Do you have a calling to work with people – family, friends or clients – who are moving through their final transition?
Are you interested in a more holistic approach to living, dying and after-death care?
For lay people and professionals.
Explore conscious dying and what it is to prepare for your own passing or that of a loved one. Discuss the practices, practicalities and preparation we need for our own living and dying as well as for those we might be assisting. Discover ways to deepen our presence at the bedside. Learn the meaning of being an End of Life Doula and all the ways one can help without having a degree or years of experience.
Conscious Dying, End-of-Life Doula Practice, and Preparation for End of Life
(Level 1) Part 1 of a 3-part certificate program
Friday & Saturday, May 15-16, 2026 from 9:30-5:30 pm In Person in Sebastopol, CA
Level 1 explores:
- Conscious dying; focusing on death as a sacred time and natural cycle of life
- Planning ahead and exploring our own last wishes, concerns and fears surrounding death
- Practical information to prepare for death: e.g: Advanced Directives, POLST, stages of dying
- Tools of transformation, assisting others facing end of life with non-medical needs of all kinds
- Important questions to ask the dying when accessing their needs
- Bringing in other comforting modalities such as Threshold choir, music, Reiki, and other forms of bedside care of the dying
- Feature film on Conscious Dying
- Guiding others across the threshold
Death Doula/Midwifery, Green Burial, Home Funeral Guidance
(Level 2) Part 2 of a 3-part certificate program
Sunday & Monday, May 17-18, 2026 from 9:30-5:30 PM In Person in Sebastopol, CA
Level 2 explores:
Learn how to help family or friends exercise their legal right to create uniquely designed end-of-life ceremony, how to support natural death care of a body and other home funeral arrangements such as paperwork, transportation and other logistics. Discover the many benefits of home funerals and why people choose the ancient ways of our ancestors. Explore green burial and other forms of releasing the body after death that are environmentally friendly. Discuss caring for ourselves while practicing this deep work with others.
- Care and honoring of a body during a home funeral
- Legalities and logistics for family-directed home funerals
- Facts and films about home funerals and green burial
- Ecological, economical, social, spiritual benefits of home funerals and green burial
- Guest speaker on a personal home family funeral
- Consulting with families to prepare for death
- Forms for families and agencies in your community
- What to have in your home funeral midwifery kit
- Use of therapeutic essential oils for anointing
- Self-Care for death doulas, midwives and guides
Even if you are not considering becoming a Death Doula/Midwife, our Level 2 training is a profound experience. We invite you to join us.
SPECIAL 2026 Price! Regular price for Level 1 and 2 is $1350.
The 2026 Super Special Discounted combination workshop is $1095
Get an additional $200 off with the Early Bird Discount!
That’s $895 thru May 1, 2026.
Lodging and meals NOT included. For inexpensive lodging or camping referrals, contact our office.
Healthy snacks, tea and water provided. Bring your own lunch.
Work/trade discounts are available.
Contact us to discuss ways we can make it possible for you to attend.
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Taking just Level 1 or 2 only?
Go to registration link to see option for taking just Level 1 or Level 2.
Did you know? PayPal offers a 0% payment plan. Look for that option when you check out.
Work/trade discounts are available. Contact us to discuss ways we can make it possible for you to attend.
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Refund Policy
Click here to see our REFUND POLICY.
Your Instructor: Jerrigrace Lyons, Founder of Final Passages,
Jerrigrace is a minister, death midwife, Reiki Master, and a renowned pioneer of the home funeral movement since 1994. She is the Founder and Director of Final Passages. She created a 3-tiered certificate training program, guided nearly 500 family-directed home funerals to date, and pioneered a new field of “home funeral guidance.” Jerrigrace is featured in the acclaimed PBS documentaryA Family Undertaking,The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
Jerrigrace consults with individuals who wish to plan for their end of life at anytime in their life stream. She specializes in home funeral planning and is a certified MAiD (Medical Aid in Dying) Doula, supporting those who choose this option and those who are present to witness and hold space.
Jerrigrace is also a member of the SoCoElda (Sonoma County End of Life Doula Alliance).
Assistant Instructor: Linda Suhr
Linda Suhr is an end-of-life Doula whose guiding principle is to listen to and meet clients wherever they are on their end-of-life journey. Many of her clients are relatively healthy and are pro-actively seeking to put their affairs in order. She supports these clients as they deeply reflect on essential end-of-life considerations, gather important documents and organize them all in a cohesive way so that their loved ones will be able to honor their wishes when the time comes. Linda also holistically supports those who are actively dying and their caregivers in the medley of care needed at the end of life.
Linda founded Autumn of Life Planning in 2021 and is a founding member of Sonoma County End of Life Doula Alliance (SOCOELDA).
Constance Miles
Constance Miles, RN, MA (Counseling Psychology), Birth Midwife (37 years), Certified Death Midwife and End of Life Doula, Poetess and CelebrantConstance birthed her four daughters at home and midwifed her eldest and youngest during the home births of her six granddaughters.
Transitioning from birth work to end of life work was a natural segue, after midwifing her son by marriage through his final journey and removing her mom from life support. Both events inspired original poems which grew into her self-published collection, Lamentations: Grief and Remembrance. As a registered nurse, Constance has worked in a multitude of settings.
She offers deep listening, a compassionate presence and a quirky sense of humor. She is on the Final Passages Core Council and Sonoma County End of Life Doula Alliance (SoCoELDA) and has guided many home funerals. She cherishes being a Nana, gardener, poet and dancer.
Manena Harper
Manena Harper, BA and End-of-Life Nanny, created Heart Centered Memorials (HCM) after attending the Final Passages Workshops. She has a diverse business background including managing a non-profit free clinic for seniors in Santa Monica, California that was featured on 60 minutes and 20/20. She left a position as VP of a national company to start HCM. She has been involved with end of life care since 1974 she has facilitated many home funerals and memorial services. She was her husband’s end-of-life care-giver, and directed and facilitated his home funeral. She has been part of the Final Passages family for almost 20 years.
Guest Presenter – to be announced – on a personal family-directed home funeral – to be announced
What Level 1 Students Are Saying
I really loved the breakout sessions and the ability to intimately connect with others, even though we were online. I got a lot out of the practices requiring us to examine ourselves and go through the self-inquiry and decision-making processes that we expect future clients & their families to do. Healer heal thyself!
— Kirra
I thought the training was well-balanced between the practical “clinical” aspects: terminology, paperwork (AHCD), vital statistics, etc. and the personal and spiritual components like grappling with loss, considering our own death, when someone is afraid of dying, etc. All of the videos helped synthesize these teachings. I also appreciated that people were entering at all levels of experience. Listening to other people’s experiences and stories is so enriching.
– Lisa B
The training “incorporated our hearts, minds and spirit into the work. The training embodied what it is to sit with ourselves facing death and applying it to sitting with someone who is dying. We were able to understand more the rights we have and what we should do to maximize those rights, the legal and logistical steps of this process.
— Paolo
Jumping into the group was a big hurdle so I really appreciated the breakout groups. It was so much easier to communicate for me that way. The film on Bryon’s home funeral was uplifting. Felt so good to be exposed to loving options for this ever so “civilized” and antiseptically clean world that we live in now. Jo
– D Joy
I loved the structure you have created for presenting such an abundant amount of information in a short time… interweaving presentations, activities, small group interactions, slides and videos with skill, knowledge, compassion and humor. It was informative, thought provoking and emotionally impactful. I had several unexpected moments of tears.
– Ann