Become a Death Doula. Walk the Path with Farewell.

A layered training rooted in ritual, storytelling, and practical bedside care, designed for those called to serve the dying.

Where Reverence Meets Rigor

At Farewell Fellowship, we offer comprehensive death doula training and hands-on mentorship for those called to serve the dying and their families.

Our paths are grounded in storytelling, cultural reverence, and community care. Based in Nashville, with national virtual offerings.

New to Death Work? Start Here.

A sacred first step for the curious and called.

Death Doula 101 is a 90-minute virtual mini-course designed to gently illuminate the path ahead. You’ll learn the foundations of the doula model of care, the evolving roles death doulas play today, and the most common ways people step into this sacred work. Whether you’re feeling a quiet pull or a loud calling, this is your place to begin.
Includes 5 essential book recommendations to deepen your death literacy.

Get Started

Train as a Death Doula: Choose Your Path

Hands-On Apprenticeship — $3500

Learn alongside me in-person, shadow real doula work, and gain mentorship at every step.

  • 10 modules + 1:1 mentorship + shadowing opportunities

  • Community cohort & local connections

  • Self-paced, ~1 year

Learn More + Apply Now

Guided Virtual Training — $2100

Join a supportive online learning lab, with virtual guidance, through six curriculum modules.

  • 6 modules of online teaching + 1:1 mentorship + digital resources

  • Small group virtual cohort & independent learning

  • 12 week cohort or self-paced options (-6 months)

Learn More + Join Waitlist

Why Train With Farewell?

A shrouded body in a woven basket casket, held by many hands and surrounded by flowers—symbolizing community-centered death care, collective grieving, and sacred farewell.
Meet Your Guide

Farewell offers one of the only mentorship-based death doula training programs led by an actively practicing doula. This is not a generic online course, it’s a living lineage of care, rooted in over seven years of hands-on experience at the bedside.

As a certified death doula, educator, and hospice partner, I’ve built a powerful bridge between training and practice. My apprentices serve real clients, shadow in our local hospice, and are personally introduced to a trusted network of community partners, from funeral homes and ritualists to palliative care physicians and home funeral guides.

The Farewell curriculum is unlike anything else in the field. It blends practical skills in end-of-life care with a deep philosophical foundation, mystical reflection, and trauma-informed presence. Born from my academic background in philosophy and shaped through hundreds of hours at the threshold, the training invites not just learning but transformation.

Whether you’re seeking end-of-life doula certification, advanced mentorship, or a spiritually grounded path into deathwork, Farewell offers something rare: real-world access, relational guidance, and curriculum that speaks to the soul.

