clinical focus
Sommerville has found that the tasks
undertaken can vary from patient to patient
and doula to doula. As for the question of
accreditation, she sees it as when, not if.
“I feel like it will be integrated into our
healthcare system eventually. I’m totally
okay with seeing it as a business because
it is a service that is needed. Everyone I’ve
spoken to about it, the feedback has all
been the same. Like, ‘I wish we knew that
this existed’ and ‘I would love to have had
someone for my family member’.”
Helen Callanan is the founder of
Preparing the Way, a doula training scheme
aligned with and delivered through
the Australian Doula College, the only
government accredited Certificate IV in
birth doula services.
A former natural therapist with a degree
in Chinese medicine, Callanan regularly
found herself dealing with death, as many
of her clients were terminally ill. She was
spending time in hospitals with these clients
and their families and starting to “do the
work of a doula without even knowing that
there was such a thing”.
It was caring for her parents and guiding
them in the final months of their lives that
cemented the idea that there needed to be
an extra element of care at the end of life.
This led Callanan to design the training.
“I met Renee Adair along the way. She’s
the founder and director of the Australian
Doula College,” Callanan says.
“We had become friends, and she said:
‘Helen, there’s nothing really out there
that’s written for the doulas. We need
training for the doulas, as in the birth
doulas, because they’re encountering
death, unfortunately, at different times’.
“So I collaborated with a woman who
used to write programs for TAFE and was
part of their accreditation team. We both
went and did a Certificate IV in Training and
Assessment so we could write the course
at an accreditable level.
“I debriefed every death I’d ever been
a part of. We pulled those apart, and
the mistakes I’d made and the things I’d
learned, and the resources I’d found and
all of that. And we created the pilots back
in 2015.”
Callanan hopes to use the birthing
doula scheme as a blueprint for the
end-of-life training.
“Together we are looking at accreditation
in 2019 for end-of-life doula services.
Conversations have begun about creating
a proper association. So there would be a
There’s also no
regulation, so no oversight.
governing body and there’d be a code of
conduct and ethics,” she says.
In that search for professional recognition,
Callanan stresses the need for collaboration
with the current palliative care professional.
“What I would really love to see
underlined is the deep experience that
people bring to this role, that they’re not
looking to get in the way. They’re looking
to work in collaboration, to bridge the
gaps,” she said.
“We want to work alongside them, with
them, not instead of them. I can’t do my
job without good palliative care.” ■
AMH Aged Care
Companion
The current release of the AMH Aged Care Companion contains
updated information on allergic conjunctivitis, dry eyes, gout,
heart failure, hypertension, insomnia, osteoporosis, major
depressive disorder, pain management, restless legs syndrome,
rhinitis, rhinosinusitis (formerly sinusitis), along with changes to
several other topics. New drug names have been incorporated in
accordance with the TGA’s adoption of changes to approved drug
names in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG).
AMH Aged Care Companion available now in print or online.
Go to www.amh.net.au for more information.
agedcareinsite.com.au 31