Member Profile

Elizabeth Johnson, MA
Co-Founder & Executive Director, The Peaceful Presence Project

I am the Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Peaceful Presence Project, a nonprofit dedicated to providing end-of-life doula services and training. In response to the growing need for a more compassionate, death-literate culture, we developed an 8-Module Professional Doula Training. This curriculum is rooted in evidence-based research, best practices, and our lived experience as NEDA-proficient end-of-life doulas.

I hold a Master’s degree in Community and Urban Planning and have traveled globally as an educator and facilitator. My work has long been shaped by a deep interest in the cultural and social contexts that influence how communities understand illness, grief, and death. A formative experience for me was volunteering in the mid-1990s at Kalighat, a community-based hospice for the sick and dying in Kolkata, India.

Notable Experience & Credentials
*Member, Public Health Palliative Care International Leadership Council
*Graduate, Anamcara Project (focus on grief, loss, and resiliency)
*Certified Advance Care Planning Educator, Institute on Health Care Directives
*Graduate, Being with Dying Program, Upaya Zen Center
*Certified Pregnancy Loss Group Facilitator
*Former Board Member & Co-Leader of JEDI Committee, National End-of-Life Doula Alliance
*Member of NEDA, INELDA, and the Coalition to Transform Advanced Illness Care