June 14 from - 9am-6pm - Madison, WI
Join us on June 14 in Madison, Wisconsin, from 9am–6pm for a full-day, in-person training in the sacred craft of death doulaship.
This expansive experience is designed for anyone ready to explore the profound intersection of skillful support and soulful care at the end of life.
Led by veteran death doula and educator Erin Merelli, this workshop is her signature 8-hour Death Doula Lab. It is an intensive, holistic training designed to ground you in the philosophies, tools, and rituals of compassionate deathcare.
Erin will be joined by Jill Hill, a seasoned hospice nurse with decades of medical experience, adding rich perspective on how this evolving field of end-of-life support can integrate and collaborate alongside clinical care.
Together, we’ll explore the full arc of the doula’s role, from Preparedness and Legacy work to the sacred 11th Hour. We will explore ceremony creation, and crafting funerals that don't suck. You’ll learn green deathcare, how to support grief through personalized ritual, and study real-life casework to sharpen your ability to meet this work with clarity and compassion. It is a fun, functional day in a cozy classroom with a small group catered for a small group, and you leave with a certificate in death doula training.
Cost and Scholarships: Tuition is $480 and class size is limited to 20.
SCHOLARSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE
In our economy, doulaship often feels like a luxury. But it shouldn’t be. I’m offering two scholarships for those who feel called to this work but couldn’t otherwise afford to join:
One full scholarship
One half scholarship (with a payment plan for the remainder)
Apply its quick
Whether you’re a caregiver, clinician, healer, or simply someone who feels called to serve the dying, this training will deepen your capacity to honor death—and life—with wisdom, presence, and heart.
This will be my only stop in the midwest in 2025, and I am eager to meet the friends I havent met yet.
Erin Merelli
Death Doula | Educator | Ceremonialist | Public Speaker
My name is Erin Merelli, and I walk alongside death—not to fear it, but to honor it. As a death doula, educator, and public speaker, I guide individuals, families, and communities to meet mortality with intention, courage, and love. My message is simple but not easy: We are all going to die, and to manage that well, we need to talk about it.
From my home base in Colorado, I’ve been meandering across the country—and beyond—offering education, ceremony, and care to expand our collective narrative around death and dying.
Jill Hill Hospice MSN
Witnessing death both peacefully and traumatically, Jill is a Hospice RN. Jill brings an element of
clinical knowledge to Death education. As health care providers, we are taught to “First do no
harm”, that includes honoring the patient’s wishes and including their beliefs and wishes at the
end of life. A colleague once told me, “We are born once, and die once, let’s do it right”. As health
care providers, there is so much more we can provide those transitioning into the next
life without machines and traditional medicines. The best thing we can do, I have firsthand
witnessed, is to be present with the knowledge of the Death Doula and provide peace and
comfort to those who are passing. Death Doulas provide that extra layer of human connection
during the 11th hour that often gets overlooked in the clinical setting. Providing support to the
patient and the family is crucial as you only get one opportunity to do so. Join me in bridging the
gap between compassionate death education and the clinical setting.
Class Outline:
Enjoy a catered, interactive lunch designed to foster informal discussions and reflection on the morning sessions.
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Content: Introduce the core philosophy and role of a death doula by exploring the three phases of care: Preparedness + Legacy, The 11th Hour, and Post Mortem Care.
Dual Perspectives: Emphasize how these foundational principles resonate with both the compassionate approaches of death doulaship and the clinical protocols observed in medical end‑of‑life care.
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Content: Delve into anticipatory care by discussing strategies to prepare for death, create legacy through preserving stories and rituals, face fears and plan for end‑of‑life wishes.
Dual Perspectives: Integrate the death doula’s empathetic communication techniques with medical real‑life examples, highlighting approaches from hospice, emergency care, and other clinical settings. Consider how one model might encompass the other to provide higher quality of care.
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Content: Explore the practical and emotional dynamics of supporting individuals during the final moments of life.
Dual Perspectives: Combine the death doula’s focus on presence, comfort, and holistic support with the medical model for emergency care resulting in death. Discuss the implications of this on survivor grief.
Lunch Break (60 minutes | 12:15–1:15)
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Content: Examine current practices, innovations, and challenges within the modern funeral industry.
Dual Perspectives: Discuss how industry trends interface with compassionate end‑of‑life care—balancing the operational realities of funeral homes with the personal, holistic approaches of death doulaship and medical protocols. Compare the way a doula interfaces with the funeral industry vs how the medical personnel does. Discuss the technique of embalming,
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Content: Investigate regenerative, eco‑conscious disposition options such as green burials, water cremation, and natural organic reduction.
Dual Perspectives: Examine both the symbolic, holistic narrative of returning to the Earth championed by progressive deathcare, and the factual, regenerative science behind it.
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Content: Focus on designing personalized rituals and ceremonies that honor the deceased while providing support for the grieving process.
Dual Perspectives: Integrate the creative, empathetic methods of death doulaship for crafting meaningful ceremonies with the clinical perspective on post‑death protocols and structured grief support. Consider the unmet grief needs of the medical and caretaker communities.
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Content: Engage in interactive case studies that ask you to step into the role of a death dpula and workshop real cases.
Dual Perspectives: Through group discussion and scenario analysis, merge death doula techniques with medical insights to develop comprehensive, empathetic approaches to care. This interactive session is designed to solidify learning and foster collaborative reflection on real‑world applications.
The Class:
What recent students have said:
“Erin, you are so warm and inviting. You set a strong tone for this industry and I’m so glad I did this class in-person because a lot of the nuance and healing would be hard to get online and without community. I am in awe of everyone in attendance turning their pain into power.”
“Thanks so much for our training. The only critique I have is that I just want more I left feeling full and satisfied for the moment, and also wanting more.”
“I really enjoyed the workshop and everything you shared with us! Learning more about the funeral industry and burial options was incredibly eye-opening and super interesting to me. I also really loved the whole concept of Legacy doulaship and feel like that could be a lovely intersection of some of my other seemingly random passions, so thank you SO SO MUCH for sharing your wisdom and experience with us. It is SO needed!”