Death
Death Coach
coach
Care for the Caretakers.
Transform how We Do Death.
By 2030, 1 in 5 Americans will be over 65. Family members, friends, medical facilities, and death doulas will shoulder most of the care, but who will care for them?
This immersive, hybrid training is for those called to support the supporters of dying individuals. Blending coaching practices with end-of-life care, you'll learn to provide emotional grounding, practical resources, and compassionate guidance to help caretakers move through fear, grief, and uncertainty into clarity, confidence, and ancestral wisdom.
8-Week Certificate Program
Co-hosted by Melissa Delizia and Lauren Carroll
Wednesdays, March 11 - April 29
10am - 12pm MT
Behind every dying person stands a circle of caretakers - unseen experts who need validation, not replacement.
As death doulas, we witness the profound wisdom that emerges when families gather around their dying loved ones. A daughter who knows exactly how to position her father's pillow. A brother who understands when silence, or conversation, is needed. A partner who recognizes subtle changes in breathing pattern.
In modern death care, we've professionalized what was once common knowledge, sometimes inadvertently pushing families to the sidelines. A Death Coach helps return the sacred role of caretaking to where it belongs - in the capable hands of those who share connection, history, and love with the dying. They affirm a families unique expertise rather than supplanting it - creating a container where caretakers can access their intuitive knowledge and ancestral connections, while receiving the practical coaching and education they need.
While death doulas can do everything for a dying person, Death Coaches stand beside the caretakers in their vulnerability and strength: walking with them as they become experts in their own experience, and offering resources, steady companionship, and practical guidance when the ground beneath them shifts.
About the Training
Created by a Funeral Director / End-of-Life Educator, and a Doctor of Social Work / Life Coach, this course brings together ancestral wisdom and modern-day tools to meet today’s unique deathcare needs.
What You’ll Learn
RESOURCE ALLOCATION
Become a wellspring of practical support in chaotic times. Learn to gather and share resources that truly matter (from pet care to legal services) and match them with precision to each family's unique needs. Help families navigate care options when overwhelm threatens to drown them.
SUPPORTIVE PRESENCE
Develop the art of being fully present through active listening, compassion, and unwavering empathy. Learn the delicate balance of regular check-ins that ensure family members feel truly seen and held during the most raw, exposed moments of their lives.
GOAL SETTING
Master the gentle art of setting and adjusting goals based on ever-evolving needs. Transform what clients whisper, sob, or shout into personalized, actionable steps that bring order to chaos and light to darkness.
COMMUNITY BUILDING
Weave meaningful connections with clients who trust you with their pain. Support families in reclaiming their ancestral traditions while fostering networks of care that extend beyond digital spaces into the physical world where grief lives.
Death Doula Skills
Find confidence in passing your practical end-of-life knowledge on to families who want to step into the death doula role themselves. Empower them with the understanding of the dying body and the physical changes present at the end of life, along with holistic ways to support the dying body.
AND MORE
Core coaching principles tailored to end-of-life
Resource curation and family systems navigation
How to hold space without burnout
Ethics, boundaries, and sustainable care models
The Classes
01
Community
Building
class one
-
Meet your cohort and share your calling to this work
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Explore the differences between life coaching, death coaching, and death doula work
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Identify gaps in care within your community
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Micro-level community care & how to build community in your community
-
Begin mapping support networks for families in need
02
When Death
Occurs
class two
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Navigate the specifics of death and dying processes
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Understanding MAiD as an option for the dying
-
Explore after-death options
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03
Funeral
Planning
class three
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Learn how to guide families through funeral home requirements
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Develop aftercare practices for the living
-
04
Supporting the
Disenfranchised
class four
05
Integrating
Grief
class five
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How to put your work out there & begin getting referrals
-
-
-
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06
Logistics for
Caretakers
class six
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Craft your Death Coach mission statement and ethical framework
-
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Develop your consultation process and intake form
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Learn about appropriate compensation models
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Create a comprehensive resource packet for clients
07
Session
Prep
class seven
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Practice active listening and client intake in real time
-
Master the art of goal-setting in death and grief contexts
-
Translate client needs into actionable support plans
-
Build a toolkit of resources for common situations
08
Putting it
into Action
class eight
Plus 8 hours of self-study
& one-on-one work
What Students are Saying…
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"Lauren's personal touch and special brand of care shines through every time. Melissa's knowledge and expertise were wonderful and incredibly helpful in navigating unasked questions."
