Located in Salt Lake City, Utah USA, Jude is a Death Doula, and a Spiritual Care Provider. She was a Spiritual Care Resident at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Vallejo, and Vacaville CA where she worked as a Hospital Chaplain, in addition to serving as the Resident Chaplain for their Palliative Care Team. She trained under the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy (CPSP).
Currently, she works as Psychedelic Clinical Behavioral Health Chaplain at The Lotus Center for Healing and Wellness.
She is enrolled in the Psychedelic Therapist certification program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She also plans on obtaining her board certification as a clinical chaplain.
Jude is a Ritual Artist as well as a facilitator for a variety of healing spaces and journeys. Her personal ancestral practice involves an interesting mix. Her O’Higgins name is the anglicized form of Gaelic O’hUiginn–a descendant of Uiginn, which is a byname meaning viking–sea rover. Her lineage includes Drui “poets” of Ireland—seers for the Kings. The O’Higgins family is a long lineage of well-respected “poets” who entered non-ordinary reality through trance called Imbas forosnai, and brought messages back for Kings. Additional ancestry comes from her mestiza lineage in New Mexico—Spanish and indigenous mix—especially Alonso Catiti from Santo Domingo Pueblo one of the lieutenants in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt that drove out 400 Spaniards and 2,000 settlers.
She also worked as a tenured professor in Anthropology for a number of years, has a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy from the University of Utah. She is a trained facilitator in Renewal and Wholeness, and Circles of Trust™ techniques. She has taught at colleges and universities in Idaho, Kansas, Utah, and Japan, developed many college courses, and offered numerous workshops and trainings for faculty and staff at colleges and universities for the past 11 years. In addition, she holds certifications in NODA (No One Dies Alone), and Dying Consciously.
Her work as an End-of-Life Doula, facilitator, and educator, inspired her to create HELD’s™ doula training program. HELD™ Doulas are trained in techniques that enable them to hold space for clients as they assist them (and their families) in working through the challenges they face during various transitional phases associated with end of life. HELD™ End of Life Doulas are well-versed in meeting clients where they are, and have the ability to guide them to a place of grounded clarity.
HELD™ Doulas are trained to listen, and to bring a gentle strength to the uncertain space that we call end of life. Jude also offers End-of-Life Trainings for various hospices and hospitals in the Utah area.
