Queer
Grieving Queer
Grieving
Learn how to support Queer & Trans lives in death, dying, and grief
This 4-week program is for allies, advocates, and deathworkers who are ready to understand the unique landscape Queer and Trans people navigate at the end of life. By combining historical context, personal reflection, legal education, and skill-building, you will work to understand the gaps in end of life support for Queer and Trans people, and step toward more inclusive and affirming care for those you serve.
4 Mondays
November 23 - December 14
10:00 am - 12:00 pm MT
Taught by:
Dr. Melissa Delizia (Doctor of Social Work, Licensed Social Worker & Certified Professional Coach)
& Lauren Carroll (Holistic Funeral Director and Death Educator)
Marginalization doesn't end at the deathbed. In fact, it often intensifies there.
Names and genders are overwritten on essential paperwork, partners and chosen family can be barred from making important decisions, identities are erased in obituaries and at funerals, grief is invalidated and completely unsupported.
This class exists to show you the realities of Queer and Trans people in death, dying and grief, and illuminate how and exactly where your support is most helpful for some of our most marginalized community members.
Designed by Dr. Melissa Delizia from 3 years of doctoral program research, and Lauren Carroll from 20 years of experience in the funeral industry.
Throughout our time together, you will:
Look to history and the law to learn what care gaps and barriers exist, as well as how to help close them through planning, ceremony, and care networks.
Reflect privately and in community about how to create more inclusive, dignified spaces for Queer and Trans grief.
Build the skills and insight needed to show up with confidence, compassion, and knowledge for Queer individuals and communities.
The Classes
class 1
Understanding Bias & Queer Grief
class 2
The Unique Grief of Queer and Trans Lives
class 3
EOL Planning for Queer & Trans People
class 4
Inclusive Practices & Rituals
What Students are Saying…
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"What was most helpful to me was hearing about people's experiences outside of academia, in particular in the death doula domain. I also loved learning more about both facilitators' roles in creating spaces like this one, and the many examples offered. They were rich and inspiring as well as easy to digest."
Graduate
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"Such an amazing course! It changed me for good. And I still use & reference parts of it often."
Sarah, Graduate
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"Melissa and Lauren are masterful facilitators and create such a compassionate, safe atmosphere for learning. I never felt like any question was off limits, and every answer I received was beautifully balanced between studied and practical, and heartfelt and (dare I say) mystical."
Victoria, Student
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.
Our Teaching / Learning / Creating Style at La Mort
We leave behind the polished, gate-keepy approach to education. We teach in ways that carry story and experience. We listen. We laugh (a lot). We go off-script sometimes. We cry (with you)(for those you’ve loved)(for those we’ve loved). We like science and studies and logical frameworks, but also mysticism and poetry and all that stuff. We really love to honor history and those who came before. We move through some serious curricula, but don’t take anything too seriously. We dedicate ourselves to seeing you, and want you to feel seen. We deeply honor our intuition and yours. We lead with integrity (always). And we welcome the odd-balls and misfits, because it takes one to know one.