End-of-Life Care: The Stillpoint Program for Veterans and Families

Years ago, I had a friend who became involved with the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy (UZIT) program, founded by fashion designer and philanthropist Donna Karan. Developed in collaboration with leading medical institutions, UZIT was created to support individuals and families through end-of-life transitions using holistic, evidence-based practices. The program trains clinicians, yoga therapists, and caregivers to bring mindful presence and compassionate touch into hospitals, hospices, and community care settings.

My friend committed to the UZIT training after losing her mother to a long illness in 2013. She understood the toll hospice care can take on everyone involved and was deeply moved by the idea of someone arriving with calm, caring methods—and a steady, healing presence—for a dying loved one and their family and helped me understand the value of this type of role.

Fast forward more than a decade to when Kyle and I formed The Siotha Project and began exploring how we wanted to serve the veteran community. For both of us, healthy aging and suicide awareness were already deeply personal, and our veteran friend Kevin Jamison helped shape those areas of focus. During those early conversations, I found myself thinking back to my friend and the Urban Zen program—and something clicked. The UZIT model had always stayed with me through my own Yoga as Therapy and Reiki training, as well as through my personal experiences supporting loved ones in their final days. A similar program made sense for The Siotha Project and what we can offer across many life stages.

I decided to gain a Death Doula Certification through the Holistic Healing Academy designed to provide people with the knowledge and skills necessary to support individuals and their families through the end-of-life process. Death Doulas provide emotional, spiritual and practical support to individuals facing their own mortality or that of a loved one, and I knew it was the next step in my journey to bring these integrative end-of-life care services to veterans and their families.

Through this process, the Stillpoint Program was created to provide holistic, evidence-informed care that honors dignity and peace during life’s final transitions. Drawing from both Eastern and Western healing traditions, the program complements traditional medicine by easing symptoms, calming the nervous system, and fostering emotional stability for patients, caregivers, and clinicians.

Each session integrates mindfulness-based presence practices, adaptive movement, breathwork, Reiki energy therapy, aromatherapy, and therapeutic sound. Delivered in hospitals, hospices, and senior care settings, these interventions are tailored to meet each individual’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.

Research shows that integrative therapies can reduce pain and anxiety by up to 45%, improve rest and mood, and lessen caregiver burnout—enhancing well-being across the continuum of care. By bringing whole-person approaches into palliative and end-of-life settings, the Stillpoint Program helps create moments of calm, connection, and meaning for veterans and their support networks during one of the toughest transitions they may ever experience.

For more information reach out to me at hellosiotha@gmail.com or 405-492-6307. I'm happy to talk more on what this program can bring to you and your family or community.