International End of Life Doula Association

06/19/2026

Happy Juneteenth!

Today, while we celebrate this holiday, we want to bring up a topic that is important in the deathcare space and beyond. That topic is saviorism.

What happens when our desire to help becomes a need to save?

In this clip, INELDA educator Valoria Walker explores saviorism and how it can show up in end-of-life care. Saviorism is the belief that we know what is best for others and that our role is to fix, rescue, or change their choices. While often rooted in good intentions, it can unintentionally override the wisdom, values, and autonomy of the communities we seek to support.

In death care, this can look like entering a community with assumptions about what decisions people should make, rather than taking the time to understand the experiences, beliefs, and realities that shape those choices.

True accompaniment begins with humility. It asks us to listen before we advise, to learn before we lead, and to honor the expertise people hold about their own lives.

In the coming days, we will be sharing more of this conversation for the purpose of diving deeper into this important topic. We hope our community will explore the ways that we can transform our perspectives and actions. Stay tuned for more.

06/18/2026

"Before there were hospitals, charts, and machines, there were stories."

In this excerpt from The Magic of Storytelling in Death Work, Darnell Lamont Walker reminds us that storytelling may be one of humanity's oldest death rituals.

As people approach the end of life, many find themselves asking profound questions:

Did my life matter?
What will be remembered?
Did my life add up to something?

Stories can help us make meaning of our experiences, connect the fragments of our lives, and honor who we have been. In this way, storytelling becomes more than remembrance. It becomes medicine.

Interested in watching the full webinar?

Tier 2 & 3 INELDA members receive access to our webinar archive, featuring nearly 100 recordings exploring end-of-life care, grief, community care, spirituality, business development, and more.

Learn more about membership by clicking here https://bit.ly/4aCafoi

06/17/2026

For this month's webinar, we're talking about building grief and deathcare support in Communities of Color with Alica Forneret.

In the summer of 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, Alica launched PAUSE. PAUSE Community's mission is to create spaces that produce safe, culturally specific, and expert-informed grief and end-of-life resources dedicated to serving Communities of Color.

What started as a resource newsletter has grown into a versatile, nationwide organization. We want to invite you into the conversation.

We’ll be diving into the roots of PAUSE, the critical necessity for tailored grief resources, and how they are strengthening networks of grief-informed professionals—from doulas and social workers to HR leaders—to rebuild systems of care that center dignity, belonging, and mutual aid.

Whether you are a deathcare worker, a community leader, someone navigating your own grief journey, or you simply recognize the importance of PAUSE's work, we invite you to join us for what is sure to be a powerful conversation.

📅 June 24, 2026
⏱️ 7-8:30pm ET

To learn more and register, click here https://bit.ly/4epBZO1

06/16/2026

Coming up this Thursday!

If you had to write your own obituary, what would you write?

How would you describe your life?

How do we want to be remembered, and what do or don’t want shared about ourselves after death?

For this month's Community Meetup, join us and guest Ned Buskirk-creative writer and founder of You're Going to Die in this hands-on writing workshop and conversation to write our own obituaries. We will consider our own mortality and use this experience to imagine how to support those we doula to write their obituaries.

Thursday, June 18th
3-4pm ET
This event is open to all INELDA members

To learn more and register, click here https://bit.ly/43dAEVC

06/16/2026

The AIDS Memorial Quilt

What began in 1985 as a local act of remembrance in San Francisco has grown into the largest community arts project in human history.

Conceived by activist Cleve Jones during the height of the epidemic, the purpose of the AIDS Memorial Quilt was to give the q***r men and trans folks who had died a proper memorial. At the time, social stigma borne out of q***rphobia denied too many in the q***r community proper funerals.

This living monument now spans over 50,000 individual fabric panels commemorating more than 110,000 lives lost to HIV/AIDS.

Each handmade panel measures 3-by-6 feet, the exact dimension of a human grave. Sewn together by grieving family members, friends, and lovers using everything from favorite t-shirts and leather, to letters and personal tokens, the 54-ton quilt reminds us that the people who have died were loved and valued. In spite of our government's abandonment of them, they were people who deserved care.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt includes people of all genders and sexualities, and is permanently housed in The Bay Area. Sections of the quilt are on display at the National AIDS Memorial, others are on loan at various institutions, and still other sections are traveled with for events and education. As it is a living memorial, you can also contribute to it if you would like. You do not need to be an artist to do so. Additionally, you can view the quilt online.

You can learn more about the quilt and how to interact with it here https://www.aidsmemorial.org/quilt

Photos 2-4: Adrian Molina

06/15/2026

What changes when we see someone as 85 instead of 25?

For World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, Ocean Phillips invites us to consider a question that sits at the heart of ageism.

