Holly Lux-Sullivan

Holly Lux-Sullivan is an experienced hospice chaplain and bereavement counselor. An ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, she is a board-certified chaplain and also holds certifications as a death doula, spiritual director, and integrative chaplain. She has extensive training in dementia and advanced illness care as well as years of experience at the bedside.

For almost 20 years, she has cared for people as they neared life’s end, helping them deal with the losses they face: independence, health, the future itself. Her warmth, compassion, and ability to connect with others make her a trusted advisor in times of crisis.

Holly Menard

Holly Menard: “I’ve been involved in healthcare my entire life. My experience includes being a chemotherapy nurse and massage therapist. Through it all, a driving question has been:

“How am I making a difference in the lives of the people I am serving?”

In caring for my patients, clients, family, and friends, I’ve witnessed the fear and turmoil around death and dying as well as peaceful acceptance. My son’s unexpected death, in 2015, stopped me in my tracks – causing me to question at a much deeper level.

“Was he afraid? Am I afraid of dying myself, and what about my loved ones? What will it be like? Will there be pain? How will I manage all the emotions and tasks that must be dealt with?”

In time I was serendipitously guided to learn about End of Life Doulas, and the more I read and asked questions, the more I was attracted. Once I completed the training, I focused on becoming a companion and guide for individuals and families working through
the death and dying journey. More recently I realized the importance of forgiveness work and have incorporated ceremony when requested..

Jane Dornemann

Jane (Callahan) Dornemann was trained as an end-of-life doula through the International End of Life Doula Association (INELDA) and earned a professional certificate as an end-of-life doula from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine. She is also a member, and proficiency badge holder of, the National End-of-Life Doula Alliance (NEDA).

She volunteers with Duke Hospice in Durham. Jane hosts educational sessions about end-of-life matters at venues in Durham, Chapel Hill, and Cary, and has cultivated a community of fellow doulas and death workers in the Triangle area.

A Brooklynite turned Carolinian, Jane has been practicing as an end-of-life doula since 2018. Her career path has wound around education, communications, and journalism (publishing under her maiden surname, Callahan).

In addition to her doula training, Jane holds a Master’s Degree in English from the University of Hawaii, where she wrote a thesis about her summer living in a Virginia commune. She has backpacked the world–much of it on her own–and has lived in three foreign countries and five U.S. cities. She resides in Durham with her husband, son, and two dogs.

Contact us if you would like to be added to our list of local death doulas

The Doula Hearts

The Doula Hearts: ​We are trained and informed caregivers, who provide non-medical support to patients and families facing the enormity and uneasiness that accompanies the final period of life. 

Our role is to help the dying and their families feel safe, supported, respected and cared for in the final months, weeks and days of life.

We can facilitate the creation of final documents, help to navigate through healthcare, social care and government agencies, encourage important final wishes conversations and provide bereavement support. 

​We wish to accompany our clients through the end-of-life journey, ​providing practical and emotional support, resources, education and friendship so that this period is one of calm and closure.

“It’s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth – and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up – that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.”  – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross