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Debate around end-of-life care is becoming more prominent, while medical and social care services are being stretched. With death doulas able to ‘bridge the gap’ between the two, could spas also step up to host services in this space? Julie Cramer reports
Exploring the ‘interconnectedness of life’ at The Dreaming / photo: Elliot Cooper | @cooperexplores
With many countries facing ageing populations, the conversations around end-of-life care are inevitably increasing.
Against this backdrop, the role of the death doula (also known as an end-of-life doula) has gradually become more prominent over the last decade. Just as a birth doula is there to assist mothers to welcome new life, the death doula can be a non-medical advisor, assistant and confidante to those facing a terminal illness, to their caregivers, or elderly people approaching the end.
While death doulas have been around for centuries in different forms in global communities, their modern-day equivalents are now highly trained professionals offering valuable services. Their role is to facilitate a holistic approach to dying, addressing the emotional, spiritual, psychological and often the logistical needs of individuals and their loved ones.
Nurturing environments So this raises the question, could death doula services be offered at spa and wellness centres, whose raison d’être is to nurture and support the wellbeing of guests?
Dr Emma Clare, head of End of Life Doula UK – an association with 360 members – thinks so. “As end-of-life doulas, we’re all about holistic support, wellbeing and quality-of-life at the end of life, so we can absolutely see how this could align with a wellness setting,” she says.
“One of the things which makes our role different is the flexibility of the support we offer. If someone felt most comfortable accessing doula support via such [spa] facilities, we’d be very open to the idea. It would also provide a place for people to discover end-of-life doula support as an option for them at a time when they’re focused on their own wellbeing and self-care, which would be very fitting.”
Rachael Carter, an end-of-life Soul Doula trainer, wellbeing and spiritual life coach, is already working with wellness facilities such as Charlotte Church’s The Dreaming in the UK. She says: “We turn to spas for restoration, healing and deep relaxation, but true wellbeing includes fully living before we die – and how we prepare for and process death is a big part of that.
“Spas could become spaces where guests not only nourish their bodies but also explore life’s most profound transitions in a compassionate, supportive way.
“There’s a growing movement to bring death back into open conversation – shifting it from something hidden to something honoured and embraced. Death doulas are becoming more visible as people seek a more holistic, bespoke person-centred approach to dying.”
According to Carter, spas might embrace services by death and grief experts in a number of ways:
▪︎ Private or group sessions where guests can reflect on life, legacy and end-of-life wishes
▪︎ Workshops exploring what truly matters in life
▪︎ Tailored spa experiences for those at the end of life, offering soothing touch, breathwork or sensory therapies
▪︎ Retreats to offer people at the end of life or those grieving a space to reflect and be nurtured
Training standards Fortunately for spas looking to employ fully-trained and vetted doulas, standards in the sector appear to be both high and comprehensive.
Clare says End of Life Doula UK launched in 2018 as a community to support and continue the learning of professionals already certified by Living Well Dying Well, an organisation offering robust training.
“It can take several years to train as an end-of-life doula,” she explains. “It’s also not a role that you can learn entirely from taught material – we learn by doing and by being with those we support. This means that many of our members are ‘end-of-life doulas in training’ who are undertaking their diploma training while assisting people in their communities, with the support of our mentoring system.
“Spas can come to us as we ensure that all of our practising members are appropriately trained, insured, DBS checked and mentored.”
Carter adds that for operators considering offering these services, clear communication – ensuring guests understand programmes are about support, not therapy or medical advice – is key, along with “thoughtful integration, so that doula services blend in seamlessly without overwhelming guests”.
Evolving role As understanding of death doulas expands – as it appears to be doing – it could increasingly seem like a natural transition for these services to flow into the spa and wellness space.
Alexandra Wilson, from Journey with Death, has spent her career working in local communities in a variety of caring roles and established a social enterprise in 2018, offering death doula training and services. She’s also working on the concept of Earth Hospice. It’s a place of gathering, rest and respite for all, not just the dying and bereaved,” she says. “We believe there should be one in every community.”
Wilson continues: “Many people train with us because they want to volunteer in hospices. It’s a wonderful thing to do, but people dying in a hospice are the least in need of death doulas, if you think about it.
“So I think spa and wellness centres embracing these services is a tremendous idea. The opportunities to connect self-care, time for the self and processing dying, death and loss are endless. A death doula will hold a directory of local complementary therapists to share with clients – so being able to also recommend a local spa that’s welcoming of people who are facing the end of life would be brilliant.
