The Death and Resurrection Doula Podcast

Does God use science in healing? In this episode, Laurel Nicholson talks with Georgia Welnick, a retired nurse with over 30 years of experience. Georgia shares her professional journey in clinical research and hospice care as well as her insights on faith, medicine, and death. Key Topics: Clinical research in pediatrics and critical care The impact of faith and prayer in healing End-of-life care a...

Preserving dignity in death is beyond human means! Medical Aid in Dying legislation is heralded as Death with Dignity. Is this really true? Christian end-of-life doula, Laurel Nicholson goes beyond the Christian claim, "Thou Shalt Not Kill" (Exodus 20:13) when defending the Christian ethic against premature death for terminal patients. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to End-of-Life Care and...

Laurel Nicholson and her husband Ed meet in conversation again, this time to discuss the importance of Music Therapy in end-of-life care. Ed works as a music therapist in a local hospice and shares how music has a unique ability to reach people in ways that words often cannot, offering comfort, peace, and connection during life's final chapter. In this episode, Laurel & Ed explore the profound...

In this insightful interview, Heather Horton shares her journey from a successful tax attorney to a grief recovery specialist and podcast host. She discusses how faith, relationships, and understanding grief through a spiritual lens can transform pain into power, offering a unique framework based on the word 'GRIEF' to navigate life's challenges. The experience of back-to-back life-cha...

Meet Gloria Massingill, a widow and hospice bereavement group speaker, sharing her inspiring journey through grief, faith, and service. Discover how faith transforms pain into purpose, the importance of hospice care, and the power of community in healing. Gloria joins the Death & Resurrection Doula podcast from Mobile, AL. She is a faithful Christian woman with a heart for ministry! She loves...

What does it mean to carry a song in your heart—even when memory fades? In this inspiring conversation, Kathy Dye shares her journey as a writer of children’s books and Bible studies that emphasize hope, faith, and legacy across generations. With warmth and wisdom, Kathy reflects on her passion for aging gracefully, mentoring younger women, and using storytelling and music to nurture f...

Nothing is beyond the reach of God's spirit! In this podcast episode, Laurel & Ed Nicholson share their story beyond Laurel's initial end-of-life doula care for Ed's mom, Marilyn. Their marriage stems from a deep friendship culitvated through difficult valleys of divorce in thier first marriage. God's will is to heal us individually and collectively to experience God's design for marriage live...

Today on the The Death & Resurrection Doula Podcast,host Laurel Nicholson is joined by Sarah Baldwin, co-founder of Restfully and creator of the Grief Persona framework, to discuss how people experience and process grief. Sarah shares her personal journey into this work following the loss of her mother, and how her background in data analytics led her to identify patterns in the way individual...

In this episode, Laurel Nicholson explores the Christian perspective on death, resurrection, and end-of-life care, emphasizing the importance of hope and spiritual preparation alongside practical planning for a good death. For believers, resurrection is our greatest hope and shapes how we approach death. Join us as we explore the practical steps involved in preparing for a good death—one roo...

In this episode of The Death & Resurrection Doula Podcast, Laurel Nicholson shares the profoundly personal story behind the creation of her Christ-centered end-of-life doula training program. Raised in a Christian home, Laurel quietly battled body image struggles, disordered eating, over-exercising, and an unrelenting drive for control that spanned decades and led to deep physical, emotional,...

In this deeply personal episode, Laurel Nicholson is joined by her husband, Ed Nicholson, to share the story of Ed’s mother’s end-of-life journey—a path marked by complexity, faith, and ultimately, peace. Laurel reflects on her unique role as both a Christian end-of-life doula supporting Ed’s family and later, as his wife, offering a rare and honest look at how professional...

In today's episode, Laurel Nicholson is joined by her friend and colleague Matthew Currin, CEO and founder of Convene Communities, for a conversation about resilience and the communities that people truly need when life hits a rough patch. Matt shares his remarkable background as a pilot across a variety of exciting fields—but explains why his deepest calling has always been convening people...

