Meet our Team

Greg Wise

Patron

Greg is an actor, filmmaker and writer. He was full-time carer for his sister, Clare,  when she was dying of cancer. The blog writings they undertook at the time became a book  ‘Not That Kind of Love‘. Greg has spoken at various events on his personal experiences and hopes to bring the conversation around dying and death into everyday life. He is thrilled to become the Patron for Living Well Dying Well and End of Life Doula UK.

You can hear Greg talking about how planning for end of life is an act of love here

Dr Kathryn Mannix

Patron

Kathryn became our Patron when End of Life Doula UK was launched in June 2018. She has worked as a doctor in palliative medicine in UK hospices, hospitals and patients͛ homes for 30 years. Kathryn relished the close teamwork involved in enabling people to feel well, live well and die well. Each team, she believes, should include the patient and their closest supporters at its heart. She observed the patterns and process of dying, and brought this to public attention through her book ‘With the End in Mind.’  She has been pleased to discover that the work of reclaiming normal human dying as a process that can be understood and accompanied in the way the dying person wishes is already flourishing in a variety of ways, including the End of Life Doula movement.

Cormac Russell

Patron

Cormac is a social explorer and an author. He is Managing Director of Nurture Development and a faculty member of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute, at DePaul University, Chicago. Cormac’s work and ethos on Community assets is close to our hearts.  Cormac says “I am pleased to stand in solidarity with the members and friends of End of Life Doula UK. Their values and contributions to our communities, mirror my own. I believe death is a precious part of life and requires the love, care and respect of a community to become meaningful. 

End of Life Doula UK, is primarily a caring social movement, as distinct from a clinical or institutional response to death, dying and grief. The value of having a near neighbour journey with us up to the very end, is easily overlooked in commercialized and hyper-individualized societies. End of Life Doula UK are on the frontier of ‘social care as social movement’, and I am very pleased for that reason to join with them and to support their efforts to bring the function of death back to the centre of community life.”

Professor Allan Kellehear

Ambassador Compassionate Communities

Allan is a British-Australian end of life care academic. He founded the ‘new’ public health movement in palliative care – variously known as ‘health promoting palliative care’, or ‘public health approach’ to palliative care, or the ‘compassionate communities’ movement. He is past president of both Public Health Palliative Care International (PHPCI) and the Association for the Study of Death and Society (ASDS). 

Allan is currently Emeritus Professor at the University of Bradford, and Associate Director of the charity, Compassionate Communities UK. Among his 25 books, he is best known for: Compassionate Cities: public health and end of life care (Routledge 2005), A Social History of Dying (Cambridge University Press 2007), and The Inner Life of the Dying Person (Columbia University Press 2014). His most recent book is Visitors at the End of Life: Finding meaning and purpose in near-death phenomena (Columbia University Press 2020).

Louise Piper

Chair of Trustees

Louise’s career bridges finance, social impact, and end-of-life care and has been driven by a commitment to creating meaningful change. She holds an MA in Law and a Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship from the University of Cambridge. Beginning a career in the Global Financial Markets she worked in London, New York, and Asia, latterly at JP Morgan. After twenty years in global finance, she decided to put the experience she had gained towards entrepreneurial and philanthropic pursuits.

In various roles as co-founder, executive, chair, and trustee of The Haller Foundation, Louise led efforts to empower small holder farmers and communities in East Africa. This innovative NGO established in 2004, leverages technology and grassroots collaboration to combat climate change and food insecurity, fostering sustainable development and resilience. Her vision ensures the foundation remains a catalyst for transformation and social progress.

Louise furthers her commitment to improving lives through Better Endings, a company she established in 2019 dedicated to bringing dignity and compassion to the end of life. She practices as an end-of-life doula, having trained through INELDA and Living Well Dying Well, and continues to deepen her understanding of end-of-life issues with an MSc in End-of-Life Studies at the University of Glasgow.

Her combination of financial expertise, entrepreneurial spirit, and ethical leadership define her work across the sectors she feels passionate about.

Paul Reddish

Trustee

Following an initial successful career in Communications and Public Affairs in the Private Sector, Paul spent just over a decade in leadership and CEO roles that deliver community led inclusion initiatives and change within the Third Sector. Paul has a deep understanding of communities, and the structural inequalities they face. Paul’s previous roles include CEO of UK wide community volunteering charity, Volunteering Matters, and a number of Chair and Trustee roles positions across the charity and sports sectors.