“I think of spas and wellness centres as safe places to relax and often people who are carrying a lot of stress and grief need gentle permission to allow themselves to cry. I also like the idea that family and friends could buy vouchers for a grief-informed spa day as a way to show they care for that person and their carers.”
Wilson adds that spas offering these services could start to attract a new type of clientele and that it might negate the perception of them as a superficial luxury.
“Death doula work is only going to become more in demand and more needed, for sure.”
Wellness facilities that already fully embrace the topic of death and dying, such as Menla – a spiritual resort founded by Bob Thurman, the father of actress Uma Thurman – in the US, see it becoming more widespread and accepted.
Lynn Schauwecker, MD of Menla, says: “We already offer retreats rooted in the Tibetan Buddhist philosophy of the art of dying. In addition to spiritual teachings and contemplative practices, guests can access our Tibetan-inspired Dewa Spa, which offers medi-spa services and holistic treatments designed to support caregivers, those facing terminal illness and individuals navigating grief and loss.”
The centre also recently ran a death doula training retreat, led by Henry Fersko-Weiss, co-founder of the International End of Life Doula Association. Fersko-Weiss is a long-time presenter of Menla’s online conference, The Art of Dying and Living, which attracts people from a wide variety of personal and professional backgrounds.
Shauwecker concludes: “Death is as significant a transition as birth and death doulas offer invaluable support during this sacred passage. As awareness of their role continues to grow, we believe they will become an integral part of end-of-life care.”
photo: Hannah Lovell
"We’re all about holistic support, wellbeing and quality-of-life at the end of life" – Dr Emma Clare
photo: Eva&Alma
"Spas could become spaces to explore life’s most profound transitions in a compassionate, supportive way" – Rachael Carter
photo: Menla
"As awareness of the death doula role continues to grow, it will become an integral part of end-of-life care" – Lynn Schauwecker
photo: MENLA
"Death doula work is only going to become more in demand and more needed" – Alexandra Wilson
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
View contents of Spa Business 2025 issue 2
Editor’s letter: The Gen Z effect
With young adults reshaping our industry, affordable, community-based models are thriving, while traditional spas risk being left behind
Spa people: Novak Djokovic
Game, set, spa. The tennis star is poised to launch a biohacking pod while also entering a multi-year ambassador partnership with Aman
Spa people: Peter Attia
One of the most respected names in longevity medicine has co-founded preventative health clinic, Biograph
Spa people: Alexis Dean
The founder of Soak is on a mission to deliver social wellness without the hefty price tag across Australia
News report: Young influencers
Millennials and Gen Zers are redefining the wellness landscape according to new research by McKinsey
News report: Double vision
Fresh data from RLA Global reveals that hotels delivering wellness earn twice as much as those that don’t
Project preview: Laugarás Lagoon
Contrast bathing and fine dining are two USPs of a new geothermal destination in Iceland’s Golden Circle
Interview: Suzanne Holbrook
Marriott’s new global leader of spa, fitness and wellness talks candidly to Katie Barnes about her plans for the world’s largest hotel spa portfolio
Ask an expert: Vagus nerve
Insider insights into why this critical nerve is a key to wellbeing and how supportive treatments are set to shake up spa menus. Kath Hudson reports
Research: Marginally speaking
CBRE’s latest numbers show that spa revenues in US hotels have edged upward, profits have slipped slightly and costs are down
Investigation: Dealing with death
With a new openness emerging around the subject of end-of-life care, Julie Cramer investigates whether spas could offer death doula services
Trend: Head first
Judy Chapman tries out brain mapping at Gwinganna to see why it’s become so popular
First person: Relaxation rebooted
Does AI massage have a place in luxury spas? Cassandra Cavanah heads to The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara to find out
In today’s premium spa environment, every detail shapes the guest experience – right down to
the softness of towels and the freshness of linens. [more...]
Debate around end-of-life care is becoming more prominent, while medical and social care services are being stretched. With death doulas able to ‘bridge the gap’ between the two, could spas also step up to host services in this space? Julie Cramer reports
Exploring the ‘interconnectedness of life’ at The Dreaming / photo: Elliot Cooper | @cooperexplores
With many countries facing ageing populations, the conversations around end-of-life care are inevitably increasing.
Against this backdrop, the role of the death doula (also known as an end-of-life doula) has gradually become more prominent over the last decade. Just as a birth doula is there to assist mothers to welcome new life, the death doula can be a non-medical advisor, assistant and confidante to those facing a terminal illness, to their caregivers, or elderly people approaching the end.
