Meet Our Team

Read about the dedicated people behind End of Life Doula UK.

Behind End of Life Doula UK is a passionate community of people united by a shared commitment to community end-of-life care. From our Executive Team, Board of Trustees, Patrons and Ambassadors to those whose legacy continues to inspire us, every individual plays an important role in advancing our mission. Meet the people whose expertise, dedication, and support help make our work possible.

Patrons & Ambassadors

Our Patrons and Ambassadors play a vital role in championing End of Life Doula UK's mission. Through their influence, expertise, and advocacy, they help raise awareness of end of life doulas, amplify our voice, and inspire more people to discover the difference doulas can make.

Greg Wise

  • 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 Joseph Sawyer

  • Joseph is a community based Consultant in Palliative Medicine. His work sits at the intersection of clinical practice, academia and the creative arts, with a particular interest in how experiences of death, dying and loss are understood and expressed across these domains.

    He has specialist expertise in the care of people living with dementia, advanced multimorbidity and frailty, with his clinical practice embracing complexity and uncertainty. Alongside his clinical work, Joseph is interested in how creative practices can illuminate the values and meanings associated with end of life, and how these insights can inform more compassionate and culturally responsive models of care.

    Joseph completed his undergraduate medical training at Imperial College London and held an Academic Clinical Fellowship in Palliative Medicine at University College London. In 2020, he was awarded an Alzheimer’s Society Clinical Training Fellowship, leading to a PhD (2024) exploring community-based approaches to supporting people affected by dementia.

    His ongoing work seeks to build bridges between medicine, academia and the arts, contributing to a broader understanding of value in death and fostering approaches to care that are evidence-informed and human centred.

  • 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.

Dr Kathryn Mannix

  • 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.”

Cormac Russell

Prof Allan Kellehear OBE

  • 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 Professor of End-of-Life Care at Northumbria University, and patron of Holistic End-of-Life and Death Care Australia and the End-of-Life Doula Alliance Aotearoa (New Zealand). Among his 27 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 books are Visitors at the End of Life: Finding meaning and purpose in near-death phenomena (Columbia University Press 2020) and (co-edited with Julian Abel) Wellbeing at the End-of-Life: Reimagining palliative care (Columbia University Press 2026)

Board of Trustees

Chaired by Louise Piper, our Board of Trustees provides the strategic leadership and governance that enables End of Life Doula UK to thrive. Bringing together a wealth of expertise and experience, they guide our charity with integrity and vision, ensuring we remain true to our mission while supporting sustainable growth and lasting impact.

Louise Piper

  • 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.

Holly Lyon-Hawk

  • 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 Lumiére

  • Michelle is a marketing specialist for education, health, and social care. 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. Michelle has acquired years of studies and lived experience in bereavement. She trained in grief recovery and volunteered in hospitals 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 Talent Brand for the global nonprofit Mercy Ships, and is a PhD student in Transpersonal Psychology. Since joining EOLDUK, she has also founded the Mortality Alliance to raise the profile of support services worldwide.

Bernard Chauly

  • 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

  • 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.

Executive Team

Led by our CEO, Dr Emma Clare, our Executive Team is responsible for turning our vision into action. Through their leadership, dedication, and expertise, they oversee the day-to-day running of End of Life Doula UK, support our growing community of practice, and enable compassionate, high-quality end-of-life care.

Dr Emma Clare

  • 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.

Jane Banks

  • Jane has over 30 years’ experience in not-for-profit sector management through her roles with the YMCA, Charities Aid Foundation and British Heart Foundation

    Jane is an End-of-Life Doula in training having completed the End-of-Life Doula Foundation course with Living Well Dying well. She is a Co-Founder of Starling Grief Tending Circles – delivering peer to peer grief tending circles in her local community.

    Jane is a passionate advocate for bereavement grief and loss literacy and is a founding member of the North London Grief Network, created to enhance the wellbeing of the North London community by normalising and demystifying experiences of mortality, death, grief and loss. She works with two local hospices in a voluntary capacity to provide bereavement support to the recently bereaved and or the dying and their families.

    Enjoying a portfolio career Jane is an Executive Coach and Grief and Loss Coach having trained with the Coaches Training Institute.

    With a firm belief that within each person lies an irreplaceable constellation of gifts, talents, and perspectives — shaped by experience, nature, and the quiet work of a lifetime, Jane co-facilitates poetry and watercolour, with coaching workshops, to help individuals and teams explore what it is they uniquely do best. Living from aliveness and not from a plan.

Adam Irvine

  • Adam is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising (MCIOF) with over 15 years of experience in grants, trusts and foundations fundraising. Since 2016, he has been a consultant, supporting over 250 charities with income generation, strategy, and project development and management, raising in excess of £20 million in that time.