In this special episode, Laurel gathers trainees, faculty, and community members to celebrate a historic milestone: the first certification cohort of the Death and Resurrection Doula Training Program. What unfolds is a warm, communal conversation reflecting the heart of the program—rooted in a shared calling and Christian hope. Laurel revisits the vision behind the training, responding to a...

In this deeply moving gathering at the Café, Laurel hosts a safe space for the sharing of testimonies as three special guests join the conversation to share their lived experiences of loss, caregiving, and clinging to faith in the darkest of times. Through listening to their stories, we're invited into an honest exploration of grief—not as something to be rushed or resolved, but as a...

In today's conversation, Laurel is joined by Brittany McCardle, founder of the Biblical Birth School, to explore the shared calling of Christian birth doulas and end-of-life doulas. Together, they reflect on doula care as an act of faithful servanthood—rooted in a biblical vision of life, dignity, and presence from beginning to natural end. Drawing from the opening chapters of Genesis, Laure...

In this extended International Fellowship Café conversation, Laurel Nicholson facilitates a global, faith-centered discussion on Medical Aid in Dying (MAID), joined by Megan, a British journalist researching proposed MAID legislation in New York. Participants from the United States, Canada, and Australia bring pastoral, ethical, and deeply personal perspectives shaped by their real-world ex...

Today on The International Fellowship Café Podcast, Laurel is joined by Carole Klinger, CEO and founder of LIFE, a dementia-friendly nonprofit offering free weekly Memory Cafés for people living with dementia and their care partners. Carole shares how the global Dementia Friends movement empowers everyday people to take simple, meaningful action, and how LIFE’s Memory Caf&eacut...

In this powerful conversation, Laurel sits down with Miles Gloetzner, RN and founder of Inhora Home, a Christian social-model hospice home in downtown Albuquerque. Miles shares his remarkable journey through VA nursing—spanning med-surg, street outreach with homeless veterans, and a season of spiritual restlessness that ultimately led him to answer God’s call to create a home for the d...

In this inspiring conversation, Laurel welcomes Candy McCune—lawyer, Christian conciliator, and family legacy coach—to explore how God uses every chapter of our lives to shape our calling. Candy shares her unexpected journey from law to Christian mediation, revealing how her own seasons of hardship deepened her desire to help others restore relationships and preserve their stories of f...

In this illuminating episode, Laurel is joined by Naomi Bjorgan, a licensed midwife, end-of-life doula, and funeral director whose work bridges both the beginning and the end of life. Naomi offers a rare and compassionate look into water cremation (aquamation)—a gentle, eco-conscious alternative to traditional cremation. She shares how her calling in birth work naturally expanded into funera...

In today's episode, Laurel is joined by Becky Joosten, one of the first of Laurel's students to train as a Death & Resurrection Doulas, she is also a licensed massage therapist and co-founder of Refiners Gold Ministry with her husband, Larry. Drawing on decades of nursing, inner healing ministry, and hospice work, Becky shares the deeply personal story of her mother’s unexpected injury a...

In today's episode, Laurel Nicholson is joined by Jill Yuen, a certified Death & Resurrection Doula whose calling centers on helping others create meaningful legacy projects rooted in faith and hope. Jill shares how God led her to a Christian training program and how her own experiences shaped her desire to support individuals and families as they preserve treasured values and memories for fut...

In this episode, host Laurel Nicholson is joined by Stephanie Moore, an Orthodox Christian and certified Death & Resurrection Doula, for a thoughtful exploration of ancient Christian burial traditions. Stephanie shares her spiritual journey into Orthodoxy and the profound meaning she discovered in practices that emphasize simplicity, humility, and returning the body to the earth in a prayerful...

In this deeply moving episode, Laurel Nicholson is joined by India Rice and Tara Marrow, two certified Death & Resurrection Doulas whose personal experiences with profound loss have shaped their ministry of compassion. Together, they share how faith sustained them through the heartbreak of child loss and how God transformed their grief into a calling to walk alongside others in their most vuln...

In this episode, Laurel Nicholson is joined by Josh Slocum, former executive director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, for an eye-opening conversation about the funeral industry and the realities families face when planning final arrangements. Drawing from years of advocacy work, Josh offers insight into consumer rights, the surprising freedom families have in conducting home funerals, and the i...