Frequently Asked Questions
Our Death Doula Certificate Program offers a comprehensive and in-depth training experience designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills necessary for working with clients at the end of life and their loved ones. Our program prioritizes experiential learning, case studies, and real-world scenarios that prepare candidates for the situations and challenges they may encounter. It also incorporates regular assessments to ensure you will develop strong skills and competencies.
Our Candidates benefit from regular interaction and support from their Candidate Advisor and community engagement opportunities throughout their training. After they graduate, HHA Death Doulas who wish to stay involved with the Home Hospice Association Community continue to receive life-long support, mentorship, and access to HHA’s resources and networks, including help building their practice and finding clients. We’re not just another training program; we’re your partner in success!
As soon as you've made the decision to train as a Death Doula, it is absolutely worth registering for the Certificate Program regardless of when your weekend session takes place. The weekend training is just ONE part of our program.
Once you register, you can dive into the other components right away. These include online modules, assignments, and case studies that you can work through at your own pace. Starting these as soon as possible will give you a solid foundation and will get you that much closer to your certification. Many of our past participants found that starting the self-study components early made their weekend training more valuable.
You'll also get immediate access to our monthly learning events like Guest Speaker Nights, "What Would You Do?" Nights, and Case Study Nights, plus our virtual and in-person HHAngouts. These events are fantastic opportunities to learn, connect, and build your network within the HHA community, and are a huge benefit as you prepare to build your practice.
That’s great news - we look forward to welcoming you to our HHA Death Doula Family! If you haven’t already, please check out our Death Doula Certificate Program website page. You'll find lots of information there about our program content, structure, cost, weekend cohorts, and facilitation team. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find our online registration form.
To complete your registration, please fill in the registration form and then transfer your program fee by e-transfer to funds@homehospiceassociation.com. Once that’s all done, you will hear from us within 3-4 business days.
Don’t hesitate to contact us at info@homehospiceassociation.com if you need additional info or support!
Death Doula Candidates working towards their certification officially have one year to complete our program, and people typically finish within 3-6 months. However, some Candidates take longer depending on their personal circumstances, learning styles, and study goals. If you can’t finish within a year, we offer extension possibilities that you can discuss with your Candidate Advisor.
Yes, all of our training programs are fully remote/online. For our Death Doula and Infant & Pregnancy Loss Support Certificate Programs, the self-study components can be completed at your own pace, and the live-online weekend session involves scheduled class times on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of your selected weekend cohort. Our Death Doula training programs also offer optional quarterly in-person hangouts in select regions.
There are no prerequisites to enroll in our Death Doula Certificate Program. Our participants come from diverse backgrounds and experiences, both personal and professional. Most people who register feel a connection to being with the dying and to supporting the loved ones of those facing death.
Our Certificate Program costs $700.00 (inclusive). As a nonprofit Registered Canadian Charity, we rely on the fees collected from our professional development programs to fund our organization's core operations and programs, meaning that every cent of your tuition goes back into promoting accessible compassionate end-of-life care, building agency partnerships across Canada, and increasing public awareness of the important role of Death Doulas in palliative settings.
If you don’t live in the Eastern Time Zone, it’s still possible to train with us as all of our professional development training programs, including our Death Doula Certificate Program, are fully remote/online. However, for the live-online classes, you’ll probably want to consider the time difference before you register.
For our Death Doula Certificate Program, in-class sessions take place on Friday: 6pm-9pm, Saturday: 9am-5pm, Sunday: 9am-5pm – all live-online during Eastern Time. The rest of the program can be completed asynchronously.
There is currently no official designation for Death Doulas in Canada. While Death Doula trainings are not officially regulated, our certificate serves as a testament to your completion of our rigorous training program. And when it comes to working with Death Doulas to mobilize care through our community partnerships with other agencies, the HHA-issued certificate allows us to stand behind the demonstrated proficiency of practitioners who have successfully completed our Certificate Program.
While we can only really speak for our own training, it’s important to note that the quality of Death Doula training programs can - and does - vary significantly. It’s crucial to select a program that will adequately prepare you for the realities of caring for individuals at the end of life and their loved ones. This is not a role to take lightly, and it requires a strong foundation of knowledge, skills, and emotional preparation.
The best way to ensure you’re ready for this challenging career is to choose a comprehensive training that includes practical experience, mentorship, and a supportive community - all of which we provide at HHA. By investing in a training program like ours, you can ensure you’re equipped with the necessary skills and resources to navigate the complexities of end-of-life care with confidence and compassion.
MAiD is not a core component of our Death Doula Certificate Program. However, we think it’s important that our program graduates have at least a basic understanding about the provision (legalities, etc.) That said, we also realize that this is a controversial subject that not all Death Doulas will want to incorporate into their practice. For this reason, we cover MAiD during a designated 1-hour session on the Sunday of the learning weekend. For those who wish to work with MAiD clients, we offer a specialized/extended training called “MAiD and the Death Doula”.
HHA has trained Death Doulas who went on to practice all over Canada. We have participants from various provinces and some even join us from outside Canada. Our trainers also come from diverse regions, allowing us to address a wide range of topics and province-specific issues. We also organize breakout rooms by region so that participants can start building their networks and sharing resources.
While a few content points in the curriculum are specific to a Canadian or Ontarian context (e.g. MAiD laws in Canada or legalities of funeral practices in Ontario), most of the topics covered are transferable across geographical contexts.
We don’t use textbooks for our Death Doula Certificate Programs. Participants receive a PDF manual with select course readings, and are required to purchase 2 books that will be referenced throughout the program.
Not at this time. Our Eric Elliott Memorial Scholarship is only awarded to students pursuing our Infant & Pregnancy Loss Support Certificate Program.
The question really should be, why wouldn’t a PSW want to take the Death Doula Certificate Program! Personal Support Workers are already trained in providing practical and physical care for their clients/patients along an entire illness journey. To have the expertise to also provide the emotional and spiritual care for their clients at end of life would make a PSW who is interested in palliative care a top candidate for any agency or organization.
To complete your registration, you must submit your registration form and full program fee. Once we receive both of these, your HHA Candidate Advisor will contact you by email to set up your Google Classroom access. From there, you can begin the first self-study course component whenever you’re ready. You will also receive invitations to our Doula learning events with special guest speakers and educators.