Certified Death Doula Jade Adgate speaking with an attendee during Farewell Fellowship’s Rosemary & Pine ritual workshop in Nashville, Tennessee — a community gathering weaving herbs, clay, and death literacy practices for collective remembrance and
Overhead view of the Rosemary & Pine ritual workshop hosted by Certified Death Doula Jade Adgate and Farewell Fellowship in Nashville, Tennessee. Attendees sit around wooden tables adorned with candles, pine, and herbs, creating remembrance offerings
Certified Death Doula Jade Adgate teaching during Farewell Fellowship’s Rosemary & Pine workshop in Nashville, Tennessee. She speaks to a circle of participants in a warm kitchen space, sharing how herbs have been used in historical death-care tradit
Certified Death Doula Jade Adgate with three Farewell Fellowship apprentices at a community holiday mixer held at The Factory in Franklin, Tennessee. The group stands in front of a decorated tree with red ribbons and lights, celebrating connection, m
Candlelit scene from Farewell Fellowship’s “Death Church” event in Nashville, Tennessee, hosted by Certified Death Doula Jade Adgate. Participants rest on blankets and pillows in quiet reflection as Jade leads a guided contemplation on mortality, pre
Certified Death Doula Jade Adgate teaching a circle of participants during a Farewell Fellowship burial shrouding workshop in Nashville, Tennessee. The group gathers in a sunlit living room with colorful textiles and natural light, learning hands-on
Buried burial shrouds unearthed at different stages of natural decomposition during a Farewell Fellowship workshop in Nashville, Tennessee, led by Certified Death Doula Jade Adgate. The photo shows woven fabrics in varying colors and textures, used t
Participants gathered at a Farewell Fellowship workshop in Nashville, Tennessee, watching a burial shroud weaver demonstrate her process on the loom. Certified Death Doula Jade Adgate and attendees observe as multicolored threads are woven into fabri
Certified Death Doula Jade Adgate demonstrating the practice of shrouding at a Farewell Fellowship workshop in Nashville, Tennessee. Her hands rest gently on a shrouded body as she teaches death doulas how to prepare and wrap the deceased with care,
Certified Death Doula Jade Adgate leading a Farewell Fellowship shrouding demonstration on a covered porch in Nashville, Tennessee. A circle of death doulas and community members gather around a table under soft string lights, learning how to wrap an
Certified Death Doula Jade Adgate speaking with a student during a Farewell Fellowship event at Larkspur Conservation in Nashville, Tennessee. Seated together on a wooden bench by a large window, they share reflections on green burial, mentorship, an
Two Farewell Fellowship students in conversation during a green burial event at Larkspur Conservation in Nashville, Tennessee. Seated on a leather couch by tall windows, they share reflections on death care practice, mentorship, and community learnin
Participants creating clay death altars during a Farewell Fellowship pottery workshop led by Certified Death Doula Jade Adgate in Nashville, Tennessee. The group works around a sunlit table surrounded by pottery tools and shelves, shaping vessels and
Certified Death Doula Jade Adgate standing beside loved ones at a client’s bedside, tending the vigil space and gently explaining the physical signs of dying according to the client’s wishes. A quiet room filled with soft light and flowers reflects c
A woman standing next to a bed with an elderly woman lying in it, dressed in colorful, floral fabrics, surrounded by decorative candles and photos on the wall.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Farewell is one of the only programs led by an actively practicing death doula, with real client work, hospice shadowing, and mentorship deeply woven into every stage of training. Plus, this path calls special people and together we connect frequently in community.

  • No experience is required. Students will be asked to be an active volunteer with a local hospice in order to practice the skills we learn as part of the curriculum.

  • Yes! The Virtual Cohort easily extends to international students. The Hands-On Apprenticeship has also been successfully adapted for the right candidates to complete outside of Middle Tennessee.

  • Completion of both paths earns a Certificate of Completion in Death Doula Training. Apprentices also earn the additional title of Certified Death Doula Apprentice upon completion of the advanced training and capstone project.

  • The Virtual Cohorts run over 12 weeks and meet 2x per week.

    Apprenticeship is more spacious and relational, typically unfolding over 9-12 months. This is self-paced so you may move at your own speed.

  • Not at all. People are called to this work for many reasons. Some serve clients, others accompany loved ones, some feel drawn to ritual and grief support. Many build these tools to support other work (grief counselors, Reiki masters, clinicians). All are welcome.

  • Begin with Death Doula 101, a $50 mini course designed to help you explore the heart of this work and discern whether the path is right for you. From there, you’re welcome to reach out with questions or schedule a brief connection call. You don’t need to have it all figured out, the call is enough. We’ll walk the rest together.

The Farewell Doula Graduates & Students

These are the faces of those who have answered the call. Farewell apprentices come from many walks of life, but they share a common devotion: to presence, to care, and to walking beside the dying with steady hands and open hearts. Each of them has moved through this training not just as a student, but as a companion in a growing lineage of relational, embodied deathwork.

  • Headshot of Rebecca Harris, Farewell Fellowship graduate death doula in Middle Tennessee, bringing grounded presence to end-of-life care.

    Rebecca Harris (Nashville, TN)

    Certified Death Doula, Apprenticeship Graduate

    Specialties: Bedside presence, transitional support, therapeutic listening

  • Portrait of Heather DeWire, a graduate of the Farewell Fellowship apprenticeship in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Now in private practice, she continues to support Farewell clients with end-of-life planning, Christian-centered care, and family support.

    Heather DeWire (Spring Hill, TN)

    Certified Death Doula, Apprenticeship Graduate

    Specialties: Administrative planning, Christian-centered death care, and family support services

  • Portrait of Heather Smith, an advanced apprentice in Unit 9 of the Farewell Fellowship program. Based in Tennessee, she specializes in patient advocacy, supports end-of-life planning as a notary public, and brings clinical experience from settings li

    Heather Smith (Nashville, TN)

    Certified Death Doula, Apprenticeship Graduate

    Specialties: Patient advocacy, end-of-life planning, and hospital-based death care.

  • Portrait of Carla, a licensed grief counselor and certified death doula completing her Farewell Fellowship apprenticeship. She brings hospice and hospital-based experience, a trauma-informed approach, and a deeply intuitive, mystical presence to her

    Carla Archuletta (Franklin, TN)

    Certified Death Doula & Apprenticeship Graduate

    Specialties: Grief counseling, trauma-informed death care, and hospital-based end-of-life support.

  • Portrait of Jackie Huser, a death doula apprentice in Unit 6 of the Farewell Fellowship program. With a background in marketing and event planning, she offers organized, thoughtful support for home-based end-of-life care grounded in deep listening an

    Jackie Huser (Nashville, TN)

    Certified Death Doula & Current Apprentice

    Specialties: End-of-life planning, LGBTQIA+ inclusive death care, and in-home end-of-life support.

  • Headshot of Casey Pisapia, Reiki practitioner and massage therapist in Brentwood, TN, smiling gently — brings 8 years of hospice experience to her therapeutic end-of-life care.

    Casey Pisapia (Brentwood, TN)

    Certified Death Doula & Current Apprentice

    Specialties: Therapeutic touch, Reiki, and compassionate hospice bedside support.

  • Dr. Rachel McRoberts, PhD death doula apprentice and grief counselor in Middle Tennessee, smiling softly in a professional headshot.

    Rachel McRoberts (Lebanon, TN)

    Certified Death Doula & Current Apprentice

    Specialties: Trauma-informed grief care, child and family support, and ritual-based end-of-life services.

  • Headshot of Shelly Glascock, somatic end-of-life practitioner, smiling warmly — specializes in nervous system support and family-centered care.

    Shelly Glascock (East Nashville, TN)

    Certified Death Doula, Current Apprentice

    Specialties: Somatic support at the end of life, nervous system regulation, and compassionate family care.

  • Headshot of Jeffrey Deckman smiling, stage 4 cancer survivor, reiki master, and conscious leadership guide offering spiritual and energetic end-of-life support.

    Jeffrey Deckman (Nashville, TN)

    Current Apprentice

    Specialties: Reiki, compassionate presence, and stage 4 cancer survivor-informed end-of-life support

  • Headshot of Ana Quirk, licensed therapist and native Spanish speaker in Nashville, TN, offering grounded, culturally sensitive end-of-life support.

    Ana Quirk (Nashville, TN)

    Current Apprentice

    Specialties: Culturally reverent care, Spanish-language support, and therapeutic presence at the bedside.

  • Grief doula Christine Nguyen, smiling in a field of wildflowers near Paris, offering compassionate virtual grief support in France.

    Christine Nguyễn (Paris, France)

    Current Apprentice

    Specialties: Grief support, expressive arts integration, and virtual end-of-life care in France.

Have Questions?

Whether you're standing at the threshold of this work or deepening your path, I’m here to walk beside you. Reach out with your questions, curiosities, or clarities-in-progress, there’s no such thing as too small or too strange. Let’s find the right next step together.