ABOUT US
We are the leader in Canadian education for end of life doula training. We adopt a multidisciplinary and integrated approach to meeting the needs of those who are dying, this to include one’s spiritual and emotional needs through contemplative compassion, a key to quality end of life care.
We also provide supportive doula care services to individuals and families who require overall coordination or assistance with identified specific needs. As we continue to grow, so does our collaboration and strategic partnerships with those invested in applying the national model of principles and norms of practice as outlined by the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association.
OUR MISSION is to deliver cutting edge education relating to the practice of dying and death. Moreover, empowering participants to provide outstanding support in end of life doula care.
Through the delivery of an academically based certification program and our commitment to public education, our goal is an educational standard that sets and maintains the highest level of competence and ethical values.
In doing so, we are establishing an extended community of informed, kind, compassionate, willing and supportive care providers who will guide and support individuals and families during a loved one’s end of life transition.
We aspire to create a legacy that will celebrate life through death and inspire generations of families to embrace dying and death as a transformational process. We are committed to ensuring that all North Americans have access to consistent, high quality supportive care.
I know and respect the value in purposefully and mindfully creating and holding space for another to fully experience life; helping individuals experience the death process through a lens that provides emotional & spiritual clarity; gently encouraging the people involved to slow life down and expand moments that are precious.
Cindy Butler, Founder
OUR FOUNDER
Cindy Butler, Founder of Ten Thousand Doors/Canadian Centre for End of Life Education & Supportive Services, currently works as; an end of life doula (Contemplative EOL Professional Development Training program, ITM, Institution of Traditional Medicine), birth doula (member of CAPPA, Childbirth & Postpartum Professional Association), massage therapist (member of NHPC, Natural Health Practitioners Association), and a trauma practitioner (member of SETI, Somatic Experiencing Training Institute). She is also a Certified Lifestyle Celebrant (Lifestyle Celebrants International) and Certified Grief Educator. (David Kessler /Grief.com).
Cindy’s career history includes roles in social services, healing arts, human resources, corporate training/education and disability case management. In addition to managing client centered teams in the insurance industry and overseeing the delivery of service provided to high profile private and public sector employers/group benefit holders, she was lead trainer in several change initiatives. She possesses certification (CACE, U of A Extension) in adult education principles, including instructional design, planning and programming. She also has expertise in the facilitation of mind-body health workshops. Cindy trained as a life coach with The Coaches Training Institute, where she gained insight into the importance of relationship and connection, in service to others. Her post-secondary background also includes business administration and psychology. She will continue her master's level education in somatic studies in 2021.
Through our doula and collaborative partners network we offer support, information, resources and referrals to help ensure every individual’s dying/death needs and desires are met. We are committed to (re)creating an era of dying and death embodiment.
Our Team
Linda Bao,
Registered Social Worker
Linda is a Registered Social Worker (MSW) from the University of Calgary, in private practice, who has been providing support to clients in the Edmonton community for over 15 years. She works with a wide range of concerns, with grief and loss being one of her areas of specialization. Before going into private practice, Linda worked in the non-profit sector for 9 years providing crisis intervention services, and suicide bereavement support to individuals and families. Linda has a Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work, along with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Bachelor of Social Work.
Linda provides compassionate guidance and support during what can be an extremely challenging and painful time in someone’s life: the loss of a loved one. She works with clients experiencing all types of grief, without judgment. This includes "normal" grief, anticipatory grief, grief due to a sudden loss, complicated grief, and disenfranchised grief. Linda focuses on restoration and hope by helping people learn how to turn toward their grief, and to integrate loss into their life for a renewed sense of self, purpose, and meaning. Linda’s approach is a blend of talk and experiential therapy, with a focus on mindful somatic psychotherapy. Linda is also trained in Hakomi Mindful Somatic Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, Gottman Therapy, and Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning Experience.
When Linda is not supporting her clients, her favourite way to spend time is with her husband and two children. She also loves yoga, art, music, fashion, photography, and being in nature.
Linda Crockett,
Registered Clinical Social Worker,
Trauma and Grief Therapist
Born in Glasgow Scotland, Linda is an experienced and committed Registered Clinical Social Worker and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. She studied at Grant McEwen and University of Calgary. She believes that grief is an intimate and sacred experience where we are most vulnerable and defenseless. Linda can relate to many situations as she is no stranger to many losses herself; her father’s sudden and tragic passing in 2001 left her breathless and even speechless. This first experience being so foreign, disorienting and painful led her to a life journey drawn to learning everything she could about grief.
Linda doesn’t miss an opportunity to further her understanding and education on the subject matter. She reads many books and attends a grief support group.
Her initial work was focused on adult cancer patients, and later on children with terminal cancer, supporting these patients from diagnosis to end of life, as well as their grieving families. Today in private practice she supports people grieving many types of losses such as death, miscarriage, divorce, loss of a pet, estrangement, domestic violence, addictions, loss of health, chronic pain, physical injury, and financial loss to name a few.
Linda adores her 9 grandchildren, spending time with her husband renovating their home as well as; canoeing down a river, nature walks, good movies, meeting new people, and traveling as much as possible.
Amanda Santarossa.