While death doulas have been around for centuries in different forms in global communities, their modern-day equivalents are now highly trained professionals offering valuable services. Their role is to facilitate a holistic approach to dying, addressing the emotional, spiritual, psychological and often the logistical needs of individuals and their loved ones.
Nurturing environments So this raises the question, could death doula services be offered at spa and wellness centres, whose raison d’être is to nurture and support the wellbeing of guests?
Dr Emma Clare, head of End of Life Doula UK – an association with 360 members – thinks so. “As end-of-life doulas, we’re all about holistic support, wellbeing and quality-of-life at the end of life, so we can absolutely see how this could align with a wellness setting,” she says.
“One of the things which makes our role different is the flexibility of the support we offer. If someone felt most comfortable accessing doula support via such [spa] facilities, we’d be very open to the idea. It would also provide a place for people to discover end-of-life doula support as an option for them at a time when they’re focused on their own wellbeing and self-care, which would be very fitting.”
Rachael Carter, an end-of-life Soul Doula trainer, wellbeing and spiritual life coach, is already working with wellness facilities such as Charlotte Church’s The Dreaming in the UK. She says: “We turn to spas for restoration, healing and deep relaxation, but true wellbeing includes fully living before we die – and how we prepare for and process death is a big part of that.
“Spas could become spaces where guests not only nourish their bodies but also explore life’s most profound transitions in a compassionate, supportive way.
“There’s a growing movement to bring death back into open conversation – shifting it from something hidden to something honoured and embraced. Death doulas are becoming more visible as people seek a more holistic, bespoke person-centred approach to dying.”
According to Carter, spas might embrace services by death and grief experts in a number of ways:
▪︎ Private or group sessions where guests can reflect on life, legacy and end-of-life wishes
▪︎ Workshops exploring what truly matters in life
▪︎ Tailored spa experiences for those at the end of life, offering soothing touch, breathwork or sensory therapies
▪︎ Retreats to offer people at the end of life or those grieving a space to reflect and be nurtured
Training standards Fortunately for spas looking to employ fully-trained and vetted doulas, standards in the sector appear to be both high and comprehensive.
Clare says End of Life Doula UK launched in 2018 as a community to support and continue the learning of professionals already certified by Living Well Dying Well, an organisation offering robust training.
“It can take several years to train as an end-of-life doula,” she explains. “It’s also not a role that you can learn entirely from taught material – we learn by doing and by being with those we support. This means that many of our members are ‘end-of-life doulas in training’ who are undertaking their diploma training while assisting people in their communities, with the support of our mentoring system.
“Spas can come to us as we ensure that all of our practising members are appropriately trained, insured, DBS checked and mentored.”
Carter adds that for operators considering offering these services, clear communication – ensuring guests understand programmes are about support, not therapy or medical advice – is key, along with “thoughtful integration, so that doula services blend in seamlessly without overwhelming guests”.
Evolving role As understanding of death doulas expands – as it appears to be doing – it could increasingly seem like a natural transition for these services to flow into the spa and wellness space.
Alexandra Wilson, from Journey with Death, has spent her career working in local communities in a variety of caring roles and established a social enterprise in 2018, offering death doula training and services. She’s also working on the concept of Earth Hospice. It’s a place of gathering, rest and respite for all, not just the dying and bereaved,” she says. “We believe there should be one in every community.”
Wilson continues: “Many people train with us because they want to volunteer in hospices. It’s a wonderful thing to do, but people dying in a hospice are the least in need of death doulas, if you think about it.
“So I think spa and wellness centres embracing these services is a tremendous idea. The opportunities to connect self-care, time for the self and processing dying, death and loss are endless. A death doula will hold a directory of local complementary therapists to share with clients – so being able to also recommend a local spa that’s welcoming of people who are facing the end of life would be brilliant.
“I think of spas and wellness centres as safe places to relax and often people who are carrying a lot of stress and grief need gentle permission to allow themselves to cry. I also like the idea that family and friends could buy vouchers for a grief-informed spa day as a way to show they care for that person and their carers.”
Wilson adds that spas offering these services could start to attract a new type of clientele and that it might negate the perception of them as a superficial luxury.
“Death doula work is only going to become more in demand and more needed, for sure.”
Wellness facilities that already fully embrace the topic of death and dying, such as Menla – a spiritual resort founded by Bob Thurman, the father of actress Uma Thurman – in the US, see it becoming more widespread and accepted.
Lynn Schauwecker, MD of Menla, says: “We already offer retreats rooted in the Tibetan Buddhist philosophy of the art of dying. In addition to spiritual teachings and contemplative practices, guests can access our Tibetan-inspired Dewa Spa, which offers medi-spa services and holistic treatments designed to support caregivers, those facing terminal illness and individuals navigating grief and loss.”
