Katie Hern

I’m Katie (she/her), I’m 27 years old, married, and lucky enough to have a gorgeous dog. I have an incredible support network who bless and enrich my life in innumerable ways.

I’ve always secretly hated the way we talk about our dead and dying, I felt I could never share that because it sounds really mean! I just think we’ve framed death and dying in such a medicalised and final way, making it difficult for a dying person to properly prepare for death, and then difficult for the ones left behind to heal. So where do we go from that? This led me to many frantic nights of fretting. Nothing felt like it fit my needs or the needs of the people I love until I came across End of Life Doula UK.

I felt a total connection with learning how to prepare for death. Training to become a Doula wasn’t in my life plan, because I didn’t know the field existed! However, I now can’t imagine myself in any other profession. My aim is to help dying people navigate their agency in End of Life decisions and assist in communicating their wishes to healthcare professionals and their loved ones. I aim to help the dying person’s support network come to terms with the oncoming death of their loved one and facilitate their involvement as much as desired. As a Doula I don’t impose my own ‘stuff’ onto people, I only aim to empower people to make their own choices.