About Lou & Sacred Walk: Compassionate Care and Support for Every Stage of Life

Welcome to Sacred Walk! Louise Terry’s path to a Lifecycle Doula and certified death doula nurse (CDDN) began in a four-decade long career in nursing. First at H.B. Magruder Memorial Hospital where she practiced as an OB nurse and was involved in the implementation of a parent-education-program and Lamaze birth preparation classes for expecting parents. This experience taught Lou the value of the doula as a guide and witness through life’s transitions. She then spent thirty years as an Early Intervention Nurse Medical Coordinator with the Ottawa County Board of Developmental Disabilities. Since then, Lou has been involved in various community beautification and service-oriented endeavors such as running a boutique children’s summer camp at her home and supporting her local chapter of the Little Free Library non-profit.

Lou has completed her Death Doula certification in 2023 through One Spirit and had a mentorship with the Center for Conscious Living & Dying, founded by hospice and palliative care physician, end-of-life doula, and musician Dr. Aditi Sethi in North Carolina, in 2025. One of the teachings that Lou was inspired by in her time at the Center, and brings into her own work with Sacred Walk, is the value of space-holding and providing a grounded presence. The act of holding space, of midwifing people on their final walk home requires loving witnessing, which goes beyond words to include presence. The role of the Lifecycle Doula is not only to attend those who are dying, it is to honor all of the journey of life, which includes dying and death. By normalizing death, by facing it without fear, a space is opened to live boldly, in a way that is authentic and fully-expressed.

Death in the medical settings where Lou began her career is often focused on life-extension aided by increasingly advanced medical technologies and medications. Paradoxically, dying is often an incredibly loud event. The noise of fear and complex medical decisions often drowns out the deep reservoir of feeling, peace, and wisdom at the threshold of death. The spiritual and emotional dimension of death, the personal aspects of meaning-making and communion with one’s life, mortality, and for some, communion with the eternal soul aspect of Self, are often not valued or prioritized in mainstream medical settings. Additionally, death in medical settings often does not allow loved ones to be present with their loved one in the way that they desire. The doula values these psycho-spiritual-emotional dimensions and holds space for individuals to explore their unique relationships to them no matter what level of medical intervention they choose. Sacred Walk provides holistic companionship through the three pillars of compassion, guidance, and support, creating space for individuals and families to feel held in the many transformative moments and transitions of their lives.