In 2022, Paul received an OBE for his contribution to the sector, following a stint as chair of the UK Government’s cross sector COVID volunteering response group, which helped mobilise hundreds of voluntary sector organisations and their volunteers around the needs of the country.

Paul is currently chair of ‘My Edinburgh’, an initiative about to launch in Edinburgh that challenges all parts of the city to look at poverty at a systemic level. In 2023, Paul co- founded Equity Coach, which provides training and consultancy to organisations in areas of strategic development, fundraising and income, and equalities and inclusion.

Bernard Chauly

Trustee

Bernard Chauly is one of the newest members of the organisation and brings fresh passion to the cause. Becoming an end-of-life doula is a true calling. His previous career as a film director of iconic Asian films, with a parallel passion in food leading to training as a chef, feels like half a century of nourishment for this new phase. As Trustee, Bernard hopes to champion the big picture, ‘the real story’ that drives EoLDUK while celebrating the role of every doula in rippling a collective vision.

Born in Malaysia of Punjabi-Chinese parentage, Bernard then lived in Europe and worked in Asia, making his best films in Turkey, Greece, Iran and Southeast Asia. He brings transculturality, a global perspective of work, life, even of death and dying, anchored in proven integration into living in contemporary Britain. He hopes to help grow EoLDUK into an organisation with universal values yet uniquely pioneering its own ways. Bernard lives in the Waveney Valley, Norfolk with his husband and cat, Phoebe.

Carol Amirghiasvand

Trustee

Carol has worked in the voluntary sector for 25 years, supporting individuals with life-limiting conditions. Currently Carol works as the Director of Service Development and Improvement, as well as Deputy CEO for PSPA, a charity dedicated to supporting families affected by Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) and Corticbasal Degeneration (CBD). Over the years she has gained extensive experience in all aspects of running a charity, driving their development and helping reach their full potential.

In 2023, Carol was introduced to the work of End of Life Doula UK (EoLDUK), and immediately felt that the movement aligned with her passion for providing compassionate, holistic support. Carol believes that the organisation plays a vital role in the end-of-life care landscape across the UK, offering invaluable support and information to families and providing essential education to healthcare professionals. Earlier this year, Carol completed the Living Well Dying Well Foundation course and plans to advance to Module 1 as soon as possible.

Carol says that she feels extremely humoured to be voted onto the EoLDUK board and is looking forward to working closely with the board and staff to ensure the work of the organisation continues to grow and continues to meet the needs of its membership, those they support and the wider community while also seeking opportunities for growth and sustainability.

Holly Lyon-Hawk

Trustee

Holly Lyon-Hawk is a multi-award-winning holistic funeral director, end-of-life practitioner, and Ceremonial Care of the Body specialist, renowned for her innovative contributions to the funeral industry for both people and pets. She has received numerous accolades, including the Good Funeral Awards for Best Direct Cremation Provider (2017), Most Promising Newcomer (2019), and Yearly Achievement Award (2021).

Holly contributed to the CMA’s 2019 Market Study into the funeral industry, influencing key sector reforms, and has represented ELDUK in discussions on industry standards.

Holly is a respected speaker at events such as the Norfolk Palliative Care Conference (2023) and End of Life Doula UK Conferences (2018, 2023, 2024), sharing insights on sustainable end-of-life care.

Holly co-owns Stag Simple Funerals and is acquiring Kent Natural Burials Ltd as part of Gentle Endings Ltd, working to expand natural burial options across Kent. She is a committee member of the Association of Green Funeral Directors and creator of A Gentle Goodbye with Cinnamon the Rabbit and the mini-series podcast No One Gets Out of Here Alive.

Holly’s upbringing on a farm instilled in her a deep love for animals and a connection to nature. A former veterinary nurse, she has always felt drawn to natural approaches to death and dying. She is passionate about ecological sustainability and advocates for compassionate end-of-life practices. When not supporting families, Holly enjoys riding, walking her Border Collies, Shep, and exploring her creativity through various arts.