The centre also recently ran a death doula training retreat, led by Henry Fersko-Weiss, co-founder of the International End of Life Doula Association. Fersko-Weiss is a long-time presenter of Menla’s online conference, The Art of Dying and Living, which attracts people from a wide variety of personal and professional backgrounds.
Shauwecker concludes: “Death is as significant a transition as birth and death doulas offer invaluable support during this sacred passage. As awareness of their role continues to grow, we believe they will become an integral part of end-of-life care.”
photo: Hannah Lovell
"We’re all about holistic support, wellbeing and quality-of-life at the end of life" – Dr Emma Clare
photo: Eva&Alma
"Spas could become spaces to explore life’s most profound transitions in a compassionate, supportive way" – Rachael Carter
photo: Menla
"As awareness of the death doula role continues to grow, it will become an integral part of end-of-life care" – Lynn Schauwecker
photo: MENLA
"Death doula work is only going to become more in demand and more needed" – Alexandra Wilson
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
View contents of Spa Business 2025 issue 2
Editor’s letter: The Gen Z effect
With young adults reshaping our industry, affordable, community-based models are thriving, while traditional spas risk being left behind
Spa people: Novak Djokovic
Game, set, spa. The tennis star is poised to launch a biohacking pod while also entering a multi-year ambassador partnership with Aman
Spa people: Peter Attia
One of the most respected names in longevity medicine has co-founded preventative health clinic, Biograph
Spa people: Alexis Dean
The founder of Soak is on a mission to deliver social wellness without the hefty price tag across Australia
News report: Young influencers
Millennials and Gen Zers are redefining the wellness landscape according to new research by McKinsey
News report: Double vision
Fresh data from RLA Global reveals that hotels delivering wellness earn twice as much as those that don’t
Project preview: Laugarás Lagoon
Contrast bathing and fine dining are two USPs of a new geothermal destination in Iceland’s Golden Circle
Interview: Suzanne Holbrook
Marriott’s new global leader of spa, fitness and wellness talks candidly to Katie Barnes about her plans for the world’s largest hotel spa portfolio
Ask an expert: Vagus nerve
Insider insights into why this critical nerve is a key to wellbeing and how supportive treatments are set to shake up spa menus. Kath Hudson reports
Research: Marginally speaking
CBRE’s latest numbers show that spa revenues in US hotels have edged upward, profits have slipped slightly and costs are down
Investigation: Dealing with death
With a new openness emerging around the subject of end-of-life care, Julie Cramer investigates whether spas could offer death doula services
Trend: Head first
Judy Chapman tries out brain mapping at Gwinganna to see why it’s become so popular
First person: Relaxation rebooted
Does AI massage have a place in luxury spas? Cassandra Cavanah heads to The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara to find out
Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai in Hoi An, Vietnam, has put together a Global Wellness Day
(GWD) agenda with activations rooted in nature and shaped by four pillars of Joy – in
alignment with the day’s theme #JoyMagenta.
The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) will celebrate its 20th anniversary at the 2026 event in
Phuket, Thailand, later this year with the theme: The Science, Art and Soul of Wellness.
Auko, an all-inclusive development, is opening in Phong Nha in Vietnam in Q3 2026, with a
series of 30 tented eco-lodges and wellness hospitality operations by Lumina Wellbeing.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
Naples Beach Club, a Four Seasons Resort, has opened a 2,800sq m spa called The Sanctuary,
with the design and concept inspired by the Native American people that populated Florida’s
Southwest coast – the Calusa.
Swire Hotels’ luxury hospitality brand Upper House has revealed it will roll out its two-day
House of Healing retreats at its three hotels in Hong Kong, Chengdu and Shanghai.
LVMH-owned beauty house Guerlain will launch up to five spas with partners a year as part of
its plan to expand globally, according to the brand’s international spa and wellness director,
Diane Davody.
A new global study by Kevin Kelly and Peter Yesawich, called WELLSurvey 2.0, has revealed
more than half of consumers in the UK, US and Germany would not choose numerous high-
profile wellness resort brands for a future trip.
Luxury hospitality and wellness pioneer Jeremy McCarthy has launched Leisure Alchemy, a
digital platform that will provide professionals with strategic guidance on how to build
transformational leisure experiences that drive profit.
In today’s premium spa environment, every detail shapes the guest experience – right down to
the softness of towels and the freshness of linens. [more...]
