By A death doula provides non-medical support, guidance, and assistance to individuals who are dying and those around them leading up to, during, or after a death. Death doulas, who are also referred to as end-of-life doulas, death midwives, death companions, and end-of-life companions to name a few, have existed for centuries around the world- but over the last half a decade they’ve garnered a lot of public traction and attention.
With this growing interest in death doula practices, and careers, more training programs have become available- including death doula ‘certifications.’ We examine some of the arguments for and against death doula certifications, and look at their potential impact on the death care landscape.
Is Death Doula Certification Really Worth it?
What do death doula trainings and certifications look like?
If you are looking to learn more about what being a death doula entails or how to go about becoming one, you will find no shortage of educational materials and opportunities. Classes can range from shorter, one-time workshops to courses lasting many months. Certain educators may create automated virtual materials, while others offer intimate mentorships. There are classes on specific skills (such as shrouding or Advance Care planning) and more holistic classes that teach a wider range of the knowledge bases, responsibilities, and practicalities of life as a death doula.
Other folks learn how to be a death doula through their lived experiences. While some folks learn best in a classroom setting, many others have been practicing in their capacities as death doulas before ever hearing a name for it.
What does it mean to be a certified death doula?
Many institutions and instructors may offer a ‘certification’ as a part of successfully completing their course and you may meet death care workers who introduce themselves as being ‘certified death doulas.’ However, at this time, there is no independent, third party certifying or accrediting governing authority over death doulas. As the National End-Of-Life Doula Association (NEDA) writes, “there is no universally recognized local, regional, or federal authority, regulatory or accrediting body that holds the liability or provides monitoring for end-of-life doulas.” As opposed to the process of accreditation associated with other fields (such as Funeral Directors, Hospice Nurses, or Grief Therapists) a death doula certification does not hold such sanctioned weight.
It is not necessary to complete a certification to practice as a death doula. There are opposing arguments for and against death doula certifications and varying perspectives on what the future landscape of death care work should entail.
Why might someone be in favor of death doula certifications?
Again, not all classes, courses, mentorships, or programs boast certification. For some that is an important element of their offerings and for others, they may even voice opposition to certification.
For folks pursuing or developing a practice as a death doula, certification can be appealing for many reasons. They may be more interested in the body of knowledge a certifying program offers. The process of certification may help them feel secure or vouched for in their skills. The experience of obtaining certification may give them the confidence to pursue their practice more regularly.
If the in-house certification of a certain program offers exclusive membership to a community of other death care workers, that nexus of connections and peers can be inviting. For folks approaching this work from backgrounds in fields that were heavily or moderately regulated, certification may offer a peace of mind regarding the future legalities around the bureaucracy and regulation of death doula practices.
Why would someone be wary of certification?
Folks who are opposed to certification are often not opposed to education, but the meaning and consequences of certification.
Death care belongs to everyone and certifications may manifest as further commodifying death work. If death doula practices become entirely ‘professionalized’ and certification is required, this vastly limits who can perform as a death doula, and what it means to be a death doula. Folks who oppose the regulation and certification of death doulas have concerns with imposed authority figures forging hierarchies and consequently possibly alienating folks from these age-old, communal practices. After all, a death doula can be understood as a communal role that many folks will occupy at least once in their life.
Many death doula programs offering certification cost hundreds-to-thousands of dollars. This can be a financial barrier for many, which can seem even more gratuitous since certification is not necessary to have a legitimate practice. Death doula programs, networks, and certifications are highly reflective of the values, interests, and experiences of those who create and manage them- which may or may not be applicable or inclusive to needs of certain communities.
Certification can contribute to a homogenization of death doula practices that exclude the specific needs, considerations, perspectives, and sensitivities of certain groups- particularly historically marginalized people and communities.
How does certification impact the landscape of death care?
We are at a pivotal moment in history, especially regarding the landscape of death care. It’s necessary for death care workers to move thoughtfully, intentionally, and with generative accountability if we are to imagine and build networks of care that adequately tend to the mercurial and multifaceted fields of death and grief. Are death doula certifications a brick with which to build a home or a weight limiting our lived experiences and shutting avenues of care out?
Are you considering a death doula certification?
- Does the ‘certifying’ body reflect my values, ethics, and interests?
- Who is leading this program or certification and what lived experience do they have?
- How is this program or certification sculpted by those experiences?
- What am I gaining from this process that I believe I could not move forward without?
- How, if at all, will this certification influence the way that I connect and communicate with other death doulas and death care workers?
- How, if at all, will this certification influence the way that I connect and communicate with those seeking my services as a death doula?
- What does certification mean to me and how, if at all, will it shape my practice?
This is a much needed and very balanced article. Thank you.