What a Doula can and cannot do

What a Doula CAN do for clients

  • Provide emotional support to a person who is approaching the end of life or suffering pregnancy loss, and those important to them

  • Provide bedside vigiling during the active dying phase and/or support those important to the person to hold vigil

  • Provide hands-on support for those birthing babies who have died.

  • Advocate for the person’s wishes and preferences relating to their end-of-life care support people with advance planning – assisting people to document their wishes and preferences for their future care and end of life

  • ‘hold the space’ for conversations about death and dying to reduce fear and loneliness

  • Provide practical support to enable the person who is dying to focus their energy on activities which are meaningful to them, and so that friends and relatives can focus on spending quality time with their person. Such practical support could include assisting with ‘life admin’ paperwork, light housework, and helping sort through personal items

  • Help the person and those important to them navigate the local health and social care system

  • Coordinate and arrange other care and support which is needed such as liaising (with permission) with the person’s GP, social prescribers, local hospices, care teams etc

  • Support the person to attend medical appointments to help them to access the information they need to make decisions about their own care and treatment facilitate open communication within the person’s circle of support for example assisting with difficult relationship dynamics when the person’s wishes are not understood by those important to them, or where relatives have differing views on what is best for the person

  • Support the person at home, or wherever they are receiving care – in a care or nursing home, hospice, or hospital

  • Provide spiritual support if requested, not only relating to religious preferences but to broader meaningful connections such as with nature, and ensuring that a person’s care incorporates beliefs important to them

  • Continue to provide short-term support to those important to the person after the person’s death with practicalities including funeral planning and emotional support

What a doula CANNOT do for clients

  • Provide direct support to individuals who are not approaching the end of life e.g., those who do not have a terminal diagnosis and/or are not elderly, unless this is for stand-alone advance planning assistance

  • Act as a replacement or cover for a domiciliary care team

  • Provide legal advice e.g., around Wills

  • Provide personal care as part of the service a doula is offering (including but not limited to assistance with toileting needs, washing, dressing, nail cutting, and physical assistance with eating and drinking)

  • Use/operate medical equipment (including but not limited to hoists, catheters, and feeding tubes)

  • Handle and prompt (persuade, encourage, or remind a person to take) medication (this does not refer to encouraging the person/those important to them to contact other services to access pain medication which we can and should do when necessary)

  • Provide manual handling – moving, lifting, pushing, or supporting the person with physical strength

  • Provide ongoing bereavement support beyond the initial weeks after a person’s death

  • Provide stand-alone bereavement support to people who they were not already supporting prior to a person’s death

  • Provide support, advice, or practical assistance with anything relating to assisted dying/assisted suicide as this is currently an illegal act in the UK*

* note that this is different to Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED)