Doula training › Reference
Resources and directories
Real organizations and public tools for families, caregivers and doulas, grouped by what you need. Every outside link was opened and checked on 2026-09-29, and each has one honest line about what it is.
Read this first
- Quality Death has not vetted these organizations. Listing is not endorsement, and we have no referral or payment arrangement with any of them.
- The end-of-life doula field has no single credentialing body. Training organizations set their own standards. Ask any program what it teaches, who teaches it, and what, if anything, its certificate means.
- Directories are not quality checks. A listing tells you someone exists, not that they are right for a family. Meet, ask questions, and check references.
- Links change. If one is broken or has changed hands, do not trust it; search for the organization by name.
Find hospice or palliative care
Start here when a family needs to know who provides care where they live.
Care Compare: hospices
Medicare's own tool to find hospices that serve an area and compare them on the quality of care they provide.
www.medicare.gov/care-compare/?providerType=Hospice · opened and checked 2026-09-29
Find a Provider
A search the Alliance describes as covering more than 10,000 home care and hospice agencies, including hospice, home health and palliative care. It is a trade association's list, not a quality rating.
allianceforcareathome.org/find-a-provider · opened and checked 2026-09-29
GetPalliativeCare.org
Plain-language information about palliative care for people living with serious illness, with a provider directory.
getpalliativecare.org · opened and checked 2026-09-29
Plan ahead and talk about wishes
For the person and family, in their own time. A doula can point here; the documents are theirs to complete.
The Conversation Project
Conversation starter guides, guides to choosing and being a health care proxy, and a "what matters to me" workbook.
theconversationproject.org · opened and checked 2026-09-29
CaringInfo
Guides on advance directives, hospice, palliative care and caregiving, meant to help people decide before a crisis.
www.caringinfo.org · opened and checked 2026-09-29
Advance care planning: advance directives
A clear federal explainer of living wills, health care proxies, DNR and POLST orders, and what happens without an advance directive.
www.nia.nih.gov/health/advance-care-planning/advance-care-planning-advance-directives-health-care · opened and checked 2026-09-29
National POLST
Explains POLST, the portable medical order for seriously ill people that is completed with a health care professional, with state information.
polst.org · opened and checked 2026-09-29
Learn about dying and end-of-life care
Background reading for families and doulas alike.
End of life
Short articles on care settings, making decisions for someone, and providing comfort at the end of life.
www.nia.nih.gov/health/end-life · opened and checked 2026-09-29
Hospice Foundation of America
Grief and end-of-life information for families, and courses for hospice and grief professionals.
hospicefoundation.org · opened and checked 2026-09-29
NCP Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality Palliative Care, 4th edition
The professional guidelines for quality palliative care. Written for clinicians and programs; useful for understanding what good care is expected to include.
www.nationalcoalitionhpc.org/ncp-guidelines · opened and checked 2026-09-29
Serious Illness Care
A care program and conversation guide for clinicians. Read it to understand how clinicians are taught to hold these conversations, not as a script for doulas.
www.ariadnelabs.org/serious-illness-care · opened and checked 2026-09-29
We Honor Veterans
Part of the Alliance's Caring for Veterans initiative: resources for hospices and care providers serving veterans and their families.
www.wehonorveterans.org · opened and checked 2026-09-29
End-of-life doula training and directories
The field has no single credentialing body. These organizations run their own programs or directories; ask each what its training covers and what, if anything, it certifies. Listed in no order of preference.
INELDA
A nonprofit founded in 2015 that offers end-of-life doula trainings, including one for hospices, its own certification, and a Find a Doula directory.
inelda.org · opened and checked 2026-09-29
NEDA
A national alliance of end-of-life doulas and advocates with a Find a Doula directory and information on proficiency and training.
nedalliance.org · opened and checked 2026-09-29
EOL Doula Directory
A directory of end-of-life doulas in Colorado. The page does not say whether listings are vetted.
coeolcollaborative.org/eol-doula-directory · opened and checked 2026-09-29
Support for caregivers
For the family members doing the day-to-day care.
Eldercare Locator
A public service that connects older adults and families to local services, online or by phone at 1-800-677-1116.
eldercare.acl.gov · opened and checked 2026-09-29
Caregiving and Direct Care Workforce
Federal information on programs that support family caregivers and the direct care workforce.
acl.gov/programs/caregiving-and-direct-care-workforce · opened and checked 2026-09-29
Family Caregiving
Articles and guides for family caregivers, including state caregiving resource guides and a caregiving resource line.
www.aarp.org/caregiving · opened and checked 2026-09-29
Family Caregiver Alliance
Fact sheets, a personalised planning tool called CareNav, and a state-by-state list of services for caregivers.
www.caregiver.org · opened and checked 2026-09-29
After a death
Practical and grief support once someone has died.
Home Funeral Alliance
Education and advocacy for family-led and community-centered care of the dead. Rules differ by state.
www.homefuneralalliance.org · opened and checked 2026-09-29
Shopping for Funeral Services
Explains the federal right to buy funeral goods and services separately, and to get written price lists.
consumer.ftc.gov/articles/shopping-funeral-services · opened and checked 2026-09-29
Dougy Center
Grief resources for children, teens, young adults and the adults supporting them, and a worldwide directory of grief programs.
www.dougy.org · opened and checked 2026-09-29
Crisis and safety
When someone may be at risk. In an emergency, call 911 first.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Call, text or chat with a counselor, any time, day or night. For anyone, including caregivers and doulas.
988lifeline.org · opened and checked 2026-09-29
Find Help or Report Abuse
What to do if an older adult may be abused or neglected: 911 in an emergency, and how to reach Adult Protective Services.
www.justice.gov/elderjustice/find-help-or-report-abuse · opened and checked 2026-09-29
National Adult Protective Services Association
Helps you find the Adult Protective Services office for the place where an older or vulnerable adult lives.
www.napsa-now.org · opened and checked 2026-09-29
On this site
Quality Death's own pages that the training links to.
Medical aid in dying: your state
Whether medical aid in dying is legal in a given state and what that state's law requires. Education only; the clinician handles every clinical question.
qualitydeath.com/maid-state-check · on this site
Advance directives
Living wills, health care proxies and POLST, explained.
qualitydeath.com/advance-directives · on this site
After a death: grief
What is usually true about grief, when to ask for more help, and where to find a group or a clinician.
qualitydeath.com/grief · on this site
How end-of-life doulas actually get paid
Why Medicare pays end-of-life doulas nothing, and what the advance care planning codes really require.
qualitydeath.com/getting-paid · on this site
Where this comes from
- Each outside entry above was opened on 2026-09-29 and described from that organization's own page, at the address shown on the entry (checked 2026-09-29).
- 42 CFR 418.78, Conditions of participation: Volunteers (why a local hospice's volunteer program is a route to supervised practice) — eCFR. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-42/chapter-IV/subchapter-B/part-418/subpart-C/section-418.78 (checked 2026-09-29)
Descriptions are ours, written from each organization's own words. If an organization's description here is wrong or out of date, it is our error.
This training is education, not a credential. Finishing it does not certify, license or accredit anyone, and it does not qualify anyone for any job or payment. A doula is a non-clinical helper and does not give medical, nursing, legal, tax or financial advice. Quality Death has not vetted every program or organization named here. In crisis or thinking about suicide, call or text 988. In an emergency, call 911.