About Farewell Fellowship

End of life care, education, and community rooted in the belief that we can learn how to care for one another through dying, death, and grief.

Get Support

Care • Community • Practice

Care was never meant to happen alone.

Farewell Fellowship is a community based death doula practice in Middle Tennessee offering end of life support, death education, and hands on learning.

We accompany individuals and families through dying and death, but our work rarely begins and ends with one doula. We help strengthen the circle already surrounding someone: family, friends, neighbors, hospice teams, community resources, and other doulas who can share the work of caring.

That same belief shapes how we teach. Knowledge about dying, caring for the dead, and tending grief does not belong to a single profession or institution. Farewell exists to help return that knowledge to the people and communities who need it.

Get Support

The Farewell Values

  • Text reading ‘Presence’ with a simple leaf illustration above, symbolizing a death doula’s attentive, compassionate support at the bedside and in grief work.
  • A poster with a gold-colored leaf illustration at the top and the word ‘Reverence,’ symbolizing a death doula’s respect, care, and mindful presence for the emotional, cultural, and spiritual weight of end-of-life experiences and grief work.
  • A white poster with a minimalist leaf sketch and the word ‘Relationship,’ highlighting that death doula work is learned through trust, mentorship, and community, centering relational learning in end-of-life and grief support.
  • A minimalist poster with a leaf illustration and the word ‘Integrity,’ emphasizing the ethical grounding, trustworthiness, and professional boundaries essential to compassionate death doula care.

Meet Jade Adgate

Jade Adgate is a Certified Death Doula based in Nashville, Tennessee and the founder of Farewell Fellowship, a community for end-of-life education and compassionate care. An eleventh-generation New Orleanian now rooted in Middle Tennessee, Jade provides bedside presence, family support, and grief guidance through Farewell Fellowship and Farewell Education. She also curates The Farewell Library, a growing archive of resources for death literacy, grief, and remembrance.

Her calling began after Hurricane Katrina, when she became the accidental caregiver for her beloved Aunt Sis. Through nursing homes, hospice decisions, and final goodbyes, Jade learned what it means to walk someone home. In 2018, she began volunteering with a local non-profit hospice in Nashville and held a weekly bedside shift until 2026.

Over the past six years, she has helped establish a volunteer death-doula program, supported hundreds of dying individuals, and mentored new deathwalkers through hands-on, heart-centered training. Whether you’re facing the end of life, called into this work, or simply curious, Jade’s work invites you to build fluency in dying, grieving, and remembering … together.

Meet Heather DeWire

Drawn to this work through the experience of caring for her own grandfather, Heather understands firsthand how disorienting and uncertain the dying process can feel.

Heather completed her death doula training and apprenticeship through Farewell Education under the guidance of founder Jade Adgate. She now supports the growth of this work by co-facilitating upcoming courses, mentoring new doulas, and working alongside Jade to provide comprehensive client care for those at end-of-life.

With a background in marketing, Heather brings a thoughtful, detail-oriented approach to the administrative and planning aspects of end-of-life care.

In addition to bedside support, Heather is deeply drawn to legacy work. Through sewing and handcraft, she creates meaningful memorial pieces that honor a loved one’s life and story, tangible reminders of connection, remembrance, and love.

Heather’s work centers on supporting and educating caregivers; those holding the quiet, sacred responsibility of tending to a loved one at the end of life. She offers practical guidance, emotional support, and a grounding presence, helping families feel more prepared and less alone in each step of the journey.

One relationship. A whole team behind it.

End of life rarely follows a schedule. Needs change, plans shift, and sometimes more support is needed than one person can provide.

Farewell uses a team based approach to care, giving families greater continuity, availability, and support while maintaining a consistent relationship with the doula who knows them best.

Your care may include a primary doula supported by other experienced Farewell doulas when additional presence, respite, bedside care, or coverage is needed.

Meet the Team

The Farewell Doula Graduates & Students

These are the faces of those who have answered the call. Farewell apprentices come from many walks of life, but they share a common devotion: to presence, to care, and to walking beside the dying with steady hands and open hearts. Each of them has moved through this training not just as a student, but as a companion in a growing lineage of relational, embodied deathwork.

  • Headshot of Rebecca Harris, Farewell Fellowship graduate death doula in Middle Tennessee, bringing grounded presence to end-of-life care.

    Rebecca Harris (Nashville, TN)

    Certified Death Doula, Apprenticeship Graduate

    Specialties: Bedside presence, transitional support, therapeutic listening

  • Portrait of Heather Smith, an advanced apprentice in Unit 9 of the Farewell Fellowship program. Based in Tennessee, she specializes in patient advocacy, supports end-of-life planning as a notary public, and brings clinical experience from settings li

    Heather Smith (Nashville, TN)

    Certified Death Doula, Apprenticeship Graduate

    Specialties: Patient advocacy, end-of-life planning, and hospital-based death care.

  • Portrait of Carla, a licensed grief counselor and certified death doula completing her Farewell Fellowship apprenticeship. She brings hospice and hospital-based experience, a trauma-informed approach, and a deeply intuitive, mystical presence to her

    Carla Archuletta (Franklin, TN)

    Certified Death Doula & Apprenticeship Graduate

    Specialties: Grief counseling, trauma-informed death care, and hospital-based end-of-life support.

