Passage to Peace Doula LLC
Guiding End-of-Life Journeys
INELDA-trained end-of-life doula serving individuals and families in the Twin Cities and virtually nationwide.
Following a 30+ year corporate career, I answered a lifelong calling to serve elders as an end-of-life doula. With 650+ hours of hospice volunteer experience and INELDA training, I provide nonmedical emotional, spiritual, and practical care — including advance care planning, legacy projects, vigil presence, and hospice navigation — from as early as advance planning or initial diagnosis through bereavement.
I am honored to help people approach dying without fear, with dignity, and in peace.
If you’re caring for a loved one, planning ahead, facing the end-of-life journey with fear, uncertainty, or heavy decisions, or simply seeking guidance and reassurance, I'd be honored to connect with you.
About Kirstin (said K-ear-stin)
My calling to serve as an end-of-life doula
Through my private practice, Passage to Peace Doula, I support individuals and families with advance care planning, navigating resources and complex decisions, grief companionship and reprocessing, death education, legacy projects, and pre-vigil and vigil support. I am most called to provide faith-based service to our growing population of elders/seniors. I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve as a volunteer as well as my private practice. My entire life has led me to this field.
Training and experience
I have shared my time and talents as part of interdisciplinary teams, volunteering more than 650 hours with three local hospice organizations to support patients and families in private homes, and short-term and long-term care facilities. My areas of focus include:
- Direct companion care
- Non-certified pet companionship
- Life reviews and legacy projects
- Vigil presence during final hours
- Spiritual presence – deep listening and holding nonjudgmental space to provide comfort
I completed my End-of-Life Doula Training with INELDA (International End-of-Life Doula Association) in 2023 and am working toward INELDA certification in October 2026. I have also served as an end-of-life doula mentee through the Minnesota Death Collaborative scholarship program.
Training, Experience, & Memberships
My journey to end-of-life doula work - an early calling to serve
My journey to becoming an end-of-life doula began long before I ever heard the term "doula". Each step of this journey has felt deeply validating and affirming.
After a 30+ year career in corporate marketing, program management, and operations at Target Corporation and Medtronic, I began exploring what I might “retire to”. I have known since my 8th-grade nursing home volunteer experience—continued through my college years—that I am called to serve elders.
As I explored elder care, I became aware of a significant unmet need. Our aging population is growing rapidly, while healthcare systems struggle to provide age-friendly services, staffing, and facilities. For many, death has become a medical event instead of a natural, human experience of life's final transition. Caregivers are burning out. End-of-Life Doulas help fill critical gaps by offering nonmedical emotional, spiritual, and practical support which eases the burden on families and strained systems while promoting dignity, autonomy, and person-centered care.
"To care for those who once cared for us is one of the highest honors."
– Tia Walker
Personal foundations - real-life loss that shaped my compassion
In my 20s and 30s, I was blessed to be at the bedside of two grandparents as they took their final breaths. These deaths were deeply sad, yet incredibly peaceful and powerful. I experienced the loss as well as the catalyst for connection amongst our family and friends. During my doula training, I learned that I was blessed to experience what are called "good deaths". I now feel called to help others experience the same.
In my 40s I lost my remaining grandparents and experienced the sudden loss of my brother. During that time, I discovered the gift of writing eulogies - not because I'm a writer (I'm a mathematician), but because of my ability to be fully present, to listen deeply, to witness the stories others shared, and to reflect back the legacy of a life with care and clarity.
Passage to Peace Doula LLC
Establishing Passage to Peace Doula was a natural extension of this journey. I felt called to hold space for peaceful transitions, honoring each life lived while offering comfort and presence during one of life’s most profound moments. This work helps prevent unnecessary suffering and caregiver burnout by providing a vital human presence—supporting advance care planning, legacy work, home-based care, and meaningful connection at the end of life.
Values and skills
The values and skills that guided my corporate career continue to anchor my doula practice:
- Accountability and ethics
- Collaboration and advocacy
- Deep listening and presence
- Organization, planning, and project management
- Respect and confidentiality
Feedback I’ve received consistently highlights my strengths in calm presence, creating safe space, curiosity, grace, advocacy, resource navigation, planning, and reducing stress during complex decision-making.
How I may help reduce stressors and fear, and increase comfort, dignity, and peace
I would be honored to support you, your loved one(s), and/or caregiver(s) through end-of-life care—providing holistic, nonmedical guidance, advocacy, and support, including:
- Advance care planning and calmly facilitated conversations
- Deep, nonjudgmental listening
- Researching and navigating resources
- Guiding through complex decisions
- Advocacy with care teams
- Facilitating legacy projects
- Ritual care
- Logistical assistance
- Grief reprocessing
- Pre-vigil and sacred vigil presence
My goal is to support what many call a "good death through good end-of-life care", including the ability to:
- Understand when death is approaching and what to expect
- Experience dignity, privacy, and respect
- Retain control over pain relief, symptom management, who is present, and place of death
- Ensure wishes are honored through advance directives, and ritual and vigil planning
- Have time and space to say goodbye
- Access spiritual, emotional, and hospice support in any setting
- Avoid life being prolonged without meaning
- Leave in peace
Hospice Volunteering
650+
Hospice volunteer hours
50+
Patients/clients served
16+
Elder-care service years