Are you an emerging end-of-life Doula, eager to help people complete their own holistic advance care plans?

Then welcome to

Advance Care Planning for end-of-life doulas

(aka Prep School for Doulas)

A practical, heart-forward program that takes you from “There’s so much to learn” and “I’m nervous I’ll say the wrong thing” to “I can confidently guide people through holistic advance care planning.”

The inaugural cohort begins January 28th

8 sessions: 4 standard modules, followed by a 4-week deep dive into the curriculum, allowing you to lead friends, family, and clients through their own holistic advance care planning process.

Wednesdays: January 28- March 18

4:00-5:30 Pacific Time

OR

7-8:30 pm Pacific Time
(All sessions are recorded so you can review them or catch up if you miss one)

Sign me up

Welcome to Prep School (for doulas):

IT’S ABOUT DOING YOUR OWN WORK, SO YOU CAN SUPPORT OTHERS.

Prep School for Doulas is a comprehensive, holistic, and very practical approach to advance care planning for people who walk alongside others at the end of life.

Working with a thoughtfully designed curriculum in an intimate & supportive online class setting, you’ll:

  • complete your own holistic advance care plan, so you know what this process really feels like from the inside

  • then you’ll learn how to confidently guide individuals or groups through a similar process, clearly within the doula scope of practice

This program won’t turn you into a lawyer or a clinician. It will allow you to understand the interconnected nature of truly holistic advance care planning, so you can define your role in it. It will also help you create your own structured, compassionate program without overstepping, feeling uncertain, or getting in over your head.

YOU KNOW ADVANCE CARE PLANNING MATTERS, AND YOU KNOW IT’S A GREAT WAY TO BEGIN A DOULA PRACTICE TOO (EITHER AS A VOLUNTEER OR AS A CORE PART OF YOUR PAID PRACTICE)…

BUT THERE ARE A FEW THINGS KEEPING YOU FROM GETTING STARTED:

(THIS IS WHY I CREATED PREP SCHOOL FOR DOULAS!)

▶ YOU HAVEN’T FULLY DONE YOUR OWN PLANNING YET

Maybe you’ve thought about your wishes, or you’ve helped family members “sort some paperwork,” but:

  • your own documents are incomplete or scattered

  • you’re not totally sure what’s missing or if you’ve done it right

  • you’d appreciate a solid framework and guidance, so you can gauge the work that goes into these projects

  • You want to be someone who has truly walked this road before asking clients to walk down it.

▶ YOU’RE NOT COMPLETELY CLEAR WHERE YOUR SCOPE BEGINS AND ENDS

You’d love to:

  • sit with friends, family, and clients and talk about values, wishes, fears, and “what ifs”

  • help them understand the purpose of documents like representation agreements, powers of attorney, and advance directives

  • offer structure and accountability so things actually get done

…but you don’t want to give legal or financial advice, or pretend to be a substitute for professionals.

Prep School for Doulas helps you understand where doulas fit in the ACP ecosystem, and how to talk about those limits clearly.

▶ YOU WANT TO OFFER ACP AS A SERVICE, BUT YOU’RE AFRAID OF “MAKING IT UP”

Maybe you’ve already had clients ask you about:

  • how to “get their affairs in order”

  • how to talk to their kids or partner about their wishes

  • what forms they actually need, and where to start

You might be cobbling together checklists and handouts from different places, never quite sure you’ve covered everything.

Prep School for Doulas gives you a cohesive framework and ready-to-use structure you can adapt for your context.

If you want to be known as a calm, confident, professional who either knows the answers OR knows where to find them, you need Prep School for Doulas.

“I so appreciate being able to learn from Christa’s hard work and experience. As a fellow funeral director and death doula, I see her trailblazing a route that allows others like me to walk (and run) with more ease! Thank you Christa, for all the work you are doing to shine a light on the value of the death care industry and how we can do things better “

Kara K, Mentee and previous ACP client

THIS ISN’T TYPICAL ESTATE PLANNING (AND IT’S NOT A GENERIC DOULA COURSE EITHER)

Typical estate planning focuses on assets, documents, and signatures.
Typical doula trainings touch on advance care planning as one topic among many.

Prep School for Doulas is different:

  • We take the Four Pillars of Holistic Personal Planning you will complete as part of this program and go deeper, specifically from a doula’s perspective.

  • We focus on the human side of planning: fears, family dynamics, values, culture, trauma, and grief.

  • We stay crystal-clear about scope of practice so you know when to support, when to refer, and how to collaborate.

Our time together will help you connect to what matters most, for you and for the people you serve.

WHAT HAPPENS IN PREP SCHOOL FOR DOULAS?

LET’S BREAK IT DOWN

PSFD is a two-part curriculum

PART 1: YOUR OWN HOLISTIC ADVANCE CARE PLAN

(the regular Prep School curriculum)

You’ll complete the Four Pillars of Holistic Personal Planning for your own life:

  • Legal, administrative & financial documentation

  • Medical & philosophical decision-making (sudden illness, incapacity, and end-of-life)

  • Cremation/burial & ceremony preferences

  • Lasting legacy messages & projects

By the end of this part, you’ll:

  • know what you have in place and what’s missing

  • understand where lawyers, financial planners, and health-care providers fit in

  • have a realistic, values-based plan that reflects who you are and how you want to be cared for

If you’ve completed Prep School within the past 18 months, you won’t repeat the core curriculum — you’ll move directly into the doula-focused deep dive. We can adjust your tuition accordingly. Just reach out!

PART 2: FACILITATING ACP AS A DOULA

In the additional 4-week deep dive, we focus specifically on:

  • how to introduce ACP to position yourself as a valuable addition to a caregiving team

  • how to structure 1:1 or small group sessions around the Four Pillars

  • prompts for values-based conversations

  • what to say (and what not to say) when clients ask for advice outside your scope

  • how to name your limits while still being genuinely helpful

  • navigating tricky scenarios: estranged families, ambivalence, MAiD, chronic illness, and more

You’ll leave with:

  • a repeatable framework for ACP sessions

  • language you can adapt for your own practice or community

  • increased confidence about what you’re actually offering (and what you really need to stay away from)

PSFD is a core offering of the Doula Apprenticeship Program (also known as the “don’t quit your day job doula course”)

LIVE LEARNING, RECORDED SUPPORT: A FLIPPED CLASSROOM FOR BUSY ADULTS

This program is designed with your real life in mind.

  • Weekly live sessions on Zoom – for course content, connection, questions, and integration

  • Pre-recorded modules and additional content – so you can absorb things at your own pace

  • Worksheets and reflection prompts – to turn what you learn into action

  • Optional office hours – space each week to bring questions, tricky situations, or “I need to talk this through”

If you can’t make a live session, you’re not left behind. As live sessions are recorded, the core curriculum is available anytime.

In line with the Doula Apprenticeship model, we know that it takes time to process and integrate the material. Emerging doulas are welcome at Prep School throughout the year or whenever they feel like they need a refresher.

What you can expect when you sign up:

A CAREFULLY CRAFTED CURRICULUM (not a resource rabbit hole)

I’m a licensed funeral director, a practicing end-of-life doula, and I spent 15 years working in higher education, with a graduate degree in Adult & Higher Education. Curriculum design matters to me, and student expereince matters even more.

Each part of Prep School for Doulas builds on the last:

  • The first four classes introduce core concepts and tools

  • The workbook guides you step-by-step through your own plan

  • Live “deep dive” sessions help you process what comes up and connect it to your doula work

  • Office hours are there to keep you moving when you hit a snag

This isn’t a course designed to just get you started.
It’s designed to help you finish your own plan so you can help others do the same.

