Personal Loss to Purpose: How Judi Found Her Calling and Changed 50+ Families’ Lives
Aug 21, 2026
Personal Loss to Purpose Spotlight Series
Judi knew there was something more she was meant to do.
After spending many years in a job that didn’t feel like her purpose, the loss of her mother-in-law became a turning point.
Watching someone she loved reach the end of life without fully understanding what was happening was frightening.
“There has to be a better way to do this,” Judi remembers thinking.
That experience ultimately led her to hospice volunteering, where she realized that supporting people and families at the end of life wasn’t simply something she cared about.
It was what she was meant to do.
From Personal Experience to a New Calling
While volunteering, Judi discovered there was an actual profession built around the type of support she felt drawn to providing: end-of-life doula work.
She researched training, found Doulagivers, and completed the introductory 90-minute training.
Her reaction was immediate:
“Yep, this is it.”
She enrolled in the Doulagivers program that same night.
What followed wasn’t simply a new professional direction. It changed Judi’s understanding of her own purpose and gave her the education to turn that calling into meaningful service.
The Results: More Than 50 Families Supported
By the time of her Doulagivers Graduate Spotlight interview, Judi estimated that she had worked with at least 50 families, and probably more.
Her work has included supporting hospice patients and families, providing community education about end-of-life choices, advocating for patients’ wishes, facilitating difficult conversations, offering Reiki, helping patients create legacy letters, and preserving their stories for the loved ones they leave behind.
The relationships she has built have become incredibly meaningful.
In one case, Judi supported a woman and her loved ones for eight months. As the woman approached death, a nurse mentioned that the family could ask anyone they didn’t want present to leave.
The family’s response captured the impact Judi had made:
“Judi has been with my mom for eight months. She is family. We would never ask her to leave.”
Judi had become more than someone providing a service. She had become a trusted presence during one of the most vulnerable experiences of their lives.
From Finding Her Purpose to National Recognition
Judi’s impact hasn’t gone unnoticed.
In 2023, she received the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s Volunteer of the Year Award.
The recognition surprised her.
“I never realized that I was doing anything that was that good,” she shares.
But the award reflects something much bigger than a title: a personal experience that once left Judi feeling frightened and uncertain had been transformed into work that was now helping dozens of other families feel supported at the end of life.
The Transformation Was Judi’s, Too
Perhaps the biggest result can’t be measured by the number of families served or an award.
The work changed Judi herself.
“This has truly changed my life,” she says. “Doing this work has truly changed everything about my life.”
Being present with people at the end of life changed what she values and how she spends the time she has.
She became more grateful for her relationships. She learned more about forgiveness. She stopped giving as much weight to the small things that don’t really matter. And she became more intentional about appreciating people and living fully.
“It makes you really want to live your life as best as you possibly can.”
Judi began this journey wanting to make the end of life better for other people.
Along the way, it changed the way she lives her own life.
From Loss to Purpose
Judi’s journey began with a difficult experience and one thought:
“There has to be a better way to do this.”
Today, she is helping create that better way.
She has gone from searching for work that felt meaningful to supporting 50+ families, educating her community, serving hospice patients and their loved ones, earning national recognition, and living with a deeper sense of gratitude and purpose.
For anyone who feels a similar pull toward this work, Judi’s advice is simple:
“If you’re thinking about doing it, you know that you have it in your heart to do it and you should just go for it because it changes your life.”
Could This Be Your Calling, Too?
If you’ve experienced a loss, cared for someone you love, or simply feel called toward meaningful work supporting others, end-of-life doula education may be the beginning of your own transformation.
Start with Doulagivers’ free caregiver training, explore the free resources, listen to the Ask a Death Doula Podcast, or join Suzanne O’Brien live each week in Life Café.
Sometimes the experience that makes you think, “There has to be a better way” is the experience that leads you to become part of that better way.
Additional Resources:
The GOOD DEATH GOOD LIFE Live Monthly BOOK CLUB and Q&A: Register here
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