Janie Rakow has been a hospice volunteer since 2001, providing emotional and spiritual support to patients and their loved ones through the end of life process. She has also worked as a doula privately in her community to both raise awareness of the end of life doula field, and to educate others about the dying process. To date, Janie has worked with hundreds of patients and their loved ones as they journey through their terminal diagnosis.
In 2015 Janie’s passion for doula work led her to join Henry Fersko-Weiss in founding the International End of Life Doula Association (INELDA), the largest end of life doula training program in the country. During her tenure at INELDA, she helped form and develop INELDA’s vision to provide education, certification credentials, and program development for the end of life doula field.
As an educator, Janie has trained over 1,000 doulas during the past 6 years, as well as hosting numerous webinars pertaining to the end of life field. She has helped several hospitals and hospices create an end of life doula program. During her term as President, Janie also served on INELDA’s Board of Trustees.
Janie’s work as a doula is complemented by her years of experience as a certified Emotional Freedom technique (EFT) practitioner, hypnotherapist, and Reiki Level II practitioner.
Janie has been featured on CBS affiliate, WBTV, and quoted in numerous articles such as the Huffington Post, AARP, Vox, Mother Nature Network, Parade, Home Health Care Network and others. She is a contributor to the book “Empower Your Life” by Sue Urda and Kathy Fyler