Michelle Lumiere

Trustee

Michelle is a marketing specialist with 20 years’ experience in education, health, and social care. This includes roles like Head of Marketing at OLM Group, Marketing Director at Access Fertility, and over ten years as a Growth Marketing and Brand Consultant. She holds a BA Hons Business Entrepreneurship, MA The Arts, MSc Psychology, and a Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching. She is also a part time Digital Marketing and Business Start-Up Tutor at Richmond & Hillcroft Adult Community College. In the background of her career, Michelle has acquired years of studies and lived experience in bereavement. She trained in grief recovery and volunteered at her local hospital during the pandemic, but it was training as a Doula with Living Well Dying Well, and in conscious dying with the Living Dying Project, that accelerated her desire to work in end of life.

Today, Michelle leads the marketing for the children’s bereavement charity, Apart of Me, and is a PhD student in Transpersonal Psychology, researching consciousness at end of life. Since joining EOLDUK, she has also joined the Butterfly Scheme at West Middlesex Hospital and founded the Mortality Alliance to raise the profile of death and dying support services worldwide.

Dr Emma Clare

Chief Executive Officer

Emma is a Chartered Psychologist with a Health Psychology PhD in the development of death competency in healthcare professionals and end of life doulas. She has been a practising end of life doula in training since 2018 and is currently completing her LWDW diploma. Based in North Yorkshire, she describes herself as an activist and nature lover, with a passion for bringing death and dying out of medical settings and back into compassionate communities wherever possible to improve quality of life at the end of life.

Emma’s route to End of Life Doula UK began when her first job after leaving university at 21 was as a home carer supporting people on ‘fast-track’ plans who wished to leave hospital to die at home. Through this work Emma witnessed the significant negative impact that a lack of communication between a person who is at the end of their life, their family and friends, and healthcare professionals can have, and this led to her completing the LWDW Foundation training. Her work is also informed by her background as an assistant psychologist working with complex relationship dynamics in services with looked-after children and fostering agencies, and in autism, learning disabilities, and adult mental health services providing assessments, therapy, and advocacy.

Beginning in a volunteer role on the EoLDUK Committee as the member for Research and Resources in 2019 before taking on a paid operational role in 2021, Emma now leads the EoLDUK executive team and is an ex-officio trustee board member.

Paul Collis

Finance Director 

Paul is a chartered certified accountant (qualified 2007) who started his career in audit with PwC. Since moving into industry Paul has spent the last 15 years working for various publicly listed and private companies across many different sectors including property, transport, retail, manufacturing and hospitality. Paul has got vast international finance experience and lived and worked in the Caribbean (2010-2016) before returning to the UK.

Outside of work Paul enjoys spending time with this family, following his football team Burnley FC and is a singer/songwriter.

Tracey Morris

EA to the Chief Executive Officer

Tracey has worked in the voluntary sector since 1994, supporting Chief Executives, Chairs and Board of Trustees. Having previously worked in child focussed charities, she joined End of Life Doula UK in 2022 to seek a new challenge and to learn about end of life care and support. 

Tracey has volunteered and fundraised for many charities, highlights being renovating a primary school in Tanzania and climbing Mount Snowdon.

Lynne Carnie

Membership Coordinator

Lynne is Membership Coordinator of End of Life Doula UK.  Lynne lives in Surrey and after 30 years working in logistics for large corporations, found the training of Living Well Dying Well immensely empowering in supporting others at end of life.  She is a volunteer for Princess Alice Hospice and is keen to promote awareness, in the community, of the work of End of Life Doula UK in all things related to end of life. Away from her Doula work, Lynne enjoys getting out in the countryside and immersing herself in nature.

Martin O’Toole

Martin joined End of Life Doula UK in August 2022 and worked as Project Manager for our NHS project in Kingston and Richmond boroughs of SW London, as well as providing doula support to many individuals and their families himself. Martin’s friends and colleagues at EoLDUK were devastated to hear of his death in November 2024.

Martin made a hugely positive impact during his relatively short time with EoLDUK, evidenced by the many letters and emails we received from those he had supported and NHS staff he worked alongside which included the following:

“I must particularly commend Martin for his brilliant support. You saved us. His presence and assistance brought a sense of peace and reassurance when it was needed most. His compassionate care made a profound difference and offered solace during a challenging period. For that, I am eternally grateful. Thank you, Martin, for your kindness, understanding, and unwavering support. Your service is a beacon of light for those navigating difficult times, and I am truly thankful for the comfort you provide to individuals and families in need”.

Martin embodied our end of life doula values of compassion and community and will be greatly missed, and never forgotten.

Barbara Bird

Adviser to the Committee June 2018 – Feb 2020 With Gratitude and Rest in Peace