, on the other hand, are trained to support patients and their families at the very end of life, including helping family members process their grief at home, in the hospital or in hospice care.
"We're really there to take care of more the spiritual, the mental, the emotional aspects of death and dying," she said. "Families usually don't have these conversations amongst each other because it's hard. But that's where a doula can come in and we can be the pillar of support, not only for the dying individual, but also for all of the loved ones."
Originally the school only offered pre-recorded teaching videos to provide students the ability to learn at their own pace and flexibility to learn when time permitted, especially for those already working a full-time job or having other commitments. However, the new 12-week series of live classes will teach the same coursework, but provide the opportunity for immediate interaction with instructors, Gikonyo said.
"It's a more intimate and supportive environment for those who like to learn live as opposed to doing it at their own pace," she said.
The training will also instruct students on how to provide advance care planning and business training, she said.
According to the National Institute on Aging, advance care involves patients discussing and preparing for future decisions about medical care before they become seriously ill or unable to communicate their wishes.
Teaching participants how to start and run their own businesses is necessary because death doulas largely work on their own. Hospitals and other medical facilities typically do not employ them, Gikonyo said.
Gikonyo is also developing a national death doula certification standard as a member of the Doula Certification Board. Doing so will help ensure better understanding with more collaboration between death doulas and hospital systems, she said.
Gikonyo said she hopes to open a brick-and-mortar school in the future.
