Deathschool Evolved Live

Deep Death Doula Training

Deathschool Evolved is a creative space to study end-of-life, and explore the afterlife. 

I’ve been teaching death education for a long while now, and at the beginning of every new program, I ask the same question: Why are you here?

The answers echo each other. You’re here because death has touched your life in a way that changed you. Because you’ve witnessed how deeply our culture struggles with the language of grief. Because studying mortality feels strangely healing.

Over the 9 weeks we spend together, we move beyond fear and avoidance and into relationship. We study death through many lenses: practical, historical, emotional, spiritual, cultural, environmental. We learn the skills and philosophies of doulaship, while also deepening our understanding of what it means to be alive for this brief time.

One of the things I love most about this program is that we gather live, in small groups, twice a week for two months. In a disconnected world, there is something meaningful about showing up together in real time for deeply human conversation and spaces to feel it all. And because so many of us arrive carrying similar questions, griefs, and longings, it is not uncommon to leave having found true community along the way.

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For 7 years, Deathschool has been a meaningful space for exploring death, grief, and doulaship together. Now, after 25 sessions, hundreds of graduates, and years of thoughtful refinement, the program has evolved alongside the work itself. That’s why we call it Deathschool Evolved.

  • 9 Weeks | 17 classes

  • 50 Hours of Professional Training in Death Philosophy and Doulaship

An invitation to deepen your relationship with mortality

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Over our 17 Classes together we will study

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    The role and philosophy of death doulaship

  • Legacy work and pre-planning, 11th hour vigil, and after death ceremonial care.

    Stages of care: legacy work and pre-planning, 11th hour vigil, and after death care

  • Grief traditions, ancestral healing, and cultural anthropology.

    Grief tending, ancestral traditions, and cultural anthropology

  • The industrialization of funeral care and alternatives like green burial practices.

    The history and industry of funeral care

  • Creating rituals, meaningful funerals, and rites of passage that transcend templates

    Green burial practices

  • Resources and running a death care business.

    Creating rituals, meaningful funerals, and rites of passage

  • Exploring afterlife beliefs across cultures and personal reflections.

    Exploring afterlife beliefs across cultures

  • The ethics of MAiD, suicide, and complex cases in modern deathwork.

    Medical aide in dying, ethics and complex cases

  • Building a sustainable, impactful business as a death doula.

    Running a death care business, 101

Deathschool Evolved Live Schedule

  • New dates will be announced soon

  • New Schedule will be announced soon

  • $1,695.00 with payment plans available at checkout.

  • Live Zoom

  • We care about access and offer Scholarships to every cohort, inquire or watch post

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“Deathschool Evolved is an invitation to step into this uncharted territory, not only as a guide for others but as someone willing to explore the depths of your own humanity.”

— Erin Merelli

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Class Outline

Click the “+” for a deeper description of each session

Module 1: Introduction to Doulaship and the Funeral Industry

    • Introductions, orientation and overview of the syllabus.

    • Creating the space

    • Lecture: Death Doula 101.

    • The stages of dying.

    • The role of death doulas history, scope, and essential skills.

    • Legacy work.

    • Discussion: The need for this work in our modern society.

    • Exploring our fear of death and the relationship between fear and grief.

    • Frameworks for understanding grief in collective contexts.

    • Epigenetics and inherited grief.

    • Assignment: Research ancestral lineage and write the story of an ancestor who may not have been properly grieved.

    • The history of funeral care in the U.S., including the rise of embalming.

    • The industrialization of funeral care and its societal impacts.

    • Lecture: The modern funeral industrial complex.

    • Ancestry & Lineage Study and Presentation

Module 2: Know Thyself

Students will watch these 4 videos on their own time. Please have module 2 recordings and assignments complete by our next live meeting

    • Reflect on your family’s relationship with grief and its impact on your ability to express your own.

    • Explore what unexpressed grief remains and how you can begin to move it.

    • Consider your personal legacy. What are you leaving behind?

    • Assignment: Write a reflective journal entry and create a symbolic expression of grief (e.g., art, movement, or ritual).

    • Research the landscape of death work in your area

    • Death doulas, hospice volunteer programs, and corporate funeral homes.

    • Green burial legalities and providers.

    • MAiD legal status and practitioners in your state.

    • Explore notable death workers and reflect on the "death culture" of your region.

    • Research afterlife beliefs in three religions or spiritual traditions.

    • Compare and contrast their themes with your own beliefs about the afterlife.

    • Reflect: How do these beliefs influence your perspective and practice as a death doula?

    • Begin planning your final project: a 5–10 minute presentation to honor your dead loved ones or explore unresolved grief.

    • Engage with grief across time, beyond the veil and in this world.

    • The format is up to you (e.g., story, dance, altar, video, or song).

Module 3: Progressive Death Care: Ethically, Environmentally and Ceremonially

    • Lecture: Evolution of eco-conscious burial practices.

    • Water cremation and natural organic reduction systems.

    • Guest Lecture: Emily Nelson of Be a Tree Cremation

    • Case study: Death certificates and burial permits.

    • Lecture: The philosophy and function of funeral services.

    • Rituals, memorials, living funerals, rites of passage, and other ceremonies that honor the individual and serve the bereaved.

    • Crafting: Templates for creating meaningful and personalized funerals.

    • Exploring altered states in ceremony.

      • Lecture: Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD).

      • History: Variations of assisted suicide across cultures.

      • Discussion: Ethical considerations for death doulas.

    • Now that we know more about the options, what would you choose

    • Workshop: Considering our own end-of-life arrangements.

    • Discussion: Sharing end-of-life ideologies and preferences for burial and memorialization.

    • Sheree Browne on funeral pre-planning.

    • Pre-planning options, paperwork, cost, and regulations.

Module 4: Case Studies + Business

    • Interactive practice: Apply what we’ve learned.

    • Group work: Analyze real case studies to explore approaches as a death doula.

    • Problem-solving and ethical decision-making.

    • Transition your passion project into a sustainable business.

    • Learn networking and marketing basics for death doulas.

    • Create and refine client contracts together.

    • Student presentations of final projects.

    • Final student presentations.

    • Closing ceremony.

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Deathschool Evolved Live Schedule

  • New dates will be announced soon

  • New Schedule will be announced soon

  • $1,695.00 with payment plans available at checkout.

  • Live Zoom

  • We care about access and offer Scholarships to every cohort, inquire or watch post

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Photograph of a sandy beach with footprints, with the ocean waves crashing at the shoreline, taken during cloudy weather.
Photograph of a sandy beach with footprints, with the ocean waves crashing at the shoreline, taken during cloudy weather.
A man on a swing set at the beach with the ocean and a cloudy sky at sunset in the background.
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