A Year of Holistic Thanatology
Deeper Deathwork
Deeper Deathwork is a yearlong immersion into death, grief, ancestry, ritual, and the anthropology of doulaship.
In this circle we will go far beyond the limits of academic learning.
We will defy the belief that your consciousness sits only in the body,
or that your relationships are limited only to the living.
Will we reach back in time, and we will step out of time.
This course is a transmission.
It is a realized calling.
It is the answer when the question is - what do you really want?
You know there is more.
Let me get the door.
Meet Your Teachers:
Erin Merelli
Death Doula | Educator | Ceremonialist
Erin has been teaching community and professional death education for eight years and practicing as a doula for more than twice as long.
She co-founded Deathwives in 2019, delivered a TEDx talk in 2022, and founded Death Ed with Erin in 2024. Drawing on nearly two decades of experience in doulaship and eight years of educating thousands of students, Erin is here to co-create an even more holistic, full-bodied, and intentionally slower-paced death doula program that we have seen the likes of before.
Erin hand-selected co-creators Kema and Felicia from among the hundreds of doulas she has encountered throughout her career, recognizing their excellence and magic, and wanting to center their indigenous, black, and soulful teachings.
Kema Ward
Death Doula | Grief Educator | Ancestral Guide
Kema is a death and grief doula, author, and educator whose work explores the profound relationships between grief, ancestry, culture, and the continuing bonds we share with our dead.
A student of Erin's death doula training, Kema brings both professional education and deeply personal experience to her practice, including navigating sibling loss and her own experience with cancer.
Her approach draws from grief facilitation, spiritual practice, ancestral inquiry, and community care. Through her teaching, Kema invites students to explore their own relationships with the dead while learning to honor the diverse cultural and spiritual traditions of those they serve.
She is the author of For My Beloveds and Where the Light Comes In, and the founder of Carpe Mortem and The Unseen Mourning.
Felicia Chevando
Traditional Curanderismo Practitioner | Midwife | Death Doula | Herbalist
Felicia is a traditional healing practitioner, midwife, death doula, gardener, and herbalist whose life and work are deeply rooted in Indigenous wisdom, the natural world, and the sacred transitions of birth and death.
Drawing from traditional curanderismo, plant medicine, elemental relationships, and ancestral healing practices, Felicia brings an embodied, earth-centered perspective to the art of doulaship.
Much of her life's work has taken place quietly, outside conventional institutions and classrooms. Through Deeper Deathwork, she is bringing these teachings into a formal educational space, sharing practices and perspectives that have shaped her own life and service.
Her teachings invite students to reconnect with the earth, honor the wisdom of traditional healing, and understand death as part of the same sacred cycle that gives us life.
What this Space Offers:
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12 months of dedicated study.
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3 seasoned teachers and wisdom keepers of different lineages.
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Approximately 182 hours of Deeper Deathwork study, and a certificate to show for it.
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Mentorship. In a field without traditional clinical training spaces, mentorship is the bridge between education and practice.
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Other people like you. Those drawn to this work are a similar kind of special. Find your people.
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Sophistication. This program is built upon foundations long laid. Your education will be as professional as it is personal, grounded in established practices while making room for deeper exploration.
What you’ll experience
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Adult Death Montessori, if you will.
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Meaningful transformation takes time. Students will spend an entire year learning in community, with space between classes to practice, research, and integrate. We meet live online every other Monday evening. This slower pace is something many doula programs are missing. We need time to go deep.
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Intimate cohorts allow time for meaningful relationships, both in the classroom and between students and teachers.
Our Time Together
Quarter One — Spring 2027
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Understanding the systems, skills, stories, and ceremonies that shape how we die.
Advanced doulaship, best practices, and complex cases
The anthropology and history of deathcare
Green burial, water cremation, and restorative body disposition
Grief literacy, inherited grief, and trauma-informed care
Ceremony, ritual, eulogies, and funeral crafting
Case studies and real-world application
Quarter Two — Summer 2027
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Exploring ancestry, spiritual relationships, cultural traditions, and the work of guiding souls.
