Jenny-Ann Gunnarsson

Offers doula services in Sweden
Contact details
(Please note that these details are the central EOL Doula UK contact details)
Thumbnail Jenny Ann Vilabegravning Foto Ellikahenrikson Ny

More about me

I cared for my mum when she was dying from lung cancer in 2010 and had the very sad but most wonderful gift of being there in the moment of her death. Seven years later in 2017, I was faced with yet another close death, as the police came knocking on my door, informing me my dad had died by suicide at the age of 81. Two very different deaths with great impacts, which have formed me and what I do today, as I wholeheartedly work with death and dying.

With these very sad but important experience I just knew I had to do something – to open up and talk about the inevitable and so I started my own Funeral Home in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2014. It has been very rewarding but I felt I was still missing something and when I came across the End of Life Doula movement, I knew I had found that last piece. I consider my work as a Funeral Director my calling but the work of a doula goes straight to my heart.

I have completed all of the End of Life Doula training with Living Well Dying Well and hold the full Diploma which is quality assured by Crossfields Institute. By completing the UK Diploma training, I became the first End of Life Doula (Death Doula) in Sweden and have received much interest and attention.

During my training in the UK, I found that much differ between the countries including language and so from Summer of 2021, I run a series of workshops in Scandinavia, together with a reputable grief counsellor. The movement and role is all new in Sweden and Scandinavia. By offering the workshops, we hope to open up for the support there as well.

Apart from my work as a funeral director and death doula, I also volunteer at a hospice and I hold Death Cafes and various death events on a regular basis. I have also furthered my knowledge with studies in grief recovery, tactile massage, LGBTI, mentoring and I continue to learn and improve. My services as a death doula can be offered both in Sweden and overseas. No one should have to die alone unless that is their choice.

My working background, both in Sweden and overseas, varies from caretaker to tourism, sales, PA to own company providing home services. All roles have included common factors such as competence, listening skills, top service, organizational skills and kindness as I believe being kind is key.

Privately I live with my husband as our daughter has left the nest and I tend to share my time between Gothenburg and our country place in the woods near Örebro. Apart from work, I enjoy being outdoors in the stillness of nature, cooking international food and reading books of all kinds. I am also a huge animal lover, particularly dogs and specifically French bulldogs – our beloved Enzo died peacefully in my arms April 2020 after a short struggle with cancer. After his death, I was physically sick for weeks and I still tear up when I think of him.

With that said, I would like to point out the importance of not judging someone beforehand, as you never know what sorrows a person carries and whatever dignity of it, to not belittle it.