This program will fit into your life. You can expect:

  • Manageable “homework” that moves you forward without taking over your week

  • Recorded live sessions if “life happens”

  • Short, focused pre-recorded lessons instead of hours-long lectures

  • a VERY accessible (and deeply caring) mentor

The goal is steady, sustainable progress, not perfection.

An intimate class container

I keep classes small on purpose.

  • So you can ask questions you might not feel comfortable asking in a huge Zoom room

  • So we can pay attention to the emotional side of this work

  • So you can connect with other doulas and helpers who care as much as you do

You can be quiet or chatty, introvert or extrovert. There’s room for all of it in the Apprentice model.

WHO THIS IS FOR (and who really won’t enjoy it)

THIS IS FOR YOU IF…

  • You’re an aspiring or practicing end-of-life doula, deathcare worker, or helping professional.

  • You want a solid, real-world approach to advance care planning, not just a stack of forms.

  • You want to do your own work first, and then learn how to support others, ethically and within scope.

  • You’re interested in offering ACP as part of your doula practice, community education, or workshops.

THIS IS NOT FOR YOU IF…

  • You’re looking for legal or financial advice (this course is not that).

  • You want a promise that becoming an ACP doula will unlock unlimited income potential.

  • You’re not interested in doing your own planning , or you just want a script to use with clients.

  • You want a pure business development course (that’s part of the Level 2 Mentorship program, not PSFD).

PREP SCHOOL FOR DOULAS: January 2026 registration open now

2 sessions to choose from: pick the time that works best. ALL classes are recorded so you won’t miss a thing if you have a schedule conflict during our time together.

The time, space, support and community you need to get your personal planning done, so you can help others do theirs.

Sign me up

“Christa is an outsanding educator with deep knowledge and the ability to deliver complex material in engaging ways”

Lorraine A, United Church Minister, Bowen Death Collective founding member

I’M CHRISTA

I’m not what you might picture when you think of a funeral director/embalmer.

I believe that connection, compassion, and creativity are key to living well — and to dying well. I’ve sat at bedsides, in boardrooms, and in Zoom rooms with people from all walks of life, helping them think about, talk about, and plan for the hardest parts of being human.

As a funeral director, end-of-life doula, and educator, I’ve seen what happens when planning is avoided, and what happens when it’s done with care. My goal is to help you bring that care into your own life, and into the lives of the people you’re called to serve.

Prep School for Doulas is my way of sharing what I’ve learned so far about advance care planning in a way that is:

  • practical and clear

  • emotionally literate

  • and deeply respectful of the limits of our role as doulas

I’d love to have you in the next cohort.

“This is, without a doubt, the MOST VALUABLE course I have ever taken.“

Andrea H, Prep School Graduate

ARE YOU READY TO JOIN PREP SCHOOL FOR DOULAS?

The program cost is $675 & GST for this initial offering.

Your tuition includes:

  • Full Prep School holistic advance care planning curriculum

  • Additional 4-week doula-focused deep dive on facilitating ACP

  • Access to live and recorded sessions

  • Comprehensive workbook

  • Email support

  • Ongoing group office hours and the ability to drop into future offerings within a year of enrolment, or by special arrangement beyond that timeframe.

  • 1-year membership in the Death’s Apprentice Community

If you’ve completed Prep School in the last 18 months and only need the doula facilitation deep dive, contact me for a reduced rate.

Reserve your spot

  • “This is without doubt the most valuable course I have EVER taken. (I have a Ph.D. so I have taken a LOT of courses!). The course is skillfully designed with a fine balance between the pure information content with the more emotional pieces, paced in weekly sessions with time to zero in on homework (not onerous) between classes. ”

    — A. Henderson, Prep School Graduate

  • “The 5 part course exceeded all my expectations. I have often shelved the idea of thinking of my own death or disability, but Christa’s simplified approach to writing Wills, Representation Agreements, Power of Attorney, and thinking of my own funeral/memorial based on a value driven reflection helped to demystify this often overwhelming paperwork. Rather than being paralyzed by this decision making, Prep School provided opportunities for learning and reflection and then focussed my attention on a step-by-step methodology that had me finishing the course with a much clearer vision of how all of the end of life pieces fit together”

