Welcome to the Doula Apprentice Education Program.
There is no singular path into this work. And incredible things can happen when we explore these many trails together. Please join me.
This program (or perhaps “project “ may be a better way to think of it) is one pathway into end-of-life doula work. It is built on principles that honour the fact no course on its own can “make” you a doula.
If you’ve been thinking about “becoming” an end-of-life doula or considering other work in the death-caring field, you’ve probably already noticed there are several possible entry points, and many different ways people show up in this emerging profession.
There is no one course that will cover every aspect of what you want to learn about end-of-life care.
Becoming an end-of-life doula is an ongoing process of learning, unlearning, practice, reflection, and it is best when it’s done with other curious learners, in a hospitable community.
From one perspective, becoming a doula takes time, effort, and support. If we look at it another way though, we are all doulas already, and we just need to become reacquainted with the fact that death is nothing more than part of life in order to be good at this inevitable work.
The Doula Apprentice Education Program is one offering among many.
It is an honest, grounded pathway that allows for discernment and exploration of where you fit into the death-caring landscape. This program does not pretend to do everything at once, and it will never make wild promises about instant “certification” or guaranteed income.
This page gives you a big-picture view of the pathway that is being laid, and a couple of very real ways to get started right now. Detailed course outlines will be added soon , but the heart of the program is already beating strongly.
Curious how the Doula Apprentice Education Program works?
There are three layers that weave together to form the program. You can pick a single thread or braid everything together if you want to. There are more details below if you’re interested in any or each of these layers, but for now, here’s a quick overview:
Community: to support you at every stage of your learning journey, providing a low-cost, low-commitment way to ease into your explorations. ($75 per year, included in levels two & three)
Foundations (Level 1): to support you with a solid, structured introduction to the many facets of doula work.
Holistic Advance Care Planning for Doulas (8 weeks)
The End-of-Life Doula Intensive (16 core modules over 8 weeks)
Each course is $675 or $1200 for both, community membership included in stand-alone or bundled courses)
Mentorship & specialties (Level 2): Available to emerging doulas who have either completed doula-basics within select other programs or courses in the level 1 Doula Apprentice Education Program, these speciality offerings support you when you’re ready to integrate, focus, and (if you choose) build a practice.
Specialty courses coming in 2026 and early 2027 are listed below. Mini-courses will begin at $20 for community members, and go up to $675 depending on length, topic, and duration.
Mentorship options include single session 1-1 mentoring ($150) or multi-session packages ($100-125 per session)
You can step into any layer you’re ready for. You can also move through all of them over time.
The “don’t quit your day job” approach…
A lot of doula trainings are marketed as if you’ll do one course, change your Instagram bio, and immediately step into a full-time doula career.
That’s not what this is.
The Doula Apprentice Education Program is built on a “don’t quit your day job” philosophy. It’s designed to let you:
explore this work while you keep doing what you do now
build skills and confidence gradually, instead of feeling like you have to reinvent your whole life overnight
discover how (or if) doula work fits into your real circumstances, responsibilities, and energy
For some people, doula work eventually becomes a clear professional path. For many others, it becomes a deepening of a role they already love.
Doula skills naturally enhance work already being done by people in positions like:
clergy, chaplaincy, and spiritual care
counselling, coaching, and mental health support
massage therapy, bodywork, and other hands-on healing professions
elder-law, estate planning, and patient advocacy
nursing, social work, hospice volunteering, and home care
teaching, HR, leadership, and community organizing
You don’t have to abandon a fulfilling career to “become a doula.” You might simply become the person in your existing role who can show up more steadily, more honestly, and more skillfully around illness, dying, major life transitions, and experiences of grief.
Some people are eager to make doula-ing their full time job. But having done this work for 8 years now, I know first hand that you can’t simply hang out a shingle and have people line up to hire you. This program will support your business goals. But it won’t make promises about simple about your potential earnings.
All paths are valid. This program makes room for them. It's accessible from both a cost and time perspective, and doesn’t ask you to over-commit either of these hugely important resources.
A few more details for the course-curious!
The Death’s Apprentice Community
The Death’s Apprentice Community is a great place to start listening to your call into this work. Everyone is welcome.
If you’re:
doula-curious or death-care curious
already the “go-to person” for illness, dying, and grief in your circles
looking for an ongoing home base to talk about these things with others who care
You’ll be invited into:
quarterly live online gatherings
10-ish learning sessions and death-adjacent conversations over the year
receive member discounts on stand-alone courses within the Doula Apprentice Education Program
post a listing in our membership directory
You don’t have to know yet if you want to “be a doula” to belong here. This is a place to listen, learn, and see how this work lands in you. There’s no gamification with this list-serve based community. You don’t have to log into a specific platform, like or comment on posts to gain points to gain access to perks or program enhancements. It’s a simple, obligation-free, come-as-you are invitation to belong to something enriching and connecting. $75 per year (or included in apprentice programs)
Layer 2: Foundations (For 1st-level Doula Apprentices)
This is where we start to name and organize what you may already be doing intuitively, and where we spend some time filling in the gaps.
