Meet the Living Well Dying Well Team

LWDW Office Team

The LWDW Training Team

Office Team  Trainer Team   Course Assistants    Assessors   EOL Doula UK Liaision  Directors

Our Office Team

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Dr Hermione Elliott

Director and Lead Trainer
Hermione has a background in nursing, midwifery, counselling, palliative care and training and is the founder of Living Well, Dying Well. She has worked internationally and lived in Japan for four years, where her book Gan No Serufu Hiringu, a self-help guide for people with cancer, was published. She is passionate about care of the whole person – physical, emotional and spiritual – and about upholding dignity and self-determination at every stage of life.  She pioneered the End of Life Training in the UK.
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Nikki Newman

Head of Operations and Finance
Nikki has a wealth of experience of financial, project and business planning management.  Starting her career in analytical science and secondary education, Nikki is inspired to use her knowledge and experience to support LWDW achieve it's goal of creating and empowering compassionate, caring communities.
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Lisa Hill

Learner Support Co-Ordinator
Lisa gained her ITEC diploma in holistic massage therapy in 2011 and has been focused on complementary therapies, well-being and stress management.  As well as being a Breathworks accredited mindfulness teacher, Lisa also engages as a youth conference facilitator for Young Citizens, as well as volunteering as a complementary therapist for Thames Hospice and My Cancer My Choices.  Lisa’s career has seen her positioned in many educational roles, including a science teacher and a tutor for The SMAE Institute for mature students.  She is dedicated in supporting LWDW learners achieve their ambitions in the End of Life Doula field after completing her End of Life Doula Foundation Training in 2022.
Cathy Ota

Dr Cathy Ota

Head of Learning
Cathy has a background in education research, teacher training and professional development across the UK, Europe and Canada.  Her research, work and writing has focused on relational intelligence and was the editor of The International Journal of Children’s Spirituality for 20 years.  Cathy spent 5 years working with a charity in Gujarat, India creating and implementing teacher training programmes and establishing an Indian based teacher training team.  She is passionate about holistic education and supporting the growth and relationships of individuals and communities.
Emily Carroll

Emily Caroll

Course and Events Co-Ordinator
Emily’s experience is in project and change management, systems and process creation and strategic business planning within the Education sector. After studying an English and History degree, Emily started work project managing funding for small businesses. From there, she has worked for an awarding body and an international training provider delivering professional qualifications. Emily is keen to use her skills to support the LWDW team and End of Life Doula community.

Our LWDW Trainers

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Anna Ledgard

Certified Foundation and Diploma Trainer

Anna Ledgard

Anna is an independent educationalist, producer and professional development leader. Having started out as a secondary school teacher she has 30 years experience as a producer of creative arts collaborative projects in schools and NHS hospitals, most recently in intensive care or end of life settings.  Anna trained  with LWDW as a EOL doula in 2010 and now teaches on the LWDW courses. See www.annaledgard.com

More About Anna...
Ninon van der Kroft

Ninon van der Kroft

Certified Foundation and Diploma Trainer

Ninon van der Kroft

Ninon is an End of Life Doula and death educationist. Trained as a social worker with over 30 years' experience, she worked at St Christopher's Hospice in London, assisting patients and loved ones. She works in the community as a companion to the dying, breathing life into conversations about death, empowering people to explore their fears and beliefs. Ninon is an experienced facilitator, teaching nationally and internationally about how we navigate intimacy at end of life.

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Deborah Kelly

Dr Deborah Kelly

Certified Foundation Trainer

Deborah Kelly

Deborah is an Arts Psychotherapist and teacher. She has worked in palliative and end of life care as a nurse, shiatsu practitioner and psychotherapist for the past 20 years. She established and facilitates two palliative care projects, working with nature, myth and the rhythm of the seasons and believes passionately that death and dying are part of our communal lives. She is also a professional celebrant.

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Nicci del Rio

Trainer in Training

Nicci del Rio

Nicci’s background has involved many varied paths and today she facilitate meditation groups in both the charity and private sectors alongside volunteering for Shout; an online crisis text line.  Her journey has had the transition of death as a constant companion, experiencing the beauty, the magic, the wonder as well as the sadness and rawness of grief which accompanies each and every death.  Nicci’s experience of the LWDW Training was an experience she said she will never forget; being transformational. She is inspired to emulate those from whom she learnt and look forwards to helping create a space where others can similarly explore and deepen their understanding and awareness of how to lovingly care and support someone, their family and their community into the greatest mystery we all one day will take.