Registered Psychologist
Amanda Santarossa, is a Registered Psychologist with the College of Alberta Psychologists. Her experience in the mental health settings includes crisis management, hospitals and community health settings, and private practice. She has worked with a wide ranges of presenting concerns across the lifespan, with particular interest in working with children, adolescents, and adults who have experienced grief and loss, trauma, difficulties in relationships, and health complications.
Amanda uses a collaborative approach in her work and believes that counselling is most helpful and meaningful when it is co-created with clients. Her practice is trauma informed and she has advanced training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). She believes that small encounters and moments can have profound impact on one's sense of meaning and purpose in life. Amanda believes counselling is a model of care not cure.
Amanda grew up in the Peace Country of northern Alberta, and enjoys spending her time connecting with loved ones, and nature. She loves adventure and travel, and on her off time can often be found in the river valley running, biking, cross-country skiing, or snowshoeing.
Jennifer Stinson,
Registered Clinical Social Worker
Jennifer is a Registered Clinical Social Worker with a passion for serving individuals and families in the Edmonton community where she grew up. She holds her bachelor and masters degree's in Clinical Social Work from the University of Calgary and completed her EMDR, Hakomi and Somatic Experiencing training in Edmonton. For over 15 years, Jennifer has provided support to families in schools, hospitals and community clinic settings. She has specialized experience and training in children and adolescents, as well as individual adults. She works with a wide range of issues for various ages and life stages, including challenging behaviours in children, anxiety and mood disorders for all ages, trauma, grief and loss, relationships and self-care.
Jennifer has a unique skill set and reverence for each person’s inherent strengths. From a place of compassion, she collaborates with each client to offer evidence based support including mindfulness based Hakomi, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing for trauma (EMDR), Emotionally Focused Therapy, Play Therapy, Sand Tray and Theraplay. Even with specialized training, Jennifer knows the most important factor in therapy is the quality of the relationship in the therapy room, and so she leads with a collaborative and compassionate heart. Her services are focused on children, youth, parenting and adults interested in individual therapy.
Outside of the office, Jennifer is all about the simple things. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, she likes good food, live music and taking in nature at home and when traveling. She also quite enjoys curling up to a good book.
Denise Stewart,
Ceremonialist/Ritualistic Practitioner
Denise Stewart spread her wings and followed her heart to England when she was a young adult. While on this path, she became a personal caregiver which led her to support individuals in palliative care.
Later in life, Denise endured several physically and emotionally traumatic events, including catastrophic grief and loss. As she moved into the end phase of healing, she knew that her heart’s desire to be of service to people would lead her to her next step.
In 2006, she became a massage therapist and while she continues to enjoy helping others to heal, her own journey kept pulling her towards deeper self-healing. She followed her intuition and travelled to Mexico to engage in shaman healing and plant medicine. She then completed her Shamanic Practitioner training with the locally famed, Sarah Salter Kelly. Denise continues to practice with a variety of shamans and studies plant medicine with natural/herbal/spiritual healer, Susan Weed.
Denise is excited to be on her life path; leading her to her soul’s purpose. She is dedicated to helping others to find the “healer within” by using shamanic tools such as journeying, ceremonies, rituals and the teachings of the medicine wheel.
Denise raised three sons with her husband Todd. Together they have started their “phase three plan” by purchasing a goat farm in Manitoba, where she once lived. Their ultimate goal is to create community and make connections.
Dawn Wenzel,
Administrative Assistant
Dawn, our valued administrative support, was born in Alberta and raised in various places. Although not indigenous herself, she spent much of her childhood living on the Blood Reserve in southern Alberta, where she immersed herself in the culture, and remembers it with great fondness.
Experiencing sudden and tragic loss first-hand, led Dawn to find inner strength and greater purpose in her life. With a focus on honoring the memory of her mother, she vowed to be available to people who find themselves alone at end of life. She has recently completed her Pilgrim's hospice training and spends time volunteering for the No One Dies Alone program (NODA); supporting individuals in their finals stages of life, who otherwise would have no friends or family to lean on. She is also currently working towards completing her End of Life Doula Certification.
Dawn has spent much of her life working with the aging population. She has worked as a recreation coordinator, and manager in various seniors communities. She has a deep desire to continue forging relationships and supporting individuals in this demographic but also is also deeply passionate about working with vulnerable populations, to include marginalized members of the LGBTQ2SA+.
Dawn loves to spend time with her wife, 2 sons and their previously stray dog that they adopted from Mexico.
Kristen Young,
Research & Teaching Assistant
Kristen Young, a strong member of the Metta Yoga community, has been the studio manager for 6 years. She started her Journey in 2013 when she followed her desire to share and support the quest of others by became a yoga teacher herself. She then continued to expand her yogic training taking on a new challenge every year. She found that her personal experience with cultivating inner peace through yoga and mindful practice, was the key to experiencing life's richness, moment by moment.
As a leader, Kristen inspires people to live with intention, so that their deeds and lives become purposeful, encouraging them to be guided by their core values. Dedicated to her own healing and growth, she also holds space for others who crave healing.
She believes that to accept death as a normal part of life, there is great value in death preparation and planning throughout life. Supporting one another in the process of dying, also fosters an ability to live more gratefully and purposefully. To this end, Kristen will commence doula care training in the fall of 2019.
Kristen likes to spend her extra time taking walks through Edmonton’s river valley with her husband, cozy chats with friends, or playing with her nephews. She also likes to tap into her creative side by painting, drawing and pottery.
