Learn the work by doing the work.
Education, mentorship, and real-world experience for people preparing to serve the dying and their families.
One-to-one • Practitioner to practitioner • Learned through practice
This isn’t another death doula course.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRAINING
There are more ways than ever to learn about death doula work. The Farewell Apprenticeship exists for what comes after.
How do you sit with a family when you don’t know what to say? What do you do when the textbook version of dying doesn’t match what is happening in the room? How do you work alongside hospice, funeral homes, clergy, and other community providers? How do you know what is yours to do—and what isn’t?
Those things are difficult to learn from a curriculum alone.
Apprenticeship creates a place to practice them in relationship with someone already doing the work.
From learning about the work to learning the work.
An apprenticeship built around practice, mentorship, community, and the lived realities of accompanying people at the end of life.
Grounded in real bedside work
This apprenticeship is taught from practice, not theory alone. We talk about what dying actually looks like, what families actually ask, what Jade actually carries in her doula bag, what has and hasn’t worked at the bedside, and what happens when real life looks nothing like the training manual.
Slow enough to go deep
This work takes time to absorb. Rather than trying to teach death work in a weekend, apprenticeship unfolds over months, giving you time to explore each subject deeply, encounter it in the community, reflect on it, and return with better questions.
One-to-one mentorship
You are not learning from a prerecorded curriculum with your questions relegated to a message board. Each unit includes private time with Jade to explore what you’re learning, what you’re encountering, and the nuance that only emerges in conversation with a working practitioner.
A community that continues
Apprentices become part of Farewell’s larger community of practice through monthly collective calls, relationships with other apprentices and practitioners, and opportunities to remain connected after graduation. Some graduates may go on to serve families alongside the Farewell team.
Learning beyond the classroom
Your education moves into the community through volunteer service, relationships with local death-care providers, and, for in-person apprentices, opportunities to shadow Farewell client care when appropriate and with client consent.
Inside the Farewell Death Doula Apprenticeship
THE CURRICULUM
The Farewell curriculum unfolds across nine units, beginning with the foundations of death doula care and moving into more complex areas of practice.
The first six units form the core Farewell Death Doula curriculum. Apprentices then continue into three advanced units exploring hospice advocacy, after death care, and bereavement support.
Those final three units may be completed independently or, when offered, as part of Beyond the Basics, Farewell’s advanced cohort experience.
Completion of the first six units fulfills the educational requirements for Farewell Death Doula Certification. Completion of all nine units, along with the experiential and mentorship components of the apprenticeship, marks graduation from the Farewell Apprenticeship.
Most apprentices complete the full apprenticeship in about a year.
Foundations:
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Explore the rights of the dying, what dying people and their caregivers need, and the realities of death and dying in North America today. This unit orients you to the larger landscape in which you’ll serve.
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Begin with your own experiences of death and grief and the container they create for accompanying others. Explore grief mapping, ancestor work, ritual, and practices for tending your own grief.
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Explore energy work for deathwalking, somatic embodiment, co regulation, and the ways we connect and exchange energetically at the bedside, alongside boundaries and professional guidelines for practice.
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Learn the foundations of advance care planning, including identifying values and wishes, forms and directives, preparing for vigil, and making choices about care of the body and what happens after death.
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Explore both the physical and spiritual experience of dying and the many ways a doula can support the person who is dying and those gathered around them. Tools for transition, troubleshooting common issues, and developing language to explain phenomena in this liminal space.
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Explore VSED, medical aid in dying, violent death, overdose, suicide, pediatric and perinatal loss, and the particular considerations involved in caring for people and communities whose experiences are often underserved or marginalized.
Beyond the Basics: Advanced Death Doula Training
ADVANCED PRACTICE
The final three units of the Farewell Apprenticeship move beyond foundational death doula care and into some of the places where practitioners are most often asked to navigate complexity: healthcare systems, what happens after death, and the grief that follows.
Apprentices can complete these units independently or, when offered, join Beyond the Basics, Farewell’s advanced 6-person cohort experience combining deeper study, collective learning, and an in-person retreat.
Beyond the Basics:
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Understand how hospice was designed and how it actually works, where gaps can emerge, and how doulas can help people and families navigate the system as informed advocates and guides.
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Explore the art and practicalities of after death care, from conventional funeral care to home funerals, and learn how to educate families about their choices while protecting their autonomy. Build relationships with providers in your own community.
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Build a foundation for supporting grief after a death, including presence, listening, grief literacy, boundaries, and recognizing when someone may need support beyond the doula’s scope.
What You’ll Gain From Farewell’s Apprenticeship:
By the end of the apprenticeship, you will be able to:
Confidently companion someone through the dying process, guided by coursework, one-on-one mentorship, and case studies in real client care to enhance each curriculum unit.
Facilitate meaningful end-of-life planning conversations with individuals and families.
Hold space for grief in all its forms; from quiet sorrow to sudden and traumatic loss.
Integrate ritual, cultural awareness, spiritual literacy, and embodied practices for grounding and presence into your end-of-life care.
Understand the physiology, mystery, and cultural context of dying, and apply that knowledge in both bedside and community settings.