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Katrina Taee

Certified Foundation Trainer

Katrina Taee

Katrina www.katrinataee.com has a background in nursing.  Later in life, she trained as a Psychosynthesis Counsellor and became a volunteer counsellor at Thames Hospice alongside running a private practice for 17 years.  She has always been particularly interested in grief and end of life work.  She is the author of Surviving The Tsunami of Grief, her first book.

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Elaine Cobbold

Trainer in Training

Elaine Cobbold

LWDW are providing a vital service, opening up conversations around death and dying and moving those conversations into the mainstream. It is an honour and a privilege to be involved with those at the end of their lives and I have stood in that space on both a personal and professional level.  Undertaking training with LWDW as a Doula and a trainer allows me to be part of a very progressive approach to Death & Dying, one that I truly believe allows us all to live richer lives.

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Our LWDW Course Assistants

Mariana García

Mariana

Mariana Garcia

Mariana has been a trained psychologist since 2007 and has experience in clinical psychology, research, teaching, and psychosocial projects. In 2012 she completed a Masters in community psychology and started working with vulnerable communities. However, since the death of her father in 2015, she dedicated herself to deepening her knowledge about death and dying, while donating her time and skills to different charities and hospices. This path led her to find her passion and so she became an end of life doula.  Visit https://www.doulamarianagarcia.com/ to find more about her and what she does.

More About Mariana...
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Alice

Alice Jackson

Alice describes herself a lay person with a special feeling for being with the dying, who wants to support friends, families or colleagues. She has a background of over 14 years experience in pastoral care and currently works in communications developing content for brands and not-for-profits. Alice finds people utterly compelling which inspires my work as a trainer. She displays a person centred approach to all her work providing an accepting, empathetic environment for each individual to describe their experiences, thoughts and feelings to understand who they are, the life they have lived and their choices for the future.

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Sarah Chapman

Sarah

Sarah Chapman

Sarah has been an Independent Celebrant for over 10 years, creating and performing funerals and Celebration of Life ceremonies. She has taught music and drama in schools, directed choirs on land and sea and facilitated and led Singing for the Brain sessions for people with early dementia.

She trained as an EOL Doula with LWDW in 2020 and is now an EOL Doula in Devon. She has raised awareness by contributing to discussions about death and funerals on the radio and runs the Death Cafe in Totnes encouraging people to talk about what happens at the end of life. She also enables people to create and plan their own funeral wishes. 

 

Sarah is the author of Funeral Arranging and End of Life Decisions, her first book.

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Helen Jenner

Helen

Helen Jenner

Helen has a background in General Nursing and has had a varied career in the private sector as well as many years in the NHS.

She work’s tirelessly to improve individualised care to patients is currently working part time in the Community as well as being involved with patients who are affected by long term conditions and are at the end of life.

Helen is passionate about palliative care and becoming a Doula has increased her dedication to improving the experience of people dying at home.

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Sam

Sam Hill

Integrity, creativity and nature connection is at the heart of Sam. They believe in coming home to an innate wisdom that can resource us in our support of people through the transition of dying. Sam is passionate about education, personal and spiritual development deeming themselves a lifelong learner having already spent a number of years following various threads; forensic science, mentoring, counselling (specifically supporting LGBTQ+ clients), end of life doula training/work, forest schooling and more recently surrendered leadership. Sam co-facilitates a queer friendly death cafe holding a safe and inclusive space for open conversations around death and dying. He advocates for people to live and die in a way that feels authentic to them.  

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Carolyn Stevens

Carolyn

Carolyn Stevens

Carolyn originally trained as a speech and language therapist, subsequently retraining as a person centred counsellor, teacher, trainer and group facilitator. A series of close bereavements helped Carolyn to see how communication at the end of life – between loved ones, and within the self  - often did not happen in the most helpful way. It was this interest in, and commitment to, communication of all sorts that led her to train as an end of life doula with Living Well Dying Well, completing her training in 2019. Looking ahead, she very much values the opportunity to be able to contribute to the training team.

