The work and perspectives of an End of Life Doula - It's all about Life!
Tue, 17 Jan
|Chester
Death comes to us all - Nett Furley talks about her experience as an End of Life Doula providing a fascinating insight into an aspect of end of life care and support. There will be time for Q & A after Nett’s talk.


Time & Location
17 Jan 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
Chester, Westminster Rd, Chester CH2 3AP, UK
About the event
Nett has a wealth of experience in end of life care and this talk will certainly give us a lot to think about.
Please read on - Nett’s bio gives further details:
What a thing to be interested in, have empathy with and actively supporting people through – death and dying. But, that is what I am and do. As an End of Life Doula and a Humanists UK Funeral and Wedding Celebrant I am able to support people at important times in their life. My passion is supporting people at the end of their life and the people close to them after their person has died. This work gives me so much pleasure and satisfaction and I feel honoured to be able to do it.
I have been an end of life doula since 2010 and a Humanist Celebrant for the last 25 years.
So, what is an End of Life Doula? It is a person who has been trained, and in my case qualified with a Diploma, to be an informed companion to someone who knows they have a life limiting condition. My role is to try and reduce peoples fear about death, enable them to be more practically and emotionally prepared for it and improve the quality of experience of dying, which will leave a lasting impression on those around them. My role is to preserve the quality of wellbeing, sense of identity and self-worth from the moment of diagnosis. I try to ‘hold’ the situation with the ‘family’, be a friend in death, a non-medical ‘expert companion’ to the dying person and those important to them. Most importantly I help people to live.
As well as supporting individuals who are approaching the end of their lives and the people important to them, I use my doula’ing experience to influence NHS policies and guidelines by sitting on national NICE clinical, service delivery and quality standard committees on end of life and health inequalities and the national audit for care at end of life (NACEL) and Cambridge University’s THIS research on planning at end of life.
My career has involved senior roles in NHS and not for profit organisations e.g. Director of Primary Care, CEO of a carers charity, a community regeneration charity and a community environmental charity and Assessment Lead at the Audit Commission. I was a trained nurse and have been a funeral director.
My current roles include: Humanist Funeral, Memorial, Vow Renewal and Wedding Celebrant; Director of the organisation that supports practicing Doulas End of Life Doula UK; An Assessor of diploma portfolios; Health and Care Consultant for not for profit and statutory organisations; Mentor, Coach and Trainer; Steward at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
There is no fee to attend though donations will be asked for to support the running of the local branch.
Refreshments will be provided.