Ancestral connection and inherited grief
Continuing relationships between the living and the dead
Psychopomps and spiritual guides across traditions
Black American deathcare traditions and cultural ethics
Spiritual protection, boundaries, and preventing burnout
Grief doulaship and supporting the living after loss
Quarter Three — Autumn 2027
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Reconnecting deathwork with the earth, traditional healing, and the cycles of life.
Traditional healing perspectives and cross-cultural reciprocity
Presence, intuition, touch, and energetic awareness
Altars and relationships with the elements
Birth, death, rebirth, and life's many thresholds
Nature-based grief practices, sacred rest, and regeneration
Miscarriage, abortion, and pregnancy loss doulaship
Plant allies and their practical and spiritual applications in deathcare
Quarter Four — Winter 2027–2028
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After nine months of study, the final quarter turns toward the individual.
Because there is no single way to be a deathworker.
Some students will feel called to bedside care. Others to grief work, ceremony, community education, ancestral practice, environmental advocacy, or something they have yet to name.
Each student will be paired with Erin, Kema, or Felicia for individualized mentorship, with space to explore their goals, challenges, strengths, and next steps.
Together, we'll work toward bringing the year's teachings into a tangible expression of service, whether personal, professional, or communal.
Who is this for?
This program is appropriate for anyone who has completed death doula training and wants more.
It is also open to new doulas. Students who are new to the field will receive a recorded Death Doula 201 training before our live classes begin, helping establish an elevated baseline of knowledge for everyone entering the circle.
We will dive deeply and quickly, with a shared understanding of why we are here and what we hope to cultivate.
This is for those who love the dead.
This is for those who want to help the living.
All are welcome.
Testimonials:
“WOW. Transformational. I want to say COSMIC! Natural, Earth-shifting, like coming home to a big warm hug.
It is truly difficult to find adequate words. Studying with Erin has been a completely transformational experience. I am fairly versed in Death through life experiences, but was absolutely humbled and enthralled by Erin's sheer knowledge and capacity - not only for the subject, but for each individual and their experiences and tender hearts.
I have been consciously searching for this class and space for 10 years, and probably subconsciously all my life.
Thank you Erin - you brought so much of yourself to this course and that depth of generosity is an incredibly rare and precious gift. I am eager to see what sort of longer-form offerings you may end up developing in the future, because I only want more.”
Eva, 2025 Student
“WOW. Transformational. I want to say COSMIC! Natural, Earth-shifting, like coming home to a big warm hug.
It is truly difficult to find adequate words. Studying with Erin has been a completely transformational experience. I am fairly versed in Death through life experiences, but was absolutely humbled and enthralled by Erin's sheer knowledge and capacity - not only for the subject, but for each individual and their experiences and tender hearts.
I have been consciously searching for this class and space for 10 years, and probably subconsciously all my life.
Thank you Erin - you brought so much of yourself to this course and that depth of generosity is an incredibly rare and precious gift. I am eager to see what sort of longer-form offerings you may end up developing in the future, because I only want more.”
Eva, 2025 Student
“WOW. Transformational. I want to say COSMIC! Natural, Earth-shifting, like coming home to a big warm hug.
It is truly difficult to find adequate words. Studying with Erin has been a completely transformational experience. I am fairly versed in Death through life experiences, but was absolutely humbled and enthralled by Erin's sheer knowledge and capacity - not only for the subject, but for each individual and their experiences and tender hearts.
I have been consciously searching for this class and space for 10 years, and probably subconsciously all my life.
Thank you Erin - you brought so much of yourself to this course and that depth of generosity is an incredibly rare and precious gift. I am eager to see what sort of longer-form offerings you may end up developing in the future, because I only want more.”
Eva, 2025 Student
“WOW. Transformational. I want to say COSMIC! Natural, Earth-shifting, like coming home to a big warm hug.
It is truly difficult to find adequate words. Studying with Erin has been a completely transformational experience. I am fairly versed in Death through life experiences, but was absolutely humbled and enthralled by Erin's sheer knowledge and capacity - not only for the subject, but for each individual and their experiences and tender hearts.
I have been consciously searching for this class and space for 10 years, and probably subconsciously all my life.
Thank you Erin - you brought so much of yourself to this course and that depth of generosity is an incredibly rare and precious gift. I am eager to see what sort of longer-form offerings you may end up developing in the future, because I only want more.”
Eva, 2025 Student