We are delighted to support the important, heart-centered and emerging career field of End of Life Doulas. The below wonderful humans have completed our ABODE End of Life Certification program, become immersed in our contemplative care foundation, gained invaluable experience at ABODE and are eager to be of service to you.
What can an ABODE Doula do for you? First and foremost, our Doulas will support you throughout your end-of-life journey. We’ll advocate for you, support your hospice team and ensure your final days are just the way you’d like them to be.
For more information or if you’d like to connect with any of our ABODE Doulas, please email doula@abodehome.org.
Karina Cervantes
Having grown up in southern Mexico, I was shaped by traditions that honor and celebrate our dead, and these customs deeply inform the care and perspective I bring to my work. Every individual deserves to approach their final journey with dignity, tranquility, and an atmosphere of loving kindness. As an end-of-life doula, my role is to offer non-medical support, guidance, and a steady, compassionate presence throughout this sacred time.
I seek to deliver heartfelt empathy and compassion, creating a safe space where fears are acknowledged, wishes respected, and families supported in caring for their loved ones and themselves. Karina is an ABODE doula and native Spanish speaker.
Ashlyn-Loren Dreghorn
Ashlyn is a San Antonio transplant from the mountains of South Carolina with a penchant for oddities, cats, and books. Their services are provided through their death doula service, Deathhorn, which evokes conversation and compassion surrounding dying and grief including Death Café facilitation.
Ashlyn is located in Monte Vista, San Antonio and is currently open to providing dignified care within the 410 San Antonio Loop.
Caroline Goddard
Birth & End-of-Life Doula Community Advocate
Caroline Goddard is honored to support individuals and families through life’s most profound transitions. As an End-of-Life Doula, she provides a compassionate, steady presence, ensuring no one navigates this journey alone.
With over a decade of experience in family advocacy, education, and nonprofit leadership, Caroline helps individuals navigate complex systems while offering holistic, personalized care. Through Cradle to Comfort, she creates space for grief, connection, and informed decision-making.
At ABODE, she brings her unwavering commitment to contemplative care, ensuring those at the end of life—and their loved ones—are met with dignity, grace, and understanding.
Rachel Epp Miller
I believe that no one should face the big thresholds/transitions of life alone. I want to make myself available to accompany and support those who are dying and those who love them, to enhance dignity and face the unknown with loving kindness.
Rachel is skilled in bedside care. She is open to serving the greater San Antonio area.
Fallon Paige
My work weaves together compassionate end-of-life education, legacy support, vigil presence, and gentle guidance through conversations many people are afraid to have. I help normalize death as a natural and meaningful part of the human experience, while honoring each person’s spiritual path, cultural traditions, and personal beliefs.
With a foundation in holistic care, ritual practice, and grief-informed support, I create grounding, peaceful environments where clients can feel seen, heard, and spiritually supported. Whether through bedside presence, threshold rituals, or advance planning guidance, my intention is to help each person feel empowered, honored, and held with dignity.
I am especially passionate about helping families transform fear into understanding, and isolation into connection. Death is one of life’s most profound passages, and no one should have to walk it alone.
Jessica Quintanilla
After my daughter crossed over, I had a hard time making sense of the day-to-day things in life. Coming into the end-of-life space offered me community with people who are curious and interested in doing meaning-making work, and I’m inspired by personal stories. A phrase from ABODE’s Vision Statement rings true for me: “We live in a world where death is not feared, and we live fully until we die.”
Jessica is a veteran who is skilled in bedside care. She is located in Floresville, but open to serving the greater San Antonio area.
Susan Ruch
“We’re all just walking each other home.” – Ram Dass
Susan is a retired educator who is skilled in legacy planning. She is open to serving the greater San Antonio area.
Courtney Sheets
Through the deaths of both of my parents and close loved ones, I came to realize that denying the inevitable and failing to plan for it makes the end more stressful and painful than necessary. This period gave me the experience of designing home funerals and seeing the opportunity for bringing people together in a sacred and connecting way. It catalyzed a desire to help shift taboos around the death conversation and expand my knowledge of what it means to be “death-positive.”
Courtney is certified as an End of Life Death Doula through Alua Arthur’s Going with Grace program and began volunteering at ABODE in 2023. She specializes in end-of-life planning for all ages, and helping families wrap up affairs after the death of a loved ones.
Mary Thorsby
Doula, The Final Stretch: Yoga-Inspired End of Life Care
After five-and-a-half years as CEO of ABODE, Mary has launched The Final Stretch: Yoga-Inspired End of Life Care for those nearing end of life and their loved ones.
Yoga is so much more than physical poses – it’s a life philosophy centered around being present, our breath, unrushed mindfulness, heart-felt intention and service to others.
Mary offers the support you need to find and create joy in your final stretch of life:
- Deep Listening/Companionship
- Planning/Organizing
- Meditation/Gentle Movement
- Memorial/Legacy
- Support at Every Stage
A lively speaker on end of life topics, Mary enjoys presenting to special interest groups, senior living communities, conferences and gatherings of all sizes.
Mary and her colleagues were awarded “Healthcare Heroes” by the San Antonio Business Journal for creating and launching ABODE’s Doula Certification program and ABODE at Home Doula Dispatch program. She’s also certified by Alua Arthur’s Going with Grace End of Life Doula program.
Mary is a faculty member of ABODE’s Yoga Doula Certification program and co-creator of the Before You Go podcast.
“Serving as an End of Life Doula is among life’s most heart-affirming of honors,” Mary says. “I truly believe that our last breath should be just as beautiful as our first.”
Kristy Wagner
By holding space with kindness and presence, I affirm my sacred duty to guide each soul with love, through the gateway of life’s final chapter. I believe that the final chapter of life should be met with love, dignity and profound respect for each person’s wishes, ensuring their legacy is thoughtfully honored and celebrated, reflecting the deep reverence they merit in their final moments.
Along with her ABODE Doula work, Kristy is an Integrative Wellness & Conscious Transformation coach. She specializes in possession planning and organization, companion care, vigil planning and advance end-of-life planning.
Kristy lives in San Antonio and is open to serving the north and northwest side and surrounding hill country.