Thoughtful Transitions · Death & Grief Companion Training

Some of us are called to be with the dying. To sit with grief.

This is not a calling for the faint of heart — and it is not for the detached. It is for those who know, in the marrow of their bones, that presence is a form of love and justice. That witness is sacred. That grief is not a problem to solve but a landscape to accompany.

Thoughtful Transitions offers training for death and grief companions — grounded in equity and justice, rooted in community, and centered in the whole of the human experience: spiritual, emotional, psychological, physical, cultural, and practical.

"We do not sanitize death here. We honor it. We do not manage grief. We befriend it."

Our training is led by Dr. Jamie Eaddy — womanist pastoral theologian, thanatologist, grief companion, and grief scholar — who brings decades of lived and learned wisdom to this work. What you will find here is not a certification factory. It is a formation experience.

This work is for you if you are a...

Chaplain or spiritual care worker, Mental health or social work professional, Community or faith leader, Hospice or palliative care worker, someone answering a personal calling, anyone who has ever sat beside loss.

Training is offered in three levels — from foundational companioning skills to advanced practice. Cohorts are small and intimate by design. Virtual and in-person intensives are available throughout the year.

About Our Trainings

Foundations

Foundations in Death & Grief Doula Companioning

This is where the work begins — in presence. Level I grounds you in the essential knowledge, skills, and ethical practice of grief companioning and end-of-life care. We move through grief in all its forms: anticipatory, disenfranchised, traumatic, ambiguous, spiritual. We explore the body, the spirit, the systems, and the story.

This is not just information. It is formation. By the end, you will know how to show up — fully, ethically, and without flinching.

20 Hours

Investment: Cohort from $999 · Individual from $1,599

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Intermediate

Integrating Practice, Building Your Path

Level II is for those ready to move from learning into embodied, sustainable practice. Here we explore how to integrate doula and companion work into your professional world — whether that means launching your own practice, deepening an existing one, or carrying this work into institutional spaces.

We work with accountability, ethics, and the particular labor of holding space for others over time without losing yourself.

12 hoursCohort from $699 · Individual from $1,199

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Advanced

Apprenticeship & Professional Supervision

Level III is a selective, mentored, application-based experience for those pursuing apprenticeship, and the highest level of professional formation in this work. It is not for everyone — and that is by design.

This level is about readiness, accountability, and the kind of deep practice that only comes through sustained relationship with the work and with a community of accountability.

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