Britta
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"The cohort community was so inspiring! I love how we all come from varied backgrounds and have so much unique experience and knowledge to contribute."
Brenna
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"Thank you Lauren and Melissa for creating a safe, peaceful and non-judgmental atmosphere. You both worked so well together and I appreciate all of the work you two must have done behind the scenes."
Graduate
You already hold the wisdom of being with the dying. Now transform that gift to empower an entire circle of caregivers.
This certificate is designed for death doulas wanting to expand their practice. It is for social workers and counselors who work at the tender threshold between life and death; hospice staff and end-of-life care professionals seeking deeper approaches to their calling; chaplains and spiritual care providers who create sacred space; community organizers focused on death literacy. It welcomes anyone drawn to supporting others through significant loss, or caregivers anticipating a loss of their own.
You don't need to be a death professional already - just bring your whole heart & a willingness to learn how this work transforms both the supported and the supporter.
As a Death Coach, you will help caregivers trust their innate wisdom about those they care for. You will guide them toward confidence and clarity around death and dying when confusion clouds their vision. You will share coaching skills that elevate others through teaching and support when they doubt their capacity to serve.
Wednesdays, March 11 - April 29
10am - 12pm MT
Empower families to confidently reclaim the caretaker role.
Enrollment Options
Enrollment Options
Learn with us in-person
become a death coach this December in cape may, New jersey
Join us for an intimate, in-person certification experience hosted in a (potentially haunted) Victorian home – just two blocks from the ocean. You and six other brilliant students will dive into 12 hours of death coaching education and community building (plus a 13th hour reserved for witches, naturally).
In addition to the education outlined above, plus full accommodation, you can expect:
Daily community meals in the stunning dining room or the wrap-around porch
A death-related film screening in our private theatre
Private tarot readings in the parlor
And two optional excursions: a haunted tour & a farewell brunch
December 8-11, 2025
Co-hosted by Melissa Delizia and Lauren Carroll
Payment Plans Available
Select the payment tier below that suits you best
Extended payment plans through PayPal, Klarna, and Afterpay.
Tier One
For those facing financial constraints who are stretching to participate
Tier Two
For those with stable finances who can participate without strain
Tier Three
For those with financial abundance who wish to actively redistribute
Your teachers
Melissa Delizia
Melissa Delizia, MSW, LSW, DSW (she/they) is a death doula, educator, professional coach and social worker whose work lives at the intersection of sacred care, transformative education, and social justice. With a Doctorate in Social Work and certifications in grief companionship, deathcare, and sacred ceremony, Melissa brings both clinical insight and spiritual depth to their offerings.
Their practice is rooted in ancestral connection, mediumship, and energy work, with a focus on holding space for queer and trans individuals navigating death, dying, and grief. Melissa approaches this work with reverence, tending to the liminal with embodied presence and a belief in the healing power of collective care and ritual.
As an educator and adjunct professor, they are dedicated to reshaping how death is taught and understood—centering marginalized experiences, challenging systems of harm, and cultivating spaces where grief and identity are honored in all their complexity. Whether teaching or learning, Melissa holds a deep commitment to equitable deathwork and heart-centered education.
Lauren Carroll
Lauren Carroll, co-founder of La Mort, is a Death Educator & Holistic Funeral Director who is passionate about weaving community and family back into the death space. Her work centers around re-aligning our culture with Mother Earth and helping humans remember how to love one another. She is a former board member for the National Home Funeral Alliance and co-founded The Deathwives. She lives on an urban farm at the base of a mountain where she tends to her animals, raises her two children, and dances around bonfires on the full moon with friends while listening to Nick Cave.