  • Portrait of Jackie Huser, a death doula apprentice in Unit 6 of the Farewell Fellowship program. With a background in marketing and event planning, she offers organized, thoughtful support for home-based end-of-life care grounded in deep listening an

    Jackie Huser (Nashville, TN)

    Certified Death Doula & Apprenticeship Graduate

    Specialties: End-of-life planning, LGBTQIA+ inclusive death care, and in-home end-of-life support.

  • Headshot of Shelly Glascock, somatic end-of-life practitioner, smiling warmly — specializes in nervous system support and family-centered care.

    Shelly Glascock (East Nashville, TN)

    Certified Death Doula, Apprenticeship Graduate

    Specialties: Somatic support at the end of life, nervous system regulation, and compassionate family care.

  • Headshot of Jeffrey Deckman smiling, stage 4 cancer survivor, reiki master, and conscious leadership guide offering spiritual and energetic end-of-life support.

    Jeffrey Deckman (Nashville, TN)

    Certified Death Doula, Apprenticeship Graduate

    Specialties: Reiki, compassionate presence, and stage 4 cancer survivor-informed end-of-life support

  • Jason Giger (Donelson, TN)

    Farewell Trained Death Doula

    Specialties: Music based support at end-of-life, ceremony and ritual facilitation, holotropic experiences.

  • Headshot of Casey Pisapia, Reiki practitioner and massage therapist in Brentwood, TN, smiling gently — brings 8 years of hospice experience to her therapeutic end-of-life care.

    Casey Pisapia (Brentwood, TN)

    Certified Death Doula & Current Apprentice

    Specialties: Therapeutic touch, Reiki, and compassionate hospice bedside support.

  • Dr. Rachel McRoberts, PhD death doula apprentice and grief counselor in Middle Tennessee, smiling softly in a professional headshot.

    Rachel McRoberts (Lebanon, TN)

    Certified Death Doula & Current Apprentice

    Specialties: Trauma-informed grief care, child and family support, and ritual-based end-of-life services.

  • Grief doula Christine Nguyen, smiling in a field of wildflowers near Paris, offering compassionate virtual grief support in France.

    Christine Nguyễn (Paris, France)

    Farewell Trained Death Doula

    Specialties: Grief support, expressive arts integration, and virtual end-of-life care in France.

  • Danielle Roberts (San Luis Obispo, CA)

    Current Farewell Apprentice

    Specialities: Sacred grief tending, long-term caregiver support, health care management tools at end-of-life.

  • Shawn Price (Murfreesboro, TN)

    Current Farewell Apprentice

    Specialties: Reiki, intentional listening, presence and bedside support to lessen fear with accompaniment.

Farewell in Action: Death Doula Practice of Community Care

  • Death doula apprentices creating clay altars as part of end-of-life ritual training

    Farewell’s hands-on training invites students to explore ritual and reverence, like shaping clay death altars as acts of devotion and memory.

  • Death doula providing bedside end-of-life care with compassion and presence

    Compassionate end-of-life care offered by a trained death doula, grounded in presence, tenderness, and sacred trust at the bedside.

  • Death doula facilitating a public meditation on death and community grief ritual

    Co-hosting a community meditation on death to offer a sacred space to reflect, grieve, and honor the mystery of impermanence together.

  • Client anointing a death doula apprentice in a sacred end-of-life ceremony

    A dying client anoints her doula apprentice, blessing him into service. Farewell’s mentorship weaves lived experience and sacred trust.

  • Death doula leading a community education workshop on end-of-life care and death literacy

    Leading a public workshop on what death doulas do, as part of Farewell’s mission to make death more accessible through education and dialogue.

  • Death altar with farewell-branded laptop screen showing a Medical Aid in Dying training course, representing virtual death doula education rooted in ritual.

    Death education, rooted in ritual. A farewell training module on Medical Aid in Dying open on my laptop, surrounded by sacred altar elements.

  • Certified death doulas Jade Adgate and Heather DeWire at Crawford Funeral Home with funeral directors touring cremation facility.

    Farewell death doulas, Heather DeWire and Jade Adgate, building community connections with local funeral directors at Crawford Services (Nashville, Tn).

  • Candlelit park shelter at dusk where grief circle for community grief tending was facilitated by Farewell Fellowship certified death doulas.

    Farewell doulas hosted a community wide grief circle at Warner Parks in Nashville, Tennessee to invite grievers into tending and witness.

  • Behind-the-scenes tour of a local funeral home and crematory to understand our community partners in after-death care.

  • Farewell doula offering sound bath for healers to tend our grief and restore ourselves to continue offering this important craft to our communities.

Not ready to reach out?

You don’t have to hire a death doula to begin finding your way through serious illness, dying, and death.

The Farewell Library offers free, practical information about hospice, caregiving, the dying process, planning, grief, after death care, and the questions that often arise when someone you love is seriously ill or dying.

Explore the Farewell Library
Explore the Farewell Library

Professional Organizations

  • National End-of-Life Doula Alliance (NEDA) proficiency badge earned by certified death doula

  • International End of Life Doula Association (INELDA) member badge, death doula certification

  • National Home Funeral Alliance (NHFA) membership badge supporting home funerals and death literacy

  • National End-of-Life Doula Alliance (NEDA) trainer badge, professional death doula educator

  • National Association for Certified Death Midwives (NACDM) logo, certified death midwife affiliation

  • Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) logo, member focused on grief education

There is a place for you here.

Whether death has entered your life and you are looking for support, or you are learning how to accompany others through it, Farewell begins in the same place: with relationship.

Reach Out To Meet Jade Here