1st Level Apprentices can choose from two main offerings, or complete both.
Prep School for Doulas
Do your own planning, then help others with theirs
Advance care planning is one of the most practical, impactful things we can offer as doulas and helpers. It’s also one of the most overwhelming for people to tackle alone.
Prep School for Doulas helps you:
complete your own holistic advance care plan (so you know what this really feels like), and
learn how to confidently guide individuals or groups through their planning, clearly within doula scope
This course is enrolling right now. You can read the full details and register here:
Coming February 28th: The Doula Basics Intensive
Doula Basics is a foundations course for emerging doulas.
This is an 8-week introduction to core end-of-life doula competencies: how we got here historically, where doulas fit in the current landscape, what expected dying looks like, what changes with MAiD and traumatic loss, how to companion and vigil within scope, how to navigate family systems and systemic bias, what actually happens after death in different settings, and how grief, ritual, and advance care planning weave through it all.
It’s designed for people with little or no doula-specific training, and for those who’ve taken other introductory courses and are ready to deepen their knowledge.
A full course page with dates and module details is coming soon, with the first cohort beginning February 28.
Layer 3: Mentorship & specialty practice modules (For established doulas)
Once you’ve done some foundational learning, the questions shift from “What does a doula even do?” to “How do I actually integrate this into my life and work?”
Established Doulas can (literally) level up with 1-1 mentorship, deep dives into specialty courses, or both:
Ongoing mentorship packages available for established doulas now. We can have a single session together or map a plan together over several meetings: costs range from $100-$150 per session, depending on how many you book.
Specialty practice modules coming May 2026
Ready to deepen your practice or explore specialties? These deep-dive courses will be ready for you from May 2026 onward:
business basics for people who want to offer doula work professionally (May 2026)
values-aligned communications & social media support (May 2026)
specialty learning modules will help you explore your calling on your terms, with practical guidance and specialized support. MAiD, dementia, pet-loss, perinatal loss, legacy project design, leading ceremonies confidently, green disposition essentials coming from Summer 2026.
The first specialty modules will begin after the initial Level 1 offerings are underway. More details will be added here as those courses open for registration. Please send me an email if you have a request for a specialty program!
Who am I, and why do I want to walk beside you as you explore this work?
My name is Christa Ovenell. I am a licensed funeral director, an embalmer, and and end-of-life doula who specializes in education and communications.
I thought about working in deathcare for 20 years before I finally made the move. I quit a high-profile, VERY well-paying job in international education to become an apprentice funeral director at nearly 50.
At first, I was pretty embarrassed to be an apprentice at that age. But pretty quickly, I came to realize that the apprentice mindset is nothing to be ashamed of. I can honestly say that my only regret is not making the move sooner.
It changed nearly everything in my life, but everything about it (even the vastly thinner wallet) has been rewarding in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
Being an apprentice to life’s greatest teacher is something I will happily do for every day of the rest of my life. I sure couldn’t say that about my cushy corner-office job!
You’re not learning in a vacuum.
Although I’m the primary instructor, the Doula Apprentice Education Program is shaped by an advisory circle of people working in different corners of deathcare and healthcare — including cemetery care, funeral service, ceremony and ritual, palliative medicine, and patient advocacy.
Their input helps keep the program grounded in reality:
how systems actually work
what families and clinicians are experiencing on the ground
where & how doulas can contribute (and where we need to tread carefully)
While there is still no local, national, or international body that oversees certification for end-of-life doulas, external advisors are an important part of any well-crafted learning experience.
The advisory circle page will be in complete in a few days, so come back soon to meet them!
Remember that the Doula Apprentice Education Program makes NO claims of certification, and the presence of an advisory board doesn’t turn the program into a medical or funeral credential, but it does mean what you learn will make sense in the real world you and your clients are moving through.
Ready to get started?
If something in all of this has you nodding, or nervous-excited, or thinking to yourself, “I really want to know more,” there are a couple of clear next steps you can take right now:
Make sure you sign up for the newsletter
This is the best way to hear about new courses and programs, and learn when various modules are open for registration.. Click here to sign up for the world’s least exclusive club…that way you’ll never miss a memo from the apprentice!
Join the Death’s Apprentice Community
This no-pressure, what-you-put-into-it-is-what-you-get-out-of-it community is ready to welcome you. Just email me to join us.Sign up for Prep School for Doulas
Advance care planning is the perfect place to start when you are emerging into doula-hood. Learn more about the course and register here. We start January 28th!
The more detailed pages for Doula Basics Intensive and Level 2 Mentorship will be rolling out soon, with new courses beginning February 28.
I can’t stress this enogh: there is NO one course that will “make you a doula”. But if you’re called to this work, I’d be honoured to walk beside you for at least part of the way down this winding, beautiful, and sometimes challenging path.