Why Choose Final Chapter Doula Services LLC?
I’m Allison Blakley, the body and spirit behind Final Chapter Doula Services, LLC. If you don’t already know me, I hope after reading this you’ll want to get to know me. I grew up on the far south side of Chicago, although my family moved to Highland Park when I was 15, and I graduated Highland Park High School. I did my undergraduate work at the University of Iowa, and the University of California, Berkeley, where I graduated with a B.S. cum laude in Forestry in 1978. I like trees. A lot. From there I moved to Oregon, where I worked as an Urban Planner and attended the University of Oregon Law School: J.D., 1982. Then, I came back to my Chicago roots, returning to the North Shore and working in Chicago as a civil rights and labor and employment litigator until I was permanently sidelined, and retired in 2004 because of a disabling neurological autoimmune disorder (currently in remission). Over the next 20 years, I spent enough time quilting to make about 240 quilts. I also found time to study Judaism at two synagogues and celebrate my Bat Mitzvah (2008). Since August 2023, I’ve been enrolled at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Learning and Leadership in Chicago, from which I anticipate receiving a Masters of Arts in Jewish Studies in May, 2026. After that, I’ll begin coursework for my Doctor of Science in Jewish Studies. But that’s just one of my passions, and it leaves plenty of time to finally pursue a second passion: end-of-life care.
The spark of Final Chapter has been germinating within me for a very long time—maybe since my own opening pages. Growing up as the youngest child in a very dysfunctional family, I have always been a caregiver. Since then, I have lost so many people who have been very dear to me: in my thirties, I lost a college friend to ALS and a law school friend to cancer; in my forties, I lost another friend to cancer, both my parents and my first set of in-laws; in my fifties, I lost my second set of in-laws; and in my sixties, I lost both of my siblings and my honorary godfather. Some of these were sudden deaths, or followed short illnesses; others followed prolonged illnesses or simply the vicissitudes of aging; one, my brother’s, was preceded by fronto-temporal dementia. For each of these people, I held space–whether it was early in the disease progression, when they were close to death, or when they died. For some, I was only able to hold space at a distance, but the space I held was sacred to both of us.
After the last of these deaths, two thoughts kept me awake at night. The first was that I wished so much that many of these people could have had “better” deaths. Deaths where they were in physical surroundings that were comfortable for them; with people whom they loved; with the regrets of their lives eased and their dignity intact; where they had been forgiven for any harm they may have done to others and healed the breaches in their relationships; where they had been able to leave meaningful non-financial legacies for their families and friends; and where their spiritual needs had been satisfied. Deaths without any pain: physical, emotional, or spiritual.
The second thought that kept me awake was that as I faced my own final chapter, I wanted a better death for myself than what I had seen among my friends and family. That started me down the path of doing my own rudimentary end of life planning. I started learning about end of life doulas because I knew that I would need one. Before I found one for myself, though, I wanted to know what a really good end of life doula could do for me. Convinced that to recognize a great end of life doula, I’d need to become one myself, I found the Peaceful Presence Project, from whom I received my training. Beyond the training they provided, I’ve read books, watched videos, listened to podcasts—and I continue to do those things—because my greatest hope is that I can help others plan for, and experience, a death that will truly bring to them, and to those they love, the gift of peace. And by “others,” I mean “you.”
Whatever stage of life you’re at, let me help prepare you for writing the final chapter. And when the time comes, let me help you write it.
Allison