    Working within the sector, Adam has been a part of many charities with users experiencing life altering, changing, and limiting conditions. A deep understanding of how humans connect and feel, Adam brings empathy and understanding to the role. Being able to portray the charity, and understand why the charity exists, will help with the development of a sustainable income stream to support End of Life Doulas for many years to come.

Lisa McCord

  • Lisa is a Chartered Accountant with ICAS, who began her career in audit at Ernst & Young. She went on to hold senior finance roles in the e‑commerce and retail sectors across London and Vancouver, gaining broad commercial experience in dynamic, fast-paced environments. More recently, she has brought her expertise into the public sector, driven by a desire to contribute to organisations whose values resonate with her own.

    Alongside her finance career, Lisa trained as an End of Life Doula and is delighted to deepen her involvement with End of Life Doula UK. She is passionate about normalising conversations around death and dying, believing that open dialogue helps us live—and die—more fully.

Ruby Love

  • Ruby Love is an End of Life Doula and gardener living in Bristol. She is also nearing the end of a two-year diploma in Social and Therapeutic Horticulture, which she plans to use to bring together her doula and gardening practices.

    Ruby has been working as a doula since 2022 and joined the EoLDUK team in her current role in December 2024. Since completing the Living Well Dying Well diploma, her focus has been on finding different ways to practise as a doula and support people approaching the end of life.

    Joining the EoLDUK team has been an important part of this journey. In her role, Ruby is responsible for matching people seeking doula support with doulas who can support them. She finds real joy in making these connections and knowing that someone will receive the support they need.

    Outside of work, Ruby spends as much time in nature as possible and regularly visits Wales to see family and friends and explore the countryside. She loves cooking and eating, is an avid reader and member of a feminist book group, and shares her home with two snakes, Percy and Baby Girl, who both came to her through rehoming.

Tracey Morris

  • 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.

Rose Jamieson

  • Rose began training as an end of life doula in 2022 and joined the team at End of Life Doula UK in 2023, helping people to access doula support. Since then, she has been working as an end of life doula in training, facilitating death cafes and volunteering at her local hospice, providing respite to carers in the community. 

    Rose has enjoyed a varied career spanning arts production and the health sector; working in production at London's Barbican Centre and Nest Collective as well as in the NHS, supporting multi-disciplinary working in the community in East London.

    Rose grew up in the Trossachs in Scotland and is now based in London.

Shona Sundhari

  • Shona is the Membership Manager at End of Life Doula UK, a role she was drawn towards to help support and nurture a growing community of people committed to compassionate end of life care. Shona has worked in similar roles for other organisations and charities in her county of Norfolk. Once a special needs school teacher, Shona’s focus and heart has gently shifted towards community, nature, and spaces where people gather to share in life’s meaningful moments.

    Alongside her role with EoLD UK, Shona works in a number of community roles. She is a Forest School Facilitator, a facilitator of Grief Tending in Community, Way of Council facilitator, and the founder of a CIC that brings people together through nature-based projects. She is currently studying the End of Life diploma with Living Well Dying Well and practices as an End of Life Doula and funeral celebrant in her community.

    Shona is most at home in nature, often accompanied by her dog, and finds deep nourishment at her allotment and in being alongside people in community. She sees the ways communities come together around death, dying, and grief as a powerful form of heart-led activism, and an essential part of forming compassionate, caring, resilient communities.

Kirsty Simpson

  • Kirsty supports the organisation's communications and event activity. She helps create social media content and assists with the coordination of CPD events, annual gatherings, and other opportunities that bring the End of Life Doula UK community together.

    Having spent much of her career working in higher education, Kirsty left the sector to pursue a PhD in Health Psychology and Healthcare Communication. Her academic interests have led her to develop a wider interest in how we support people at the end of life, those important to them, and how we communicate about death, dying, and bereavement with compassion and sensitivity.

    Through her role at End of Life Doula UK, Kirsty enjoys contributing to meaningful work that helps support understanding, connection, and conversations around end-of-life care.

Rachel Hawthorn

  • Rachel is the Mentoring Coordinator for End of Life Doula UK, supporting our team of trained mentors who mentor all our practising doulas.  Providing this support to each of our members is vital for maintaining best practice and ensuring each doula has the resources and fellowship that they need to carry out their work to the best of their abilities. 

    Alongside her role at EoLDUK, Rachel is an artist and shroud maker, working with natural materials and exploring the ancient practice and creative possibilities of using shrouds to carry and care for our dead. Rachel also works as a doula in her local community, supporting individuals and families at the end of life.

In Memorial

Our In Memoriam section honours the extraordinary individuals whose dedication, compassion, and commitment helped shape End of Life Doula UK. Though they are no longer with us, their contributions continue to inspire our work and the community they helped build. We remember them with deep gratitude and celebrate the lasting legacy they leave behind.

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