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Glynis German

Glynis

Glynis German

Glynis has lived in Mallorca, Spain since 1992 and in 2011 she finally discovered her life purpose - that she had been born to be a celebrant. She now officiates weddings every summer and ceremonies for funerals and baby blessings all year round. She is the founder of the Mallorca Death Café after discovering that one could enjoy tea and cake and a chat about death back in 2015.

Glynis has volunteered in palliative care with a local volunteer association since 2010 and in 2020 she founded the Giving Life to Death Festival - a nationwide week long series of activities inviting society to break the taboo around dying and death. She is currently training to be an end of life doula with Living Well Dying Well UK and is driven to deepen her knowledge around end of life after having trained with Vinyana in the spiritual accompaniment at end of life in 2017.

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Jane Calvert

Jane

Jane Calvert

Jane has a training and counselling background.

She advocates for good care at all stages of life and works as a Healthcare Assistant in the local hospital.

She believes passionately that we should aspire to both live and die as well as we are able.

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Rachel

Rachel Allen

Rachel Allen is a counsellor and open dialogue practitioner and has supported people at end of life and those close to them over a number of years, in a variety of roles professionally and personally. She values the uniqueness of people and relates to both the naturalness of death and to the value of people being able to die in a way that honours the life they have lived and what has been sacred or precious to them in it.

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Interested in being part of the team?

We're always keen to hear from people who would like to join our Training Team.  Contact us on hol@livingwelldyingwell.net for more information

Our LWDW Assessors

Nett Furley

Nett Furley

Portfolio Assessor

Nett Fuley

Nett was in one of the first LWDW training cohorts and has been an end of life doula since 2011. Her passion is supporting people at the end of their life, and in grief through storytelling, funerals and memorials.  As well as supporting individuals who are approaching the end of their lives and the people important to them, she uses her doula’ing experience to influence NHS policies and guidelines by sitting on national NICE clinical, service delivery and quality standard committees on end of life and the national audit for care at end of life (NACEL).  Her career has involved senior roles in NHS and not for profit organisations e.g., Director of Primary Care, CEO of a carer’s charity, a community regeneration charity and a community environmental charity and Assessment Lead at the Audit Commission. She is a trained nurse and has been a funeral director.  Her current roles include: LWDW Assessor of diploma portfolios; Director of End of Life Doula UK; Humanist Funeral, Memorial, Vow Renewal and Wedding Celebrant; Health and Care Consultant for not for profit and statutory organisations; Mentor, Coach and Trainer; Steward at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.

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Sarah Wardell

Sarah Wardell

Progression Assignment Assessor

Sarah Wardell

Sarah is an End of Life Doula with a background in social work, including five years as a palliative care social worker in a local hospice, and is currently working as a practice educator for student and newly qualified social workers.  Additionally, Sarah is trained in Adlerian Therapy and works in private practice as a counsellor in the Marches (www.spaceintime.co.uk).  Sarah has always held an interest in supporting and walking alongside people nearing the end of their lives or those who have been bereaved.

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EoLDoula UK Liaison

Emma Clare

Emma Clare

EoLDUK Director and Chair
Emma is Director and Chair of End of Life Doula UK and a Health Psychology PhD researcher. Based in Yorkshire, she describes herself as an activist and nature lover, with a passion for bringing death and dying out of hospitals and back into compassionate communities wherever possible. She has worked as a home carer supporting people on 'fast-track' plans who wished to leave hospital to die at home, in addition to working with looked-after children and in autism, learning disabilities and adult mental health services providing therapy and advocacy. Emma's current research is focused on supporting individuals (both healthcare professionals and the public) to develop their death competency.

Our LWDW Directors

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Sue Robinson

LWDW Training Director
Sue's professional work was in charge of community-based nursing in several areas of London. She was inspired to complement this experience by completing the LWDW Doula training and then assisting in the development of LWDW Trainers' Training programme. She organises, with others, an annual community-led festival on death and dying - "Pushing up Daisies" - and is passionate about End of Life care.
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Osanna Wilder

LWDW Training Director
Osanna has varied past work experience in Public Relations, marketing, management and training. Osanna is a qualified psychotherapist and coach and loves to explore creativity through writing and painting. Committed to living life to the full as she ages, Osanna works with individuals and groups to enable them to do the same – live well!
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