    — N. Ninnow, Prep School Graduate

  • “Being asked to consider circumstances that may arise, such as an unexpected death or an event that would make one unable to make their own medical decision, created an opportunity to ponder what being “alive” means to each of us and in turn to hone in on personal hopes, values and wishes. Taking care of my end of life ‘story’, (although framed in mystery and unknowing), offers me an opportunity to give a gift of enduring love to my family and friends- the people I cherish the most in this lifetime. Thank you, Christa”

    — B. Hornby, Prep School Graduate

  • I feel such relief after taking Prep School!

    I thought my husband and I had done a good job getting our estate in order, but I realized during the course that there was still a lot of work to do, especially because our goal is to not be a burden on our kids when we pass.

    Completing some of this paperwork was both harder and easier than I had imagined. Harder because there were a number of questions that I had never considered, especially around the topic of medical incapacitation. Easier because we were given lots of different tools to help us complete the tasks.

    Anyone who is serious about making the role of an appointed medical representative or executor easier needs to take this course!

    T. Underwood, , Prep School Graduate

  • I did the Prep School Bootcamp and it was a fantastic experience! Christa is a wonderful person who makes the overwhelming process of getting your affairs in order, as it were, into a meaningful and deep reflexive moment. She fosters a positive environment that allows participants to feel comfortable to share things and ask questions. She takes checklists and works with them as prompts that will lead to meaningful reflection that is essential when working through your advance care planning holistically.

    —A. Garcia, , Prep School Graduate

  • The Prep School program provided a personalized and guided step-by-step process for addressing the important details related to putting my affairs in order. The combination of work-book, resources, course participants, and, in particular, an incredibly supportive and experienced educator - Christa Ovenell - meant that I was able to accomplish what would normally be an extremely difficult task, within a short period of time and in an engaging and affirming manner. I highly recommend Prep School and Christa Ovenell (the Death's Apprentice)!

    —S. Barclay, Prep School Graduate

Still have questions?

  • Short answer: it’s better if you do, but the sessions are recorded so if you miss something, you won’t truly miss it. But you should approach this like any other class you want to get something out of. What you put in will vastly influence what you get out!

  • You need to be an emerging doula to come to Prep School for Doula. It’s a GREAT way to start your doula education. If you just want to do your own ACP, join regular Prep School!

  • If ANYONE is reading this but needs a payment plan: reach out. Send me an email to hello@deathsapprentice.ca and we will build a payment plan that works just for you.

  • It absolutely will be. One of the biggest complaints of standard Doula courses is that there is not a deep enough exploration of how to teach advance care planning. You’ll get that here!

  • There is literally no such thing as a certified doula. There is no standardized accreditation body or College that oversees Doula training. However, I am a licensed funeral director and embalmer, and I have been practicing in this field since 2018. I am a NEDA Proficient Doula, and I have a Master of Education and a speciality in Adult Education. I am confident this course will be accepted as continuing education credits for doulas and other professionals.

  • That’s why there are recordings!

  • No. It will be waiting for you when you when you’re ready though. I promise you that. And if i can help you in any way, please know I’m always available to guide you and offer support.

  • During our time together you will reflect on what works for YOU when it comes to getting your legal decisions documented. For some folks, this means seeing a lawyer. For others, an online Will platform suits perfectly well. In some jurisdictions, like BC, Notaries Public can also draft documents. All of these options come in at varying price points, and there ARE free options too. So yes, there are likely to be some extra costs for the legal documentation pillar of the holistic personal planning process. You can expect to pay between $120-$2200 for this pillar, depending on what works for YOU. These are external costs, not ones I have control over.

Get me registered

Are you feeling “on the fence”?

I completely understand. This decision is about life and death after all.

LET’S HAVE A CONVERSATION TO TALK ABOUT YOUR SPECIFIC QUESTIONS.

book a call