If the person sitting in front of us were younger, would we listen more carefully? Would we assume they had more choices ahead of them? Would we be more willing to honor their wishes?

Ageism often hides in plain sight. It can show up in assumptions about capacity, independence, value, and whose voice matters. While these moments may seem subtle, they can shape how older adults experience dignity, autonomy, and belonging.

Preventing elder abuse begins with recognizing the humanity, autonomy, and worth of older adults.

Ocean Phillips is an LGBTQIA+ advocate, hospice spiritual care counselor, INELDA-trained end-of-life doula, and founder of Homecoming Journeys. Through his work, he helps individuals, families, and communities navigate aging, caregiving, dying, and grief with compassion and presence.

As we observe World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, may we challenge ourselves to notice the subtle ways ageism shows up in our lives and choose another path.

One conversation.

One act of respect.

One moment of listening at a time.

06/14/2026

Limari Colón está creando espacios para conversar sobre la muerte, el duelo, la sanación y la comunidad en Puerto Rico desde un enfoque profundamente personal y multidisciplinario. Además de su trabajo como doula de fin de vida formada por INELDA, integra su experiencia como Guía de Duelo Facilitado por Caballos con su interés por la naturaleza y el bienestar emocional para crear experiencias que invitan a las personas a explorar el duelo, el significado y la conexión desde nuevas perspectivas.

Como organización, agradecemos ser testigos de las crecientes conexiones entre personas doulas de toda América Latina. Cada comunidad, cultura y profesional aporta algo valioso a este campo en constante evolución.

Gracias, Limari, por el trabajo que estás realizando y por ayudar a cultivar un movimiento de acompañamiento al final de la vida más compasivo en Puerto Rico.

📍 Fotografía tomada durante el Tercer Encuentro de la Red Latinoamericana de la Muerte en Buenos Aires, Argentina.

~
Limari Colón is helping shape conversations about death, grief, healing, and community in Puerto Rico through a deeply personal and multidisciplinary approach. In addition to her work as an INELDA-trained end-of-life doula, she incorporates her passion for horses as a Horse-Facilitated Grief Guide, nature, and emotional well-being into experiences that invite people to explore grief, meaning, and connection in new ways.

As an organization, we are grateful to witness the growing connections between doulas throughout Latin America. Each community, culture, and practitioner brings something valuable to this evolving field.

Thank you, Limari, for the work you are doing and for helping cultivate a more compassionate deathcare movement in Puerto Rico.

📍 Photo taken during the third gathering of la Red Latinoamericana de la Muerte in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

06/11/2026

Check out our June/July newsletter!

Learn about the contributions of care from le****ns during the height of the AIDS epidemic, INELDA's grant from McElhattan Foundation, the film Ain't Got Time to Die which follows a woman with a terminal cancer diagnosis facing her complicated past in her hometown, updates from INELDA, and more.

To read out newsletter, click here

  JUNE/JULY 2026 EVENTS UPDATES NEWS PRACTICE CORNER Blood Sisters blood drive, 1983 (P253.017), L2013.23 Jeri Dilno collection, courtesy of Lambda

06/11/2026

For this month's webinar, we're talking about building grief and deathcare support in Communities of Color with Alica Forneret.

In the summer of 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, Alica launched PAUSE Community. PAUSE's mission is to create spaces that produce safe, culturally specific, and expert-informed grief and end-of-life resources dedicated to serving Communities of Color.

What started as a resource newsletter has grown into a versatile, nationwide organization. We want to invite you into the conversation.

We’ll be diving into the roots of PAUSE, the critical necessity for tailored grief resources, and how they are strengthening networks of grief-informed professionals—from doulas and social workers to HR leaders—to rebuild systems of care that center dignity, belonging, and mutual aid.

Whether you are a deathcare worker, a community leader, someone navigating your own grief journey, or you simply recognize the importance of PAUSE's work, we invite you to join us for what is sure to be a powerful conversation.

📅 June 24, 2026
⏱️ 7-8:30pm ET

To learn more and register, click here inelda.org/webinar/pause-grief-deathcare

06/05/2026

📺 What are you watching this weekend?

Documentaries are a powerful media for us to explore our mortality, societal structures, historical events, and to reflect on so many aspects of our lives.

Many of you know that we use this film Prognosis: Notes on Living in our trainings. Here are some of our other favorite movies that talk about death and dying.

What are you watching? What is on your list? Share in the comments below!

Documentaries Featured Here:
1. Let The Record Show
2. Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt
3. Surviving Voices National AIDS Memorial
4. 5B Film
5. Sugarcane Film
6. The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
7. Aftershock
8. Come See Me in the Good Light
9. The Chaplain & The Doctor Jessica Zitter, MD
10. Surviving Death
11. The Inn Between Ondi Timoner
12. The Last Ecstatic Days The Last Ecstatic Days