Engage in monthly community circles, cohort connections, and in-person workshop offerings that deepen your skills and relationships.
Earn your Certified Death Doula designation through Farewell Education, be prepared to pass the NEDA Proficiency Assessment, and be eligible ready and resourced to serve your community.
Why Train With Farewell?
Farewell offers one of the only mentorship-based death doula training programs led by actively practicing doulas. This is not a generic online course, it’s a living lineage of care, rooted in over seven years of hands-on experience at the bedside.
The Farewell curriculum is unlike anything else in the field. It blends practical skills in end-of-life care with a deep philosophical foundation, mystical reflection, and trauma-informed presence. Born from Jade’s academic background in philosophy and shaped through hundreds of hours at the threshold, the training invites not just learning but transformation.
Whether you’re seeking end-of-life doula training, advanced mentorship, or a spiritually grounded path into deathwork, Farewell offers something rare: real-world access, relational guidance, and curriculum that speaks to the soul.
The Farewell Apprenticeship Graduates
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.
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![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
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![Portrait of Heather DeWire, a graduate of the Farewell Fellowship apprenticeship in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Now in private practice, she continues to support Farewell clients with end-of-life planning, Christian-centered care, and family support.]()
Heather DeWire (Spring Hill, TN)
Certified Death Doula, Apprenticeship Graduate
Specialties: Administrative planning, Christian-centered death care, and family support services
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![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.
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![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.
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![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.
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![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.
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![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
Who This Path Is For
The hands-on Deathwalker Apprenticeship Path is for anyone who wants to become a Certified Death Doula and is called to meet death with skill, compassion, and presence, especially residents of Middle Tennessee seeking local connections and in-person community alongside their training. You may be:
An aspiring death doula ready to begin your professional journey
A hospice volunteer seeking deeper, mentored training with in-person hospice shadow shifts
A funeral professional expanding your scope of care
A grief counselor, therapist, or clergy member integrating end-of-life skills into your work
A family caregiver preparing to support a loved one through the dying process
A community deathcare advocate weaving death literacy into your projects or outreach
Anyone curious about cultivating a deeper, more intentional relationship with Death for themselves
New to Death Work? Start Here.
A sacred first step for the curious and called.
Death Doula 101 is a 90-minute virtual mini-course designed to gently illuminate the path ahead. You’ll learn the foundations of the doula model of care, the evolving roles death doulas play today, and the most common ways people step into this sacred work. Whether you’re feeling a quiet pull or a loud calling, this is your place to begin.
Includes 5 essential book recommendations to deepen your death literacy.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Farewell’s Apprenticeship is an immersive path to Certified Death Doula designation designed specifically for those who want in-person connection and community in addition to rich online learning. Apprenticeship pairs each unit of study with a 1:1 mentorship session. Additionally, apprenticeship includes monthly community circles, cohort connections, and in-person workshop offerings in Middle Tennessee. You’ll receive the depth of coursework and mentorship Farewell Education is known for, but with the added experience of building a local network of fellow practitioners.
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Upon completing all modules, volunteer service, mentorship sessions, and quizzes, you’ll receive your Certified Death Doula designation through Farewell Education. You’ll also be fully prepared to pass the National End-of-Life Doula Alliance (NEDA) Proficiency Assessment and join the NEDA movement.
There is no central certification or regulation on the work of death doulas. You will be certified through Farewell and Jade will stand behind you’re practice as a death doula upon completion.
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Apprenticeship is designed to be completed in 9 to 12 months. This pacing allows you to integrate bedside experience with your studies, build confidence through consistent mentorship, and stay connected to your cohort and community gatherings along the way.
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The Apprenticeship is ideal for those who want to train in direct, in-person service and local community connection. It’s especially well-suited for Middle Tennessee residents who wish to pair their studies with hospice shadow shifts, monthly community circles, and in-person workshops. Whether you’re an aspiring death doula, a hospice volunteer seeking deeper training, a care professional expanding your scope, or someone called to serve at the end of life, this is ideal if you want to learn death doula craft in a sacred lineage, from working doulas.
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As an apprentice, you’re never walking this path alone. You’ll have one-on-one mentorship with a seasoned Deathwalker, shadow shifts to integrate your learning at the bedside, and summary check-in sessions at the close of each unit. You’ll also be part of a Middle Tennessee-based cohort, with opportunities to connect in monthly community circles, in-person workshops, and ongoing peer support. This blend of guided study, real-world practice, and local connection ensures you’re supported both in your skills and in practice.
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No previous experience is required. The path is designed to guide you from your first steps in deathcare through to confident, skilled service. Whether you’re brand new to this work or already volunteering in hospice, the program’s mentorship, in-person shadow shifts, monthly community circles, and cohort connections will meet you where you are and support your growth into a Certified Death Doula.
Jade does recommend being fully on-boarded with a place to actively volunteer/serve before beginning this path.
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It takes the right person, but you can! We have successfully trained students virtually but it requires a self-motivated person with strong support systems in place. You’ll find your own practice ground and still be invited to